Places to visit in Mangalore
These are the places Mangalore trips are built from. Each trip page lists exactly which of them it covers, and a private trip can swap one for another.
- Kudroli Gokarnanatha Temple: Mangalore's carved and gilded Shiva temple, the centre of the city's Dasara celebrations, and the first stop on most of our city days.
- Mangaladevi and Kadri Manjunatha temples: The temple the city takes its name from, and the hillside Kadri temple with its old bronze Lokeshwara.
- Tannirbhavi, Panambur and Surathkal beaches: Mangalore's wide city beaches, where the city days end with the sunset.
- Kukke Subramanya: The temple of Subramanya on the Kumaradhara river below the Kumara Parvatha hills, about two and a half hours inland from Mangalore.
- Dharmasthala: The Manjunatha temple, run by a Jain family with Hindu priests, its free meals for pilgrims, and the Bahubali monolith on the hill above the town.
- Sringeri and Horanadu: The Sharada Peetham on the Tunga, one of the mathas founded by Adi Shankara, with the carved Vidyashankara temple beside it, and the Annapoorneshwari temple at Horanadu deeper in the hills.
- Udupi Sri Krishna Temple: The Krishna Matha, where the idol is seen through the silver-framed Kanakana Kindi window rather than a doorway.
- Malpe and St Mary's Island: Udupi's beach and fishing harbour, and the boat out to the small island of hexagonal basalt columns, which runs only outside the monsoon.
- Kapu beach: The beach with the old lighthouse on its rocks, on the coast road between Mangalore and Udupi.
- Kollur Mookambika: The Devi temple at the foot of Kodachadri, about two hours inland from Udupi, on the yatra routes.
- Murudeshwar and Gokarna: The great Shiva on the headland at Murudeshwar, and further north the Mahabaleshwar temple, Om and Kudle beaches and Mirjan Fort at Gokarna.
- Jog Falls: The Sharavathi dropping in four streams, inland from Murudeshwar, at its fullest in and after the monsoon.
What to eat
This is the home of Udupi cooking, so the temple towns are vegetarian: thalis, neer dosa, goli baje and filter coffee, and the big temples at Dharmasthala, Kukke and Udupi serve a free meal to pilgrims. Mangalore itself is known for its seafood: fish curry and rice, kori rotti, ghee roast and Mangalore buns, with gadbad ice cream to finish. Lunches and dinners are not part of our packages, so you eat where you like on the way.