So here I am starting with a new series named, Travel Diaries! I am somebody who loves travel. So I am going to try to cover all my past, present and future travel experiences through this blog series here. I hope I am able to convey it in the most elaborate way possible so that it makes you feel like each one of you has been living it too!
So here goes the first one!
Back in February, Me and my husband, Darshak (then boyfriend) :P had just became friends. I was quite bugged of being alone in a distant place (Manipal) away from family. I really needed a getaway and my boy had a plan to set it right. He introduced me to his group of friends. They were very sweet people and all of us got along really well on chats. We were a group of eight and planned a short three day trip to Gokarna.
Gokarna, located by coast of the state of Karnataka, is a paradise for beach lovers. Very similar to Goa, another famous beach location in India but Gokarna is far less crowded. Thus, you get to have your own fun with your group. All of us were very excited for the trip!
Gokarna was an about four hour train journey from Manipal. We boarded the train early in the morning at around 7 am. We got down at Gokarna station at around 10.45 am. Clicked some tired face selfies and found ourselves a cab to our stay.
We had booked our stay at a local homestay to experience the living at the place to its fullest. Our stay was 5 mins walking from the famous Kudle beach. Our stay was a very small, cozy and beautiful place. It was being taken care of by a very sweet couple. They made us feel absolutely at home!
For Day 1, we decided to explore on the beaches near our stay. So we toiled around Kudle beach. There were many beach shacks alongside. We decided to explore the other beaches and return to Kudle for dinner.
Next we went to Om Beach, one of the most famous beaches in Gokarna. It is named so because the beach is in the shape of “Om”, a sacred symbol in the Indic religion. We walked our way from Kudle to Om beach, it was a 20 minutes long walk. We enjoyed the beach view from the top, clicked a lot of pictures and hiked down to the beach. On the beach, we played in the water and clicked some more pictures (no pictures on a trip are enough pictures, right? :P) We also played volleyball with the locals there! It was such a fun evening.
Om Beach is also home to one of the most famous cafes of Gokarna, Namaste Café. We had our late lunch there. The food was really delicious, worth the hype! Here’s everything we had there.
Post hogging, we walked back to Kudle beach. Spent some time on the beach and went to one of the cafes over there to enjoy the beach with some drinks. We visited the Sea rock Cafe there. It was a suggestion by one of my friends from Manipal. We had ‘Special Lassi’ there. It was indeed magical! The magic behind the lassi remains a mystery :P (What happens in Gokarna, stays in Gokarna) And that was about Day 1 at Gokarna!
On Day 2, we decided to visit a tourist location about 2 hours away from Gokarna. It is called the ‘Yana Caves’. It is actually a temple hidden inside one of the most exquisite looking caves. You can see the beauty in the pictures. We went to the temple and then explored our ways through the caves and obviously there were infinite pictures that were clicked.
A short distance from Yana is the beautiful Vibhuti falls. From the parking to the falls, was quite a long walk. But when we reached there, it all seemed absolutely worth it! It was my first experience at a waterfall! I was absolutely thrilled and excited for this one. A fun loving group being together made the experience all the more amazing. We just did not want to get out of the water. And ofcourse many more pictures of us having fun in the falls.
We were all very tired by the time we reached back, we had our dinner and zonked off to bed in no time.
The third day of the trip was not very long as we had to board the return train mid-afternoon. We had breakfast at a famous local hotel. It was really delicious. We headed to the famous Shiva temple and had lunch at another famous nearby local hotel.
And that was our time to wrap up! We packed up and got into the train with memories we would cherish for a lifetime!
That was about our short trip to Gokarna! If you enjoyed reading this, like, comment, upvote and share with your friends. In case of any questions, I would be happy to answer them!
Stay tuned for the next episode of Travel Diaries!