Gokarna Beach Trek

25 Jan 2019

I chose Get beyond limits for my Gokarna beach trek. On 25^th Jan I took the metro from my home to McGrath road where the bus arrived at 9:30 PM. Others were also picked up on the way. It was a group of around 20 people. The journey was fun, we introduced ourselves in the moving bus, then played dumb charades. It was well past midnight when we all fell asleep.

26 Jan 2019

We arrived at Gokarna around 7:30 AM. We walked about 200m to the home-stay as the bus couldn’t enter the tiny roads. After freshening, we had breakfast in a local hotel. All the hotels we checked out had limited menu (idly, uppit and shira only). Then we mounted the bus to reach ‘God’s own beach’ where the trek began.

The beach was rocky, but clean. After a quick photo stop, we began the trek along the beach around 9:30 AM. It was quite sunny already and the path took us up and down the hilly coastal terrain. The curvy path took us amidst the jungle. Not a thick jungle though! It was a common trek route as the path was very clear. 

After an hour of trekking we arrived at the paradise beach. The view of paradise beach from the cliff was stunning. We descended the steep cliff and had a good time there.







Some people swam and rest of us just enjoyed the serenity. This beach was not crowded. we sat under the shade sipping tender coconut. The feeling was very relaxing. I spotted a few crabs too. After an hour we continued towards the next beach.

On the way we stopped for a rock-climbing experience. The volunteers helped us climb a boulder one by one. They taught us the 3-point contact (out of our 4 limbs, we should always have at least 3 limbs in contact with the rock). It was easy (or the boulder was not a tough one to conquer). After a snacks and break, we continued the trek towards half-moon beach.

We had lunch at the half moon beach. There were two huts and not some fancy hotels. But the lunch was decent. Then we spent some time relaxing and climbed a big boulder too. 

We took some group photos and continued the trek around 3:30 PM.

We then arrived at the rock of peace. This is a big cliff on the edge of the coast with a single coconut tree. It is completely rocky and there is no access to beach. There we spent an hour awaiting sunset. 






We could clearly see the Om beach from this cliff (in the shape of Om). 

We also spotted dolphins there. Around 6, post sunset, we descended towards Om beach. This beach was a bit crowded, with lot of foreigners too. There were many hotels on the beach. After a quick snack break, we continued. It was dark and we turned on our torches.

After an hour trek, we arrived at Kudle beach. We collected wood on the way for a campfire. There we had dinner and tried to set a campfire. The sticks we had collected was still tender, hence people tried weird stuffs to light the wood – hairspray, Vodka etc. Then we spent time playing some games like Antyakshari and passing games etc. then we headed back by bus to the homestay. Some people went to the Gokarna beach at night. Some of us stayed back to catch up on sleep.





27 Jan 2019


Next day some of use woke up early morning to watch the sunrise. We climbed a small hill on the Gokarna beach and waited for sunrise (not from the beach side). There were many foreigners practicing yoga and meditation there. The fresh cool breeze was a refreshing change from the city air!

After sunrise, we descended the hill went to the Ganesha and Mahabala temple (two famous temples in Gokarna). When we returned, the others were ready. We had breakfast and left for Mirjan fort.

After an hour drive, we arrived at Mirjan fort – once ruled by a queen who traded spices with the west. This fort is probably best viewed post monsoon. After exploring the beach fort and taking photos, we started our return journey to Bangalore. 





On the way, we had lunch at Sirsi at around 2 PM. We played Mafia, 20-questions, dumb charades and other games which was super fun. There was a dinner stop at 8:00 PM. We reached Bangalore around 9:30 PM. I got down at the Yelahanka metro station after bidding adieu to my new friends. Overall it was a weekend well spent!

Trek level: Easy to moderate
Cost: < Rs 4000 (inclusive of travel, food, shared home-stay, guide)