Murudeshwar

Blissful Murudeshwar!

Murudeshwar is a quiet, beautiful town located in the Coastal Karnataka between Goa and Udupi. Murudeshwar has a railway station on the picturesque Mumbai-Mangalore Konkan Railway line. Trains from Udupi take 2-21/2 hours to reach Murudeshwar. The railway station is just 2 km east of the town and can be reached by buses and auto-rickshaws. The rickshaw-wallahs charge Rs.30 to travel between the temple and railway station.

Murudeshwar Temple Gopuram

Large Shiva Statue in the temple complex

Krishna, Charioteer of Arjuna

The Town is around 1 km off the Kochi-Mumbai (NH17) highway. The town can be reached by road from Udupi and Mangalore from South or Goa and Mumbai from North. The roads are in excellent conditions and run adjacent to the Arabian Sea and pass through lot of rivers, small hills and beautiful beaches. Frequent buses are available from Udupi. The travel takes around 3 hours. However the Karnataka state buses are not the best if you are carrying a lot of luggage. From the highway, one can either walk or take an auto-rickshaw to reach the temple.

Murudeshwar Beach

Temple, view from beach

Water sports @ the beach

People playing in the calm, long tides 

Murudeshwar is home to famous Murudeshwar Temple and a long lovely Murudeshwar beach on the coast of Arabian Sea.

Murudeshwar coast view from the Gopuram

Bird's eye view of the town

Top view of the beach

The temple street, seen from the gopuram top

The Shiva temple is built on the Kanduka hill and is surrounded by Arabian Sea on three sides. The temple complex has the world’s second tallest Shiva statue. The temple has one of the tallest gopurams in India. The gopuram has lift facilities to reach up to 18 of the 20 stories. The view from the top of the gopuram is majestic. However the views are clear and photographic in early morning and late evening. 

The Arabian Sea, from the Beach Restaurant

The beach, seen from the dining hall of the restaurant

Murudeshwar beach is very tidy and calm. The shallow beach with array of small waves provides ideal condition for swimming and water sports. It is a good place to spend time with family and friends. It has good facilities for tourists. The town has good number of hotels and restaurants located close to the temple and railway station.

The town seen with a hilly background

The Shiva statue surrounded by Arabian Sea

The Temple Inner Gopuram

The RNS guest house located adjacent to the temple complex provides the best facilities in the town. And the Naveen Beach restaurant located close the beach offers best view of the Arabian Sea while dining. It serves South and North Indian food. But the food is not very tasty to those coming from big towns. The town management keeps the town very clean and friendly to the visitors. It is a good place to spend a weekend.

Fun activities at the beach

Long, Clean and Peaceful Beach

Crystal clear water

Ideal waves for beginners to learn Surfing!

Magnificent Gopuram 

Murudeshwar Railway Station

And there are lot of wonderful places located close to Murudeshwar like Gokarna, Jog Falls, Kollur, Malpe beach and Udupi.

Udupi

Udupi- a lovely temple town situated in Coastal Karnataka, next to Mangalore.

Udupi is famous for Sri Krishna Temple and Udupi cuisine. It’s a peaceful town with activities revolving around the Krishna Temple. All Hindu festivals are celebrated grandly in Sri Krishna Mutt. Thus the mutt is full of activities all round the year. Thousands of pilgrims visit the temple to get blessings of Lord Krishna every day. We visited Udupi in January right after Rathotsavam or Car Festival. And the temple is full of pilgrims. One could find groups of Russians, Germans and other Europeans chanting, "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare" and playing musical instruments in the temple streets of Udupi in the evenings. Such scenes are common during festival days and other auspicious days to Krishna.

Temple Gopuram

Sri Krishna Temple Tank

Temple Cars

Festival time!!!

The town has all the amenities required by guests. A tourist town since many decades, it has been developed to serve the needs of visitors. The hotels and restaurants’ staff  behave well with visitors. We felt welcome everywhere. Also it is a district headquarters and serves as home to some of India’s largest banks. So there were busy markets and shopping places around.

Golden Chariot

Lord Krishna in Gold Ratha

Manipal lies close to Udupi with lot of educational institutes and hospitals. Udupi railway station is located between Manipal and Udupi. Udupi is in the tail end of Konkan railway line that connects Mangalore with Mumbai. The rail routes through mountains, water falls, large tunnels, river bridges and runs parallel to the Arabian Sea.  

Manipal is developed with the large and diverse student population in mind. One can get to shop all the brands and eat at all international food chain outlets in Manipal. Manipal also has numerous restaurants serving Indian to American and provides decent night life. End point in Manipal behind KMC medical college is an excellent place to visit during sunset.

Manipal Endpoint

A scenic view from Manipal End point

Udupi has an excellent public transportation. Long distance buses to Kollur, Murudeswar, Mangalore, Sringeri etc., can be taken from Service Bus station. And the town bus stand located next to service station connects the city with all its suburbs like Malpe.

The town has a long coastline nearby and beautiful beaches in Malpe and Kaup. Of both, Malpe is famous among tourists. Malpe beach is around 10 km from Udupi and can be reached by town buses plying frequently. Kaup beach has a beautiful light house close by.

Malpe Beach

Dog, enjoying the morning breeze

Unlike other Indian beaches, the beaches in Karnataka are clean and maintained well and provide good ambience to the visitors.

The waves give good adventure..

One can take a boat ride to St Mary's Island during non-monsoon months and enjoy the rocky island full of coconut trees.

Perfect place for a morning walk!

Gandhiji Statue @ Malpe Beach

The famous Jain temple with large Bahubali statue is located in Karkala, an hour by road drive from Udupi. Journey to Udupi is incomplete without dining at Woodlands Restaurant or Mitra Samaj.

Mitra Samaj is located close to the temple in the car street and serves authentic Udupi cuisine.

Woodlands Restaurant serves south and north Indian dishes in addition to Udupi special dishes.

Woodlands, best place to taste Udupi cuisine

Coconut with coriander leaves chutney- a Malnad Cuisine

Yummy Idlis!

We chose to dine at Woodlands. And we were more than satisfied with the food and service. It’s an A/C restaurant located within a walk-able distance from the temple. The restaurant was filled with multi-cultural people with locals, Indian tourists and Foreigners experiencing the delicious food served.

Palak Soup

Banana Bun- a must try Udupi dish

We had Udupi bun (banana bun), idly,  butter naan, paneer butter masala, pasta and completed our course with a filter coffee. It was one of the best dining experience we had.

Pasta- a delight in Woodlands

Filter Coffee

There are numerous spiritual places like Kukke Subramanya Temple, Shringeri Sharadhamba Temple, Kollur Mookambiga Temple and Murudeshwar temple and greenic places like Madikeri (Coorg) that are located in a close proximity to Udupi.

With happy memories of Sri Krishna darshan, beach adventures and Woodlands dinner, we completed our Udupi visit. and we head to Mangalore, just 90 minutes by bus through Kaup.