Gokarna beach trek - Where the mountains meet the ocean

We started our day from Honnavar from where Gokarna is about 50 km. The target was to reach our stay at Gokarna by noon, have lunch and start the trek. We reached well before time. The route was pretty scenic and roads were well maintained. After reaching there, we came across a variety of landscapes and I just couldn't resist from taking some pictures to capture the beauty of this place.

After having lunch we started our trek. Our beach stay was near the Gokarna beach. Most of the blogs listed Gokarna trek as Kudle -> Om -> Half Moon -> Paradise. We tried to explore a little more and instead of Kudle, started from Gokarna beach itself. This extra part however rewarded us with amazing cliff views of the beach. After starting from Gokarna beach, we headed towards Kudle through Gokarna beach. After crossing the first checkpoint, we took a small hike to the hill which covers both Gokarna as well as Kudle beach. On this small hike we came across a small temple. The view from this temple was the start of flurry of beautiful landscapes that were about to come. The first in this was a small green place, where you can sit and enjoy the views of the beach.

After spending about 5-10 minutes at the place we continued towards Kudle. From here, we had to go up the stairs from the left of the temple on to a hill. There is a well marked trail which will lead you to Kudle beach. This trail takes you from behind the mountain. We were a little pumped up on adrenaline and left the trail going directly up the hill. We were perfectly fine till the time we were climbing. But as soon as we reached the top, we were just shocked by the beauty of what was there in front of us. This was a steep cliff with a view of the shore. Never before had I seen such views of the shore from such a great height. We spent 10-15 minutes admiring the beauty of the natural marvel and continued our journey forward.

After walking for another 1 km we again came across the cliff view of the shore. This time it was even more beautiful because the cliff was divided in two parts by a steep path going directly down to the shore. This part of the trek looked like it was some sort of green opening to the core of the Earth. The thing about this trek is, there are so many green and beautiful sights of the hills and the beach that you'll eventually just run out of adjectives to describe. That is the reason I took hell lot of pics so that they could speak for them self. This was the place where a small part of the cliff was further out and everyone in our group rushed there to get a view of the beautiful seashore and to get themselves clicked at that place.

After this we headed towards Kudle beach without any breaks. We met some locals on the way who told that Kudle to Om trek is not exactly scenic but Om to Half Moon is a trek you definitely don't want to miss. Heeding to their advice we quickly reached Kudle and hitched a ride to Om beach instead of trekking the whole way. The reason behind doing this was the setting sun. The trek from Om to Half Moon was a little treacherous and people strongly advised us not to do it without sunlight.

After reaching Om we started walking on the beach towards Half moon. Because of the monsoons, Half moon beach was closed for tourists and there was no shack open on the beach. This didn't deter us and we continued on Om beach in the direction of Half moon. After crossing Om, there is a narrow path which leads into the jungle. At first we thought we were lost and came in the wrong direction but after about 15 minutes in the jungle, we finally came out of it and witnessed views which just left us standing like white walkers. We were awestruck by the beauty of this mountain sea combo. It was the first time I experienced something like this. The greenery of mountains added to the already beautiful seascapes and made for an artistic land-sea-scape.

Slowly and steadily we started our walk towards the end of that beautiful trail. While crossing this amazing stretch, there was sea on one side and a steep mountain on other. Both of these covered with a green carpet of grass. After going a little further we realized the path was blocked due to excessive vegetation and came back to the stretch of awesome views. We sat at that spot till sunset and tried to capture every bit of the landscape with our eyes which the camera couldn't. This 100 meters stretch stands at the top in terms of the best trails which I have seen over the course of traveling.

After enjoying the views we came back to Om beach where we had a delicious dinner at the Om beach cafe. It's a pretty famous cafe in Gokarna and the food there also doesn't disappoint. We also tried their specials and really liked all the delicacies they had to offer.

After the dinner we retired to our beds at our stay near Gokarna beach to prepare for the next day's journey back to Bangalore. Thinking about a particular scene and enjoying it right in front of your eyes are two very different emotions. This we understood when we woke up the next day to the sound of waves gushing to the shore. But as people say, the grass always seems greener on the other side. With the beautiful memories etched deep in our minds, we packed our bags and started for Bangalore.

How to reach:

Gokarna is about 238 km from Mangalore and 483 km from Bengaluru. It is between the Gangavali and Agnashini rivers along the Karwar coast by the Arabian Sea.

There are buses for Gokarna but I would advise to take a drive to this beautiful city as the roads to this place are pretty scenic.

You can find a stay in Gokarna starting from 2,000 per night. The stays are mostly on the beach and offer nice views all through the day.

Things to carry:

On the beach trek you can go with sandals. Although it's a long trek but sometimes you might feel like going a little in the water. At those times, you'll want to have sandals instead of the shoes.

Water bottles. Although there are enough shacks from where you can buy water bottles, but it's still advisable to carry your own.

Power bank and spare camera batteries.