A backpacking experience of touring three sun-kissed virgin beaches along the Konkan coast of India – Karwar, Murudeshwar and Palolem. Seafood lover? Karwar the food paradise. Read to know more. The highlight of the post – second largest Shiva statue of the world and finally hint of a different Goan beach called Palolem.
Beach hopping is one of the best travel experiences in India. One can find magnificent beaches along the west and east coasts of India which offers great views coupled with various types of coastal cuisine.
These experiences of varied views and mouthwatering coastal food always tickled the traveler inside me and this time I decided to visit not just one but three West Indian beaches, undisputedly the best ones – along the Konkan Coast. This journey being the first solo trip made things even more interesting.
Here’s the Tale of three beaches – along the Konkan Coast
The days were routine and normal with work taking its peak during the 5-day hectic week – summer heat of mid-May 2016 and monotonous Hyderabad commute being the constant companion throughout the week. These are reasons enough to take the long-outstanding holiday. An eye on the calendar revealed 2nd June – Thursday, a holiday at work, 2½ days of leave would lead to a good short 5-day holiday. The immediate step was to secure the said days as leaves and was done with some negotiations at work.
Now the next big step was to zero in on the holiday destination. This had its challenges in terms of budget and travel time from Hyderabad. Excess of 4 days in hand made me settle for 16-17 odd hours of travel, and with this time frame Hubli made a perfect change over destination for one – there’s an overnight train from Hyderabad which has easy availability of tickets even within a week’s journey time, second – Hubli is a hub and is well connected to best travel destinations of North Karnataka and Goa.
Step next was to figure out the destinations – options were many (given the change over destination was Hubli) – the central idea of this holiday was to relax – go places which offer good views, varied local cuisine with little or no rush of the usual travelling crowd.
The destination – Karwar, and companions – I, me, myself
After weighing a handful of locations Karwar seems to be the best place to unwind. A sleepy coastal yet beautiful town with a lovely beach, mouth-watering sea-food which is well connected by road and rail. Another plus point, it’s just 13 KM away from (South) Goa, additionally, there are lot other beaches of North Karnataka which are within a distance of 40-150 KM away from here, all these let to the conclusion of Karwar.
The next thing was to look-out for companions for 800+ KM journey. The search began with the network at work to school/college pals to ex-colleagues to friends at the apartment. Unfortunately (or rather ,fortunately) the search ended in ‘0’ results – I was determined to go on this holiday – no matter what – the ‘I’ in me gave an instant call – let’s make it solo – self-discovery trip with I, me, myself.
The journey begins
Boarding the Secunderabad – Hubli Express departing Secunderabad at sharp 340 PM. Quick notes about the journey and the train – the coaches though old (SWR rake) but clean, no pantry, on-boarding catering restricted to snacks/soft drinks, dinner orders picked from Wadi, again not so good. A better choice would be getting food packed from Secunderabad. Random clicks from train window en-route.
The train reached Hubli next morning at 8 AM, delayed by 30 minutes. Karwar was still 4 hours away, a distance of 171 KM. There are numerous state transport buses (KSRTC) to Karwar. Buses heading towards South Goa (Madgaon/Margao) travel through Karwar. The route till Karwar is a lot scenic and passes through forest and hilly terrain, surely a reason for a road trip. Some random clicks on the way to Karwar
The 18 odd hours of the journey is worth once you see a sight which unspoiled, beautiful and mesmerising, let the pictures speak – Rabindranath Tagore Beach, Karwar.
A perfect place to spend leisurely mornings and evenings, apart from this there are a couple of islands which can be visited from Karwar. The famous (and hence expensive) one being the Devbag Beach, half-day tour packages are available from Karwar, costs about Rs 2000 per head. I gave Devbag a miss this time, a probable reason for the next visit to Karwar.
Food, yes you guessed it right, seafood is the other feel-good factor of Karwar. Options are many. I tried at two of the most talked-about places – Hotel Amrut and Swetha Lunch Home. The former is hugely famous and hence has a good waiting period (on a weekday as late as 930 PM I had to wait for 30 minutes to get a table!). The wait is worth once you see the food being served!
A visit to Goa which is just 30 minutes away from Karwar can hardly be resisted and hence Day 2 on my itinerary was South Goa’s Canacona. The southern part of Goa is way different from the north, it’s calm, lot greener and bounded by small but beautiful hills.
This place is easily accessible by both rail and road from Karwar, rail, however, is the cheapest (2S ticket on a passenger train cost just Rs 10 for a journey of 37 KM) and the quickest mode. The other plus point of rail travel is the glimpse of scenic Konkan Railway route passing over magnificent Kali River, through tunnels and hills.
Let the pictures again speak, beginning with cute little Karwar railway station.
