Riding the Coastal Breeze: A Memorable Motorbike Adventure to Gokarna

I have been doing road trips with my friends and family for a long time and ended with some indulging and incredible moments! However, one thing that I had completely missed out on was writing a blog and sharing my experience. I always wondered, what drives the people who do long rides. What are the difficulties they face during their travel? How do they stay positive even during a difficult situation?

I realized that I had the perfect opportunity to find out for myself, to go through this said experience. Me and my wife brainstormed for a few weeks and finally decided to have our first long ride together to Gokarna. We visited Gokarna in the month of November, which was the perfect time to visit this place.

How to Reach:

By Road:

• From Mumbai, it is 726 km.
• From Pune, it's 567 km.

Best Time to Visit:

October to February.

 

DAY 1: 

We left early morning at around 4 am from Navi Mumbai and took our first major halt at Kolhapur. The distance from Navi Mumbai to Kolhapur by road is around 370 km (approximately). Starting the ride early morning gave us the advantage of less traffic and good road conditions which took us 6 hours to reach our first halt in Kolhapur. The whole day we took some rest and had to work from home as we weren't able to get the leaves.

The same day in the evening we visited Mahalaxmi Temple, which is situated in the heart of the city. We were lucky enough to witness the auspicious occasion of "Kartik Purnima". The Temple was lighted up with diyas (small oil lamps). 

DAY 2:

After the much-needed sleep we started our journey towards Gokarna and left Kolhapur around 9 am. The distance from Kolhapur to Gokarna is 347 km by road. We followed google map which ended up with bad roads and had to do some off-roading. During our travel through this rough terrain, our saddlebag was damaged a lot, and had to order a new Rynox Gears Saddle bag. We reached Zostel around 6 in the evening. I will advise you to take the longest route, avoid the shortest route shown on the google map.

First, we took a bath after reaching Zostel and rushed to Mantra cafe for dinner. The food served here is really delicious, however, it's expensive. Don't forget to try the Roasted Kaju Masala, Kozi Varuval.

DAY 3:

The third day was our first day of exploring Gokarna. On this day we decided to travel Yana Caves and Vibhuti waterfall. Yana is approximately 52 km from Gokarna zostel, which took us around 1:30 hours

Yana is a hill famous for housing two giant natural Limestone monoliths which attract thousands of pilgrims every year. We reached the lower parking lot however, there are 2 parking lot near Yana caves. To actually see the caves one has to walk for like 30-40mins from the Parking lot. There were benches provided at a regular interval for taking a rest and enjoying the wonders of nature. The Yana Rock formation is truly spectacular. Photographs do not entirely capture their majesty. There are two rock formations nearby each other which are formed due to volcanic eruption. There is a small temple at the foot of the larger rock formation and through the temple, there are steps to go right into the rock formation (it is not exactly a cave).

After leaving Yana Caves we planned on going to Vibhuti waterfall. Actually, there is a route from Yana caves to Vibhuti falls, which will save your time. The Vibhuti waterfall entry gets closed at 5 in the evening, so try to reach on time. There is a small hike of 15-20 minutes to reach the waterfall. This place is not known by many people hence it is less crowded. The waterfall is vivid but ethereal.

DAY 4:

On the fourth day we visited the Mirjan fort which is at a distance of 45 km from Gokarna. We left Zostel around 8 am. It is on the same route of the Yana Caves. The fort is very well maintained and looks much more beautiful during the rainy season with all the greenery and moss but we couldn't witness that.

The same day we visited the Shiva cave which was at a walkable distance from the Gokarna zostel. It's dark inside - there is a small hole near the temple through which sun rays come in. The cave experience is the only good thing unless you want to offer your prayers to Lord Siva. Feel free to skip this one in case you have limited time allocated to the Gokarna trip. After visiting the Shiva cave we went to Midle beach, where we enjoyed the sunset. The middle part of the Kudle beach is known as Midle beach. 

Later that evening we visited the famous Namaste cafe at Om beach. Being the only cafe on Om beach, the dishes served are overpriced. Looking at the overpriced menu, we only ordered the crab masala and roti. The crab masala was succulent.

