1700 reached Paradise Beach. It was jus a wow moment. I only c 20 forenginers wid 6 to 8 babes in hottie bikini's playin volley ball, hula hoopa. It was like real paradise i say..Then we Pitched oua tents n relaxed in da water for an hour n everything become calm n silence in da beach, we only listen water sound n cool breezes.. then forenginers left da beach n v 27ppl on da beach. . .2030 had a camfire n sum r singing songs n talkings n wid dinner.Nov 13th 20160430 wakeup call and backpacked in 30min.

1330 started from Gokarna Beach to Om Beach.1400 reached Om Beach.Started trek from Om Beach to Paradise Beach trails. Which is an 11km trek approx. Duration of 3hours, covering Half Moon Beach, Hell Cliff and Small Hell Beach. The trails r easy to explore n afta 3hrs we reached Paradise Beach.

Quest - A long or arduous search for something".So my trip to GOKARNA wasn't just a leisure trip, it was a quest for self-discovery. My life was more like Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts) from the movie, Eat Pray love. I was literally a wander lust aimlessly moving from one city to another until I reached to this beautiful small town laying on the bedside of Konkan Ghats. This place usually attracts those crowd looking for a low-key chilled out holiday beaches. Not to forget, it is also a pilgrimage destination for HindusThree months back after witnessing a terribly incident I was at a crossroads. I had to step out of my comfort zone and had to go on a self-discovery journey and what better place to discover the true glee of nourishment.GOKARNA means "Gow" meaning cow and "Karna" means Ears. If you see the geographical outline of GOKARNA, it resembles a cow's ear. Hard to believe? Well then it's time to visit this place and find it out for yourself.After taking a night bus from Majestic bus from Bangalore, we reached GOKARNA town in the morning around 9am.It took us about 12 hours to reach via bus. So we rented an auto from the bus stand and went through the small narrow roads of the town eye witnessing some of the beautiful ancient temples.Instead of making a beeline straight to the beaches, we decided to visit these sacred temples and offer our prayers to the lord Shiva. After a spiritual experience, we headed straight to kudle beach where we had booked our rooms at GOKARNA International Resorts. This beach has some good rooms and Shacks to chill around. With restaurant opens till late night one can enjoy night roar of the beach with their preferred drinks along.After a long night, next day we engaged an auto to visit Om beach. Om beach is lined with shacks on the sides offering cheap accommodation and restaurants with exotic menus. Namaste Cafe is one of the sought - after restaurants here. There is a bevy of fun water sports activities available on the beach, including speed boats, surfing etc.After an exotic dinner at Namaste café we went back to our rooms.Next day we checked out early from the resort and kept our bags at this beautiful café called CAFE 1987 this place had a great vibe and a closeness to the breath-taking view. We spent our entire day in this café. The food, the artwork, the music and the crew were all best. One can easily spend hours in this café admiring the amazing artwork on the café walls. Make a note this place offers only vegetarian food.In short café 1987 - "GOOD FOOD, GOOD MOOD".In conclusion this is what I can say about this beautiful place called GOKARNA (more in a poetic language)Bewildered in time, adrift I feelDescrying myself in piecesScattered all over this placeStowed a pin on a mapFound myself here, lost againInside this beautiful abyssBroken in subtle way, my decayed soul is here for meFor it is now, now as muchThe past, present and future

For trekking we had to again go to Om Beach, without spending much time on the beach we directly headed to the small hill which was the only way to Half-moon beach for us. There was no particular path alongside the sea, we just followed our instincts also three dogs. They were with us all along the way and we felt as they came just to show us the way and drop us back safely to the place from where we started the ascend to hill.

The beach nearest to Zostel but the last to visit was Gokarna beach. This was where we spend the most of our time. Had snacks in the local chats stalls and just enjoyed the sun-set.

A heaven for sunset, seafood and sea lovers, this beach is one of the most popular beaches in Gokarna. The Om Beach traces the shape of the Hindu Symbol of Om. One can go here in the evening to enjoy the sunset by the beach followed by a delicious sea food dinner.

This beach is usually the most crowded beach in Gokarna since its the Main beach and is the closest from the Mahabaleshwar Temple. The Mahabaleshwar temple is located on the shores of the Arabian Sea in the holy town and enshrines the Atma Lingam of Lord Shiva.This place can be perfect for street shopping, and having local street food. You can try out Prema Restaurant to enjoy delicious and cheap vegetarian food.

The serenity of this place was indeed different and special. One can either reach this beach by trekking or by taking a ferry ride from the Om beach. You can stay overnight on this beach, only by pitching your own tents. No other accommodation facility is available there. The beach is extremely clean and a bunch of local vendors can be found selling tea, fruits and snacks.

Post lunch and a stroll on the beach, we went for some water sports and sat around to watch another mesmerising sunset before we headed back to Bangalore.In the days that I was here, I had encounters that were innumerably good and some not as much.Goa has just so much to offer and it is definitely beyond just alcohol and parties (if that's what you think). It depends on what you're looking for and will draw you in every single time you go.It's not just a place but an experience!