Kali River Delta from train window en-route to Canacona
There are plenty of options for sightseeing around this part of Goa. I choose Palolem Beach for spending the rest of my day which is around 7 KM from Canacona railway station (best mode of transport auto-rickshaw, cost Rs 100).
The narrow by-lanes after crossing the highway led to Palolem Beach. The glimpse of the beach after 40 odd minutes of the journey from Karwar was soothing, agree?
There are plenty of sacks doting the Palolem Beach along with beach huts which offers accommodation. Mid-June marks the onset of monsoon which lasts till October/November. During this period these huts and sacks get closed. I spent a couple of hours at one of the sacks on the beach.
I started from Palolem at dusk. The next train to Karwar was suppose to arrive an hour later. I decided to hop onto a bus for my return journey (Karwar railway station is far from the main town, nestled amidst a forest. Bus, on the other hand, passes through Karwar city which is cut across by Kochi – Panvel National Highway 66).
I headed back to Canacona bus stand. This one, and most others in smaller Goan towns are managed and operated by private bus operators and hence the interstate state transport buses (in this case KSRTC) do not enter these smaller bus stands. I was told by one of the bus drivers that bus to Karwar had just left. The guy was friendly (like any other Goan!) and told me to hop onto a KSRTC bus (which stops on the main road once you wave your hand! Driver’s words) from outside of the bus stand. This journey took an hour and cost Rs 50!
Day 3
I wanted to go back to Palolem. It was quite a long self-negotiation on the bed to head to a different destination (kind of pre-decided though!) – Murudeshwar – this small little town apart from having splendid beach view has religious importance too. Another feat was the existence of world’s second-tallest Shiva statue.
Murudeshwar is 134 KM away from Karwar and the best mode of travel again is taking a train (the Konkan Railways to be precise), journey time 1 hour 45 minutes.
It was just 7’O clock. Mornings were always a self-struggle when you know the destination for the day is office, but on trip like this the reverse happens! My 1030 AM train was delayed by 2 hours. I decided to take a quick nap (rather continue with the alarm set at new time 10 AM). I woke up at 10 (no snooze!) and checked train’s arrival status,. It rather made up the lost time and new arrival time was 11 AM. I rushed to finish the morning chores and headed hurriedly for the station (which is 6 KM auto ride away). By the time I bought a ticket and was heading towards the platform the train was halfway into the platform. The problem with general class travel is the position of compartments, always at rear/front end. This train was a long run express train had quite a good number of reserved compartments in between the general ones. This coupled with limited halt time bought only one thought – run – and – jump inside the compartment. By the time I settled down the train was accelerating.
The journey lasted roughly for an hour (though it was supposed to be lasting 45 minutes or so more, guess the train was gaining lost time!!). Murudeshwar Beach is just 2 KM away from the railway station. There are auto rickshaws available outside the station which frequent the beach, cost INR 30.
Let the picture do the honour – presenting Murudeshwar Beach.
Murudeshwar Temple is right on the beach, surrounded by waters of the Arabian Sea from three sides. The temple complex has a 20 storied monumental tower (called the Raja Gopura) measuring 237.5 feet! The temple authorities installed lifts inside the tower (charges Rs 10, the lift is very small and has a maximum capacity of 7 including the operator!). The view from the top of the tower is just outstanding.
And here is the world’s second-tallest Lord Shiva Statue, seen from the top of the tower
The temple even being a Saturday had few devotees. I had a good darshan of the deity. It was nearing monsoon, hence, there weren’t much of usual beach-side activities. Post lunch I spent time around the Statue Park. The park has got an artificial cave which hosts a miniature form of Shiva Linga found across the country. It also has other miniatures depicting various forms taken from Hindu Mythology. Entry fee Rs 10. A couple of clicks from the cave.
I started from Murudeshwar Beach at around 230 PM. The next train to Karwar was 3 hours away, I decided to travel by road. This time on I didn’t get a direct KSRTC bus instead I traveled to nearest town Honnavar, a distance of 32 KM by a private minibus. Honnavar has a KSRTC terminus and frequent buses are available to nearby towns including Karwar. I hopped onto one such bus. The 92 KM journey took close to 2 hours and cost Rs 105.
I reached Karwar by 515 PM. Today was the last night in Karwar. Dusk at Tagore Beach was the best way to sign-off this magnificent journey. Here are a few clicks - sunset at the beach, Karwar.
I spent the rest of the evening and night relaxing at my hotel room. Started from Karwar at noon the next day to Hubli to catch night train Hubli – Secunderabad Express to return to the pavilion.
All in all, it was a good short trip, soothing and serene, away from the maddening city rush.
Hope you enjoyed reading! Until next time happy traveling!!