Day 5:

Our Fifth day was unplanned as we had some official work, so we just relaxed in the Zostel. In the afternoon during our lunch break, we decided to visit the Mahabaleshwar temple which was near the Zostel. It took us 15 mins to reach on foot. It is compulsory for boys to wear a lungi. There is Free Amrutanna Prasad Bhojana (meal) which is served twice daily to all the devotees. Timings are 12 to 2 pm in the afternoon and 7:30 to 8:30 pm in the evening. The same day evening we explored the restaurants near the temple. Don't forget to try the famous Gadbad ice cream, Kombucha, and south Indian dishes.

Day 6:

This was our last day in Gokarna and we were going on a beach trek organized by the Zostel committee. We started the trek early morning from Belkan beach and ended it on Om beach. Our trek covered the major beaches which have clean water, gentle waves, and amazing view. In this trek, we covered the Belkan beach, Paradise beach, half-moon beach, dolphin point, and Om beach. After completing the trek we check out and headed towards our next destination. i.e. Murudeshwar and checked in the hotel for a night.

Day 7:

On this day we visited the Murudeshwar temple. A 20-story high gopuram said to be the second tallest in the world is guarded by two life-size elephants. The temple and the museum are open from 6 am to 1 pm and from 3 pm to 9 pm. The lord shiva idol is 123 feet high and below the idol, there is a museum explaining the mythical story and significance of the Atma Linga.

While going through the whole story of the Atma linga we got to know about the other 4 atma lingas and we decide to visit those places while heading back home. Murudeshwar temple is one of the 5 atma linga’s temple, others being at Shri Gunavanteshwar temple in Honavar, Shri Dharanatha temple in Dareshwar, Shri Shejjeshwar temple in Karwar, and Mahabaleshwara temple in Gokarna. We also visited the Shri MahaGanpati temple at Idgaunji, which had a soothing and calm ambience.

We visited all the above stated places with the suggestion which we got from the locals.

We were tired whole day riding, we decided to take a halt at Karwar and had our dinner at Amrut Hotel. This hotel is in Karwar city and they serve mouth-watering and delicious sea food.

Day 8:

Early morning we visited the Rabindranath Tagore beach. This was one of the cleanest and most beautiful beach situated near Karwar city and the highway. In the morning you can watch the fishermen pull in their nets. 

There are many places to visit in Karwar, but we were short of time and skipped those places and started our journey towards our Kolhapur. While heading towards our next destination, we decide to take an en-route and visit Goa and have lunch at the Ritz Classic, Panjim. The seafood at this place is delicious. If you want to visit this place try to visit during weekdays as this place is really crowded. We were lucky enough to get a dining seat for two. After lunch, we headed towards Kolhapur as we were running late as per our planned schedule. We reached Kolhapur around 10 pm due to bad conditions of the road and this time also we took the road which was suggested by google. Try asking locals for the best route, they will really help you out.

Day 9:

On this day we decided to take some rest and take blessings of Lord Jyotiba. We spend our evening at the bank of the Panchganga ghat and ended our day with a luscious chicken thali at the Dehati restaurant.  This place is expensive and it has too much waiting to have a seat.

Day 10:

We started our return journey and on the way my sister and brother-in-law accompanied us. The Mapro Garden, Wai was our get together point for our afternoon lunch. While heading towards our home, we had to make a stop in Lonavala because of the flat tire, due to which we got a chance to try the chicken thali at Mummy’s Homely Food. 

The overall trip was more of a good moment rather than bad one. To cut short the whole trip below are the list of places to visit and restaurants which we visited during our Gokarna bike ride

Places to visit:

1. Vibhuti waterfall
2. Yana Caves
3. Mirjan Fort
4. Mahabaleshwar Temple
5. Beach Trek (beach names)
6. Shiva Cave
7. Murudeshwar temple
8. Shri Gunavanteshwar temple
9. Shri Dharanathatemple 
10. Shri Shejjeshwar temple 
11. Shri MahaGanpati temple, Idgaunji
12. Rabindranath Tagore beach
13. Mahalaxmi Temple
14. Jyotiba Temple
15. Panchaganga ghat
16. Mapro Garden

Restaurants to visit:

1. Dehati Resturant, Kolhapur
2. Amrut Resturant, Karwar
3. Hotel Mirjan, Gokarna
4. Hotel Prema, Gokarna
5. Namaste Café, Gokarna
6. The Ritz Classic, Goa
7. Mapro Garden
8. Pai Restaurant, Gokarna

Note: To know the google location of the resturants click on the hyperlinks