Weekend Trip to the Port City of Karnataka, Mangalore!

We were to travel via the Kannur Express from Bengaluru City station. The train starts at 9.30PM from Bengaluru and reaches Mangalore Central at around 7.10AM the next day. This is one of the most punctual trains I have ever travelled by. We had booked our seats in Sleeper coach but I would suggest to book in AC if possible as there would be many people travelling without reserved ticket and try to sneak in. There will be vendors asking for food orders, however, I would advice against it as the quality is too poor!

We had a Malayali family, a couple of Indian Railways employees and an 'RAC Couple' (when 2 people need to share a single seat) as our co passengers. Just like any other overnight train journeys, all the lights were off by midnight!

We reached Mangalore Central Station at 7.20AM. There is not much distance between the Junction and the Central. Based on your hotel location, you can get down at any of them. Once we came out of the platform, we could see a queue for local prepaid autos. But, this was different! There was no actual counter for that and instead, there was a man, giving manual challans for autos. He would take INR 4-5 for each challan but we never knew why! Autos are plenty. We got into one and we were charged INR 45 to reach our hotel. We had initially tried searching for Ola/Uber autos. There was no Uber auto available and no Ola auto was being assigned to us (though the fare showed 26 bucks).

We freshened up quickly and went out for breakfast. Though we did not get a good night's sleep in train (as expected), we decided to take the nap later in the afternoon. We had heard about the famous Mangalore Buns and thought of try that out the first thing in the morning. The Tajmahal Cafe is very nearby (2 minutes walk) and its quite crowded during the morning time. Its air conditioned and quite open-spaced. Though you will find it almost full, you will still have space to walk around. The waiters are very helpful and they suggest you what to try. You may need to wait for a little before they come and ask for orders. We took Mangalore Buns and Shawige Bath (which was surprisingly different than what we expected, tasty nevertheless). You will find Mangalore Buns in many places outside Mangalore but the texture and the taste, its something else! Also , the chutney they serve is also quite different, in a good way of course!

After finishing our breakfast, we headed towards St. Aloysius PU college. My wife used to study here and she has talked a lot about it. Evidently, this was in our itinerary. The college campus is huge! It has multiple different institutions within it. We took a walk around it. There was some examination going on in one part and thus we decided not to take many photos. There was a cultural festival happening on another side and we decided to pay a visit. It really took us back to our college days (different colleges, of course!). After spending some time there and watching a few excellent performances, we began exploring other sections of the college premises. There is a small church, St. Aloysius Chapel, with some of the best interior paintings all over the walls and ceilings. We spent some really quiet time there before heading out.

The heat was wiring us off, so we decided to visit the nearby City Centre Mall.

The mall is not the biggest I have seen but it had a lot of shops inside. We had nothing to buy but to get some cold air! So, we roamed around the shops and finally stopped at a Lime Soda stall. We had the usual sweet and salt lime soda but we could see people going crazy over the special 'spicy' soda with green chilly! I wish how that might taste.

Our hotel was not far from the mall , so we walked back (it increased our daily step count too, not that it made much difference). We were already tired walking in that excruciating heat and hence, took some much needed rest.

We felt hungry in no time. Morning's Buns and Baths were already digested. We headed to Machhali Restaurant ( I had heard about this place a lot!). It was a short walk too, the location of our hotel was indeed good, I felt!

This restaurant is regarded as the top place to visit in Mangalore. And it surely showed when we reached. There was long queue and people waiting outside the restaurant. I would share something little contrasting though. I believe, this place is overrated. A pungent smell of fish will greet you as soon as you enter the premises. When it comes to fish, I believe, there can be overall 2 types of fish. The one you get in the southern part of India and the other what you get in the eastern side. Being a Bengali, I have developed a certain taste in fishes. And, it simply does not go with the Mangalorian fish preparations I have had so far. I thought, an authentic place like Machali will give me the true flavours of the dishes. Unfortunately, I was disappointed.

After waiting outside for almost half an hour, they called us inside. As we were just 2 people, we had to share a table with another 2 people. This is good as it utilizes the spaces properly. You will get one fishy smell all over the restaurant. That's understandable , however, it was a foul smell that even I did not find comfortable. And I am someone who had a habit of visiting the fish market everyday. We had ordered Fish Kebab and Prawn Ghee Roast. If I would recommend any one dish from here, that would be this ghee roast! It was simply delicious. I am afraid I can't say the same for other dishes though. They were overpriced (may be a result of the hype they get) and not worthy at all. They serve a Taza lemonade which is a must try I would say.

The beach was packed with people. I did not expect it to be this crowded. However, the weather was pleasant and was good for walking along the shores. The cool breeze was calming. We spent some time there and took lots of photos. You can find people mostly playing in the order. But, as it was high tide time, the coast guards started whistling as a warning to not go close to the water. We decided , it was time for us to leave as well. We were a bit concerned as we were not aware how to go back!

We asked some people there and one of them suggested to take an auto to the main road as we would get some bus to city from there. We did the same. The auto charged us 40Rs. We did not have to wait much before we got a bus to the city. This was much easier than we anticipated. So, a tip for anyone coming to Panambur beach from the city would be, rely on local buses or meter autos. They are much safer and cheaper compared to any cab aggregators.

The bus ride was good. It was not much crowded and it dropped us near to our hotel.

After coming back, we rested for a while. For dinner, we thought of finding a good restaurant nearby. I had read and heard about Maharaja Restaurant. We went there to have some good seafood. However, their price shocked us! It was 800 bucks for a single pomfret! We get this a lot cheaper in Bangalore itself. Again, being disappointed, we turned towards our go to meal and had chicken biryani (which was also expensive, by the way).

We then went to another famous landmark in Mangalore, Pabba's. Now, you may see different outlets of Pabba's in many places. However, the original one is near the Bharath Mall bus stop. I had seen and heard about the long queues outside Pabba's. Fortunately, at around 11AM, when we reached, there was no queue and we got a table for ourself as well! Finally, some shining luck! We could see many delivery agents from Swiggy and Zomato waiting outside, that might be a reason behind the less footfall here.

We had ordered the famous Tiramisu (people may say to ry the gudbud here, but I would recommend the Tiramisu any day), Vanilla ice cream with Carrot Halwa, Cutlet and Sandwich. Though, you may need to wait for some time to get your orders but its worth the wait. The price is quite reasonable too.

Once we got off the boat, the main beach was about 100 meters from there. It was a lot cleaner than the Panambur Beach as it had less people (maybe that was because of the time we went too, it was 3PM). The only bad part was, the beach had no shelter and the sun was in no mood to take a break and hide behind the clouds! Somehow, we managed to find broken playing slide that gave us some shelter. Although, we received some weird looks from the tourists around, we were happy not to get fried in the scorching heat. The water was cleaner too.

After spending some time there, we decided to go back. We were both thirsty and hungry. There are a few stalls just outside the beach. However, the good thing is, you can bring your own food and have a picnic on the beach too. Of course, there is a small area covered in trees and they will give you all the shadows you need. Just bring a mat and have some quality family time!