South Canara Tour

We decided to set off on our long awaited pilgimage/tour to temples in Karnataka.

This trip was a wonderful one ,we enjoyed to the core and we had a nice darshan in all the temples.Lots of browsing and googling about the temples and timings were quite informative for us during the trip.

Before we start for the trip we were conscious about two points one is we should stick to the timtings and and another making aswath (my son) comfortable where ever we go.

After celebrating vinayaka chaturthi at home the same day night we left to shimoga thru Volvo from Bangalore.we have one of our uncles staying in Bhadravathi so we went to his house to freshen up ourselves.he has booked an Innova vehicle for us and he gave us some tips and contacts before leaving ,thanks to him.

Our intention is to visit shringeri,horandu,dharmasthala,kukke subramanya,Kateel,Udupi,annegud,kollur,murudeshwar,idigunj,Gokarna.we knew that the plan is little hectic but still we managed ,. and finally we did it!!! :-)


On 16th morning sharp at 6.00 am we left bhadravathi and started our journey towards Shringeri Saradha Mutt,the whole way is through Wester Ghats and it was really amazing to go thru ghats .The driver is a kannadiga ,he has got excellent driving skills and he made us feel safe and comfortable for the entire trip.

My husband has got Motion Sickness so he felt very Uncomfortable while travelling thru the Ghats,he had Continous vomitting but some how we managed it.
He avoided taking food while going through Ghats .

We reached shringeri at 8.30 am and we had the darshan of Saradambal and did kumkuma archana there.There they do a seva called akshara bandhanam for kids in the age group of 2 to 5 which is to enhance their reading and writing skills,since aswath was only 1.10 he was not eligible for that.We clicked some photos there and had breakfast and left shringeri at 9.50 am.

our next halt is at Horanadu annapoorneshwari temple and its around 75 kms from shringeri and the driver shivu told it will take a minimum of 3 hrs as its completely through the Ghats. There are several waterfalls enroute.

Around 12.45 we reached Horanadu and we had the darshan very quickly and we did kumukuma archana also.The goddess was so large and tall and she looks very beautiful in Silver KAVASAM

This time we want to have meals in annaporneshwari temple so myself ,and parents had food there ,but husband was reluctant to have any food as he was sacred of vomitting while going back thru ghats.we compelled him atlast he just had a sip of Limca(itsnot real limca ,its a soda type drink).
In the mean time my father forced him to take some tablets which stops vomit.

we left horanadu at 2.15 pm and started towards Dharmastala which is around 120 kms from horanadu and we reached there at 5.00 pm.we had some tiffin since my husband doesnt eat anything now he had some tiffin.we went to temple for darshan but we were told its at 6.30 pm.

we took a room for 1 hr and relaxed for one hr. and once again left to temple around 7.00 pm.we stood in the Q for 20 minutes.
In Dharmasthala,they dont have any spl tickets every body has to do darshan thru general Q only.by then aswath was almost tired and he started crying while we were in the Q.

we had the darshan of manujanatha swami and they told to remove aswaths shirt also.we came around some 8.10 pm and immediately we left there and started towards
Kukke subramanya temple.

We reached kukke at 10.30 pm and stayed at akshara lodging house where sachin tendulakar stayed when he visited the temple. The rooms were pretty clean and good and we had dinner in mysore café.

Morning we had darshan at 8.15 am and did little shopping and we left kukke and started towards Kattel Durga Parameshwari temple.


kateel dura parameshwari is situated in between rivers and its running in all the four directions around the temple.we had the darshan there and did kumkuma archana and left towards UDUPI SRI KRISHNA temple.

On the way we had lunch. udupi krishna temple opens at 5.00 pm only but we reached there before 4.30pm so driver suggested us to go to beach so we went to Malpe beach and aswath enjoyed a lot there.

we had a nice darshan of sri krishna there and its not crowded so had a peaceful darshan and we visited another temple called Anantheswara temple next to krishna temple.

Then we decided to leave to kollur around 6.30 as its in the middle of Ghats , on the way we visited Annegud vinayagar temple.The temple was about to close and the last seva for ther day was going on when we reached there.

we had a quick glimpse of the vinayagar and started moving towards Kollur Mookambigai.now aswath started crying in the car as he was really bored of travelling and it was really hectic for a baby of his age.

so myself and my husband started singing Rhymes for him and he kept silent for some time and finally we reached kollur around 9.45 pm and had a light dinner and stayed in a lodge which is near by.

here we didnt shop around for the best hotel/lodge as we have decided to stay very near to temple as we need to do the tonsuring for aswath the next day morning.

Next day aswath and his nana did the tonsuring and we left for darshan around 9.00 am to temple and we had a nice darshan there and we did archana and we did some shopping and we are back to car by 10.30am.

we are late by half an hour as our next destination is Murudeshwar and its 60 kms from kollur and we reached murudeshwar by 12.30 pm we had a excellent darshan and the poojari perfomed archana to our satisfaction. about murudeshwara its really a scenic place and excellent attraction for tourists.
Spending more than a day at Murudeswar would be advisable for anybody planning to go on this trip

we didnt have any lunch here as per our plan we need to reach gokarana and should leave to shimoga by 5.00 pm from Gokarna.

but on the way to gokarana ,there is another temple for vinayagar in Idigunj and the driver forced us to visit that and we went ther around 2.30 but unfortunately the temple was closed so we did the gopura darshanam and bought some photos of vinayagar .In idigunj the vinayagar was in standing postion and its really a good place to visit.

we started towards gokarana and reached gokarana by 4.45pm and temple was opened at 5.00 pm and we waited for 15 min.One thing that makes me feel bad was the way the poojaris behaved in gokarna.They were running behind people only for Money.They literally started demanding us for money.They said arachana will be done based on head count for each it will cost 50 rs so totally it will be 250 ,My husband said do arachana in my sons name for 50 rs otherwise leave it.

They did arachana for 50 rs and demanded kanikai also,he gave 10 rs and we left the place as more and more people keep approcahing us for money.


Gokarna has got a nice beach also but due to time constraint we didnt go there .On the way back to Bhadravathi its full of mist in the ghats and thanks to the driver who drove very safely.
we reached Bhadravathi 10.45 and our volvo is at 11.45 so we relaxed once again in mamas home at badhravathi and reached bangalore at 5.00am.