Gokarna & Dandeli with Kids

This winter, we headed on our 1st road-trip to a part of coastal Karnataka with Gokarna and a bird water and adventure paradise in Dandeli with three 5-6 year olds. Detailed itinerary from Mumbai below. Also, includes other must-see things and ones we couldn’t cover

Day 1 – Mumbai to Pune (4hours, 150km) - Given it’s a long road trip, we decided to start early and halt at a cousin’s in Pune for the night

Day 2 – Pune to Gokarna (14 hours, 600km) - Left early morning taking the route through the Pune-Bangalore Route

Breakfast halt at Sagar restaurant in Karad – quick dosa and missal breakfast with tea. Lunch halt at Oye-Shawa in Belgaum and a quick trip to the next door Reliance Mall for water and missed toiletries.

Reached our resort – Kudle Ocean Front at 8pm at night to be greeted to a music and dance event for Christmas Eve. Relaxed for the night at the resort and a quick walk to the quite-dark beach front

Day 3 – Gokarna – Kudle Beach -

After our breakfast at the beach front Garden Café (not to be mistaken with Shiva Garden Café), this one is right on Kudle beach, we had a few hours of sand play and beach time

Evening cruise boat ride by Mystic Gokarna Adventures(600pp for adults and half rate for kids in the mornings and 800pp for evenings) to see Om Beach, Paradise Beach, Half Moon Beach, Shiva Rocks, River joining place and the lighthouse with the view of the sunset. Must do on the trip

Our Lunch and Dinner was at Kudle Ocean Front itself

Day 4 – Yana Caves

Pitch black in color, the cave is formed of karst limestone, well-known for its unique structure and pattern of formation. The trip is almost 1.5 hrs each way and 2 hour spent there. There are no food options at Yana, so advise you to pack some stuff for the meals. Return and spent time at the beach

Day 5 – Murudeshwar - Mainly famous for its Big Lord Shiva Statue which is known to be the 2nd longest sculpture of Shiva (after Nathdwara in Rajasthan). The temple has a 20-storeyed Gopuram with views from the top highlighting that it is surrounded by Arabian Sea from three sides and the view from there is amazing, except for the crowd and small windows

Lunch at Naveen beach restaurant, with good views – can be crowded but good ambience depending on weather

Day 6 – Enroute to Dandeli - The route is scenic and through another beach place Karwar (on my agenda for a future trip). Breakfast at Amrut Mitrasamaj Canteen in Karwar (must try!!). Reached our resort – Hornbill in Dandeli at 2pm (another place we will come back to). At Hornbill we booked 2 tree houses and 1 river front cottage

The moment we entered, we were welcomed with a simple yet very tasty spread of lunch, followed by some games of archery / dart board, badminton, and cricket. All packages include -breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner.

The river activities included in the package are – boating, swimming in Kali River, kayaking, zorbing (including for 5-6 year old kids). The nature / indoor activities include – campfire, cycling, night jungle nature walk (650m one-way), morning nature walk with bird watching (650m one-way). Paid activities include river rafting, zipline

Our first day, we had our lunch, relaxed a bit playing some games and headed for the boating in the evening where we saw hornbills, kingfisher, the lovely blue-green water of river Kali, giant red squirrel, rivertern, bulbul (black and white), and some lovely fishes. The views from our river front and tree house rooms were mesmerizing. So, booking anyone of the rooms will be fine.

Tarantulas and their white nests, hearing the stream and seeing the night sky were the nightlight of the night walk.

Come here with the intention of staying here. Explore their bird watching and jungle safaris and star gazing experience with a few more days at hand

Day 7 – Full day in Hornbill resort - Explored the water sports, nature trails and relaxed in the afternoon with a star gazing experience at night

Day 8 – Dandeli to Pune - Left Hornbill with bitter sweet memories after breakfast to head to Pune. Lunch at Niyaaz in Belgaum and shopped for Kunda, Dharwad Peda, Kardandh at Suresh Purohit and Swamy Bakery and Sweets for fresh Doughnuts

Dinner at Manas Resto Lounge in Satara before we reached Pune at midnight

Day 9 – Pune – Stayed at home and explored building and club house amenities at our cousins place with the children

Day 10 – Pune to Mumbai – Came back to Mumbai with lots of fun-filled memories of the trip

Places we couldn’t cover in Gokarna

- Maha Ganpati temple before Mahabaleshwara Temple (timing – 6am – 12pm, 5-7pm). Dravidian style design and architecture – should take an hour at the temple

- Beach trek of 2.5 hrs – start from Kudle beach to Om Beach to Half moon Beach and finally Paradise beach for sunset

- Water sports at Kudle beach

- Good cafes to try – Namastey at Om beach, Chez Christophe, Marine-Uana Café Gokarna, Mantra Café, Sunset café for dinner, Halfway Home cafe (best pizza, ginger kombucha, south indian thali for lunch)

- Dolphin sighting– morning ride for dolphin sighting at kudle / om beach (Rs. 300pp)

- Mirjan Fort (timing – 8am – 5.30pm) – Spend 2-3 hours exploring the secluded fort

- While returning from Murudeshwar to Gokarna, go to Honnavar for Mangrove Broadway Walk, Honnavar backwaters boating, Sunset from Eco beach in Honnavar

- Gokarna to Dandeli - Sahatralinga, Vibhooti falls