Beaches of Udupi:
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| Clean shorelines of St Mary's Island, Udupi |
Though beaches are known for Goa in India, I found beaches in Udupi are worth a dip. About 400 km from Bangalore, Udupi can be reached in through many routes, the scenic route via Kudremukh, Sringeri or directly via Mangaluru. We took the Kudremukh route.
The route from Sakleshpur till Sringeri is very scenic and passes through the Kudremukh National Park.
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| Kudremukh National Park |
Sirimane falls was another splendid experience, but the road which leads to the falls is in a bad condition. It is about 13km from Sringeri, and the best time to visit is during Oct-Feb. The water here is very clean and is very safe to play in water. The falls see a lot of crowd and is not a deserted one. From the parking lot it is about 10 mins short trek through the well-paved steps.
After enjoying the afternoon in the waterfalls, we started towards Sringeri Temple for an early evening darshana. Sringeri temple complex is located on the banks of river Tunga and has two main temples Sri Vidyashankara temple and Sharadamba temple.
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| Gopura of Sringeri Temple Complex |
Vidyashankara temple is built in 1342 A.D by Vidyaranya, it has a combined architectural feature of Hoysala and Vijayanagara. It is entirely built in stone and has delicate carvings both inside and outside the structure.
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| Sri Vidyashankara temple, Sringeri |
There is a tradition of feeding the fishes at Tunga river beside Vidyashankara temple, and fishing is banned in the surroundings.
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| One of the Newly built Temples at Sringeri |
Just over 2 hrs ride took us to Udupi. Udupi has many famous beaches, best among them is the Kapu beach and a boat ride from Malpe beach can take you to the beautiful and tranquil St Mary's Island.
St Mary's Island is known for their distinctive geological formation of columnar basaltic rock in a hexagonal form. The islands form one of the four geological monuments in Karnataka state, one of the 26 Geological Monuments of India declared by the Geological Survey of India in 2001.
There are boat trips starting from the Maple beach to the St Mary's Island, which costs about 150Rs per person for a round trip. There are neither shops nor changing rooms on the Island, so plan accordingly.
The Island is very clean on the other side, with small lagoons and clear waters. There are a lot of big red crabs found on the basalt rocks at the shores. A visit to this Island is a must if you are in Udupi. The beach over here might not be suitable for swimming due to rocks formations at its shoreline, but is very much suitable to take a dip and soak in water under hot the sun.
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| Basalt rock formations at St Mary's Island, Udupi |
Kapu beach is another must visit in Udupi, which is about 17km from Udupi city. Get into the beach in late afternoons and end up enjoying the lovely sunset under the Arabian Sea. This beach is pretty much safe to swim and play in shoreline near the Light house, there were life guards having an eye on the tourists going too deep in the waters and were also alarmed when in danger. This is one of the cleanest beaches I've seen in India, only thing it lacks is a well maintained and clean changing rooms and open showers.
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| Kapu Beach and the Light House, Udupi |
The Light House and the surrounding rocks add the beauty to the colorful sky during sunset, certainly the best place to end our journey.
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| Colorful painted sky during sunset at the Kapu Beach |
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