Murudeshwar-Gokarna-Karwar-monsoon trail

We started the day with temple visit. This has multiple temples inside the premises and is a holy place. Then we visited the beach next to the temple, which was not very clean. It was not that crowded and that day they were not allowing people to go near water due to high tide alert. After knowing about the story of Murudeswar, I wanted to visit all 5 Atma Lingas to complete the darshan. So, we headed to Gunavanteswar and Dhareswar Temple respectively. We had peaceful darshan as there were hardly anyone in those temples.

Then we visited Yana caves- the most interesting part of the day. Yana is a village in North Karnataka. located in Sahyadri range of Western Ghats. It is located at a distance of 75 Kilometers from Murudeswar and 50 Kilometers from Gokarna. This is famous for the unusual monolithic rock formations. Interestingly this place is also linked to Hindu mythology. The demon named Bhasmasura was burnt into ashes by himself here. Hence the soil of this area is too black and sticky. As Lord Shiva blessed him with that power and the demon followed the Lord to test it. Lord hid in these caves and Mohini- a form of Lord Vishnu helped to kill the demon. Hence there are two rock caves named Bhairaveswar and Mohini.

Pro Tip: There is no signal at Yana caves, better to download offline maps. Also carry umbrella if travelling during Monsoon.

We got to know that there was this stretch of 1 and half to 2 Kilometers to trek up to reach the cave. Carrying Umbrellas is advisable during Monsoon specifically. The weather was fluctuation quickly there. the initial stretch was not very tough as there were no steps initially. The entire stretch was covered alongside with lush green flora and fauna. There was a small stream of water flowing next to the road making the trek enjoyable. It was raining most of the time. towards the end there were steps to climb up. It was very tough, but somehow we reached the top and then it started pouring heavily. There was a cave temple, which I visited This is called the Bhairaveswar Peek with a height of 120 meters. Then I saw there were few more steps to go further up, but barefoot. As it was raining heavily I did not go up further and had my darshan there and came back. The peek that was there further is called Mohini Peek and the height of this one is 90 meters. The trek till there was a experience of lifetime. Coming down was fun and enjoyable. It took around 3 hours to complete the trek.

Then we headed to Gokarna. We had lunch there in a local place. Then we covered OM beach and Kudle beach. These are picturesque beaches located in the middle of Western ghats. Many people prefer to trek to reach the beaches. We took the normal route where we had to go down the stairs to reach the beaches. The beaches were gorgeous, but again they were not allowing to enjoy the tides as there was high tide alert. I took a walk at the Kudle beach from one end to the other. The only sad part was there were some shacks on the beach from where dirty water was flowing to the sea. They should have better sewerage system. Our next stop was Gokarna main beach. It was almost evening. So, we enjoyed the sunset here and then went to the Gokarna Shiva temple. They don't allow inside the temple without proper dress code. We purchased some local dry fruits and spices here and then headed to Karwar which 60 Kilometers away Gokarna for night halt.

Sajjeshwar Temple>DevBagh Beach>Sadashivgarh Fort and temple>Kali River Bridge>INS Warship Museum>Rock Garden>Ravindranath Tagore Beach

Karwar is a port town located in the border of Karnataka and Goa. Karwar in Kannada means corner referring to the corner of the land mass before the Kali river. This is sandwiched between the Kali river and the Arabian sea making it a perfect port city.

This day was planned for local sightseeing at Karwar. So, we started with the last atmalinga darshan i.e. the Sajjeshwar temple. Then we headed to Devbagh beach. This is a secluded beach, if you look for this in google maps, it points to a resort and not everyone is allowed there. So, we went to the beach next to it. Majali beach and Devbagh beach are located next to each other. Both are secluded and you hardly find anyone there except for the fishermen. This was a picturesque beach with pine trees on the shore and fishermen's boats and with an amazing backdrop. This is a must visit place in Karwar. Next we tried to visit the Sadashivgard fort, but I would like to inform that this has been converted to a heritage hotel and hence not everyone is allowed here. Hence we did the darshan at the Devi temple locate next to it and came back. Then we had lunch at Shwetha lunch home. The food here was not very expensive and was delicious. I had Mackerel fish thali in which we get Rice, fish curry gravy, Mackerel fish fry, small fish fry, Kokum juice. after having the scrumptious lunch, it was time for INS Warship museum visit. I had been to the submarine museum in RK beach, Vishakhapatnam. So, for me it was almost same, however I felt this one could be maintained better. In here, one could see the life of Indian Navy in a warship and I must say it is really tough. Well, next to this was the rock garden, where they had some beautiful depiction of Karnataka's culture, dance forms, society etc. It was located next to the sea, enhancing the beauty of the place. After spending some time here, we went to the Rabindranath Tagore beach, which is named after the famous poet as he once visited Karwar and was mesmerized by the beauty of the place. While sitting on the seashore and ended up writing a poem inspired by the beauty of the place. Hence the beach was named after him. We went for some local shopping post that. Then it was dinner time and we went to the famous Hotel Amrut. This place was super crowded, but luckily we got a place to sit. We had chicken sukka, calamari rings and fried rice. Everything was just delicious. This place had a better ambience and whoever visits Karwar goes to Hotel Amrut for sure. Apparently Salman Khan made this restaurant famous after his visit. Post that everyone goes there. This was our last meal at Karwar and was our last day of the trip. Next day we had to return to Bangalore.

It was a great experience for us enjoying the monsoon in the coastal towns, specially the Yana trek. It is a recommended activity during monsoon for everyone. Do let me know if you need any further information in comments. Hope you enjoyed reading this travelogue and was helpful to plan your next trip.