Pune - Udupi - Mangalore Road Trip

Why and When?

It was February 2021. The lockdown has eased. The nation is talking a breath before the second wave could unleash. It was also one and half months that we had gone out anywhere after our last trip to Kolkata-Puri, and we thought this is the best time for a quick break as exam season is mostly on and not too warm – which means less crowd and good weather. The Covid situation was improving and there were less restrictions (at least when we planned). We looked around Pune for drivable destinations and realized never been to Mangalore. Surprisingly, though Karnataka is so near, we have hardly covered it. We have been to Bijapur, Hampi, Gokarna, Murudeshwar but still a vast area is still explored. Udupi-Mangalore looks great around this time. So, one Friday afternoon, after office, we started, took night break at Belgaum and reached Udupi on next day. Pune to Udupi is about 750km and Udupi to Mangalore is about 60km. You first drive on NH4 until Dharwad and then take right towards Dandeli and meet NH17 at Ankola, which goes through Gokarna, Murudeshwar to Udupi and Mangalore.

What to expect?

Coastal Drive

Karnataka has about 280km long coastline, from Karwar to Mangalore. While Maharastra coastal drive is stunning with Western Ghat meeting Arabian Sea (I have driven from Alibaug in North to Tarkarli in South 😊), Karnataka coastal drive is more up-close and personal. You can practically drive on the beach, put your belongings in the car and take a dip in the sea! The famous NH17

(Mumbai-Goa-Mangalore highway) follows the coast all the way. At Maravante, it literally touches the sea. The drive from Mattu beach to Malpe beach is nothing less than stunning.. it’s almost 8km stretch.. one side is river and another side Arabian Sea.. the land is narrow, barely 100m at some spots.. coconut trees on one side of the road and pristine white sand beach on the other side to

keep company all the way!

If you are this part of the country, this drive must be in your itinerary!

Rivers and Lagoons

If you looks at the landscape of South Karnataka, you will see the multiple large rivers meeting the sea (Sita, Suvarna, Panchagangavali, Gurupura, Netravathi rivers). These rivers widen up near the sea and split into multiple branches. From about 50km before Udupi, you will start crossing these rivers. Near the coast the water flow slowed down, it becomes shallow and give rises to hundreds of islands. These islands are small, fully covered with lush green plantations (mostly coconut). You will find Kerala style houseboats here roaming around this quiet blue backwater. On a bright day, that’s what you will only need – sit down by the river

side, have a breakfast under the shade of trees or may take a boat ride or just lazy around with book or Netflix .

Cuisine

One of the main reason of traveling Mangalore and Udupi to taste its amazing food. And our love for fish means most of the meals were seafood dominated 😃

What we eat? The famous ghee roast of everything, chicken, squid, prawn, fish and crab! Served on banana leaves on most of the time accompanied by par-boild unpolished rice of neer dosa – its heaven. And there was Kori Rotti – which is like wafer thin crunchy rice roti served with Mangalore style chicken gravy. And in the afternoon, when sun at its peak, and we were no mood to go out, we used to sit down and gulp liters of Toddy – the local palm wine made from coconut

tree sap. Toddy is slightly sweet, slightly tangy, - a great accompaniment with spicy seafood. It was pure bliss.

We eat vegetarian food too 😃 like Mangalore special poha, Mangalore Bun, bonda – but we still dream of those amazing fish lunches that we had. One should visit this place just for this – trust me!

Culture

Like anywhere in India, this region is a melting pot of different culture and religions. Take for an example of Jainism. This region has belt of many beautiful Jain monuments – we visited Chaturmukha Basadi, Saavira Kambada Basadi, Gommateshwara Bahubuli single stone statute.

Chaturmukha Basadi for an example, one of the many Jain monuments in South Karnataka region.. the Jain temple is called Basadi here.. this particular one sitting on top of a hillock surrounded by coconut plantations. a beautiful sight indeed. It has 4 identical sides (even 4 doors and 4 sets of identical idols).

We were also Super lucky to experience Kodial Teru (also known as Mangalore Car Festival). It’s a six day annual festival with Rath Yatra and fair and festivities at Sri Venkataramana Temple, mainly for GSB community.

One must also visit Udupi Shree Krishna Temple. We happened to visit at the time of daily bhog when thousands of devotee get to experience prashads here (popularly called Anna Brahma). The sweet smell of rasam just fills the air inside the complex

Beaches

No surprise here that Karnataka has so many beaches given its long coastline. Which will amaze you though how clean and golden sand these beaches are. Karnataka has 2 Blue Flag Beaches BTW (do google search about blue flag 😊 )

I found these beaches are well developed, people are extremely well behaved and most of the beaches are safe.

Take an example of Malpe Beach. Situated just outside Udupi town, this beautiful sandy beach is clean and very approachable.. government also made of lot infrastructure like numerous toilets and bath, sitting area, street shopping lane and parking and lifeguards.. No wonder we have most of our time in around beaches 😊

Shopping

We always pick up something local, be it is handicraft or food. It is a way to bring a part of the place back home. Mangalore is famous for chips and papad. If you ever visited Indore, you know how people crazy about farsan there. You can imagine similar emotion here too. Where in central India it is mostly besan, rice or corn. Down here it is mostly root vegetables and topical fruits. We have picked up loads of sweet potato, tapioca, banana, jackfruit chips and. Also picked up ghee roast and other masala in hope to recreate the magic at home. The City Bakery has something called Cashew Macaroon – it is an interesting take on famed French dessert.

Then there is Mattu Gulla - the famous brinjal of Udupi. Brinjal with GI tag!! It has 400 years of history and only grown on about 500 acres of land near Udupi. It also received GI tag (which means even if grow in your backyard, you can’t call it Mattu Gulla). Each brinjal marked with GI sticker for authenticity!!

Do you know Karnatka is a major producer of pineapple and most of this fruit that we consume in Pune, comes from here? If you could manage to visit a pineapple farm, you could pick some amazing goodies like wine, jam, juice, all produced locally