Post breakfast we decided to go back to Gokarna. My third time in the town but there's just something about the place that never ceases to amaze me. A peaceful morning ride, a break by the beaches of Karwar and by afternoon we were at my favourite place- Namaste Cafe, Om Beach. The tranquility and views of that place is unmatched. Not to forget the absolutely yum food. Golden fried prawns, lasagna and sizzlers; day=made. We decided to stay in the cottages of Namaste Cafe on the hill top. After lazing around for a while we decided to give Paradise Beach a visit. We made it just around sunset and the beach is about a 40min trek which turned out to be a night trek for us. What a trek that was! Pitch dark, no path as such and just wilderness everywhere. Not to forget, no sign of humanity anywhere in the vicinity. After what felt like eternity we realised we weren't lost! We made it. The view of the beach under the moonlight was just beautiful. After a while of debating whether the place was haunted or not we decided to trek back down towards the bikes. A long, late dinner with some alcohol and chatting to end our night in Gokarna.

I have never been to Goa, but Gokarna is known to be less commercialized Goa and untouched beach beauty. We made a sudden plan and decided to head towards Gokarna over a long weekend.We reached to Gokarna early morning by overnight bus from Bangalore. This time we planned not to book any hotels in advance and see how it goes for us.After coming out of the bus stand, we found that there are a couple of bikes renting shows at a 100mtrs distance and we got an Activa for Rs.700 for two days. Then we headed towards the Gokarna beach and also inquired for a couple of places to stay which were run by locals. We booked a place for Rs. 500 a day which was not so great but it didn't matter as we just wanted a place to spend the night.Now we had an Activa so we were free to roam around anywhere, we headed to Om Beach and came back to Gokarna Beach and had lunch at Prema Restaurant. Now we headed to go to Paradise beach which is known to be secluded and famous untouched beauty. We met a couple of folks who came back empty handed from the search of the Paradise beach. As it was drizzling a little bit, we decided not to trek down and spend the time near the trek point itself. There was hardly 5-6 people out there the hence perfect spot to enjoy the beach and photographic place.Now we again headed for Om Beach and spend the time till Sunset and had dinner at Pizzeria at Kudle Beach.

Gokarna Beach: This was one beach where I could see people actually enjoying themselves. We sat on the beach and enjoyed the waves. The only drawback was the availability of a restaurant. The highly talked about ‘Premas’, does not allow people inside if they are in wet clothes.

We literally woke up to the sound of the ocean crashing against the rocks. After a carb-filled breakfast, we walked down the hill to Om Beach. Breakfast tip : It's good to have a light breakfast with just enough carbs to get you through the day. Vegetarians can try the hash browns while eggetarians can explore omelets. P.S. Don't stuff yourself too much, you might not be able to walk downhill to the beach. There are lot of local boat vendors at Om beach who show you around all the beaches (Halfmoon beach, Paradise beach, Lighthouse and dolphin point) for INR 300 per person. So we just hopped on for some beach tripping. Around 12.30 PM, we were off to Gokarna town. After a sumptuous lunch at Prema restaurant (you can find the link here https://g.co/kgs/QvSnDX) we roamed around the streets of Gokarna town to find small time vendors selling all kinds of stuff. #shopaholicWe came back to our cottage, got enough rest for couple of hours and then headed to Kudle beach to watch the amazing sunset. Tip: You could either follow the trail via the Gokarna cliff or take the road (15 minutes walk from Om beach). That's all you need to do relaxxx and enjoy the view. ( and of course click pictures for instaspam )

We headed to our first destination the most famous beach. Its name comes from the symbol Om which the beach looks like. The crowd here in mostly foreigners and their are a number of cafes to eat. you can even for a Banana ride and jet-ski ride for around 300 per head. You can even go to half-moon beach which is a small trek from Om beach you will find it even more peaceful as everyone dont go for a trek and rather prefer staying on Om beach Itself

Well, if they say, leave the best thing for the end, we wholeheartedly complied with it. Huge rocks and uneven patches is what the path to Paradise is made of. You know what they say, to experience paradise, one does have to cross the difficult path. Couldn’t be truer. We stopped a couple of times as we were in awe of the view and of course we could not shut the camera on the phone. (We needed this for our Instagram)Once you get here, you will take a while to believe that you’re not dreaming. You can almost count the people on the tip of your fingers here. A hipster’s haven, you could call this one! We spend a good 2 hours on this beach playing beach games before heading back.So, this is when I realized I made a terrible mistake with the choice of my footwear. On our way back, I happened to trip really bad and fall off a rock. My friends did come to my rescue but there was very little that could’ve been done as damage control. I realized that if I let the pain settle, I wouldn’t be able to walk. Walking slowly, rather limping I made my way back. Somehow the beautiful view more than made up for the pain that was to follow.

‘Gokarna wale utron’ yelled the bus supervisor at 6.40 AM in the morning. I was already up as soon as the sun rose. My friends still sleeping as if they’ve had the most comforting sleep of their lives. A hit on their shoulders was their wake up call for the day. We boarded a local bus from the bus depot and post that you either walk it up to OM beach or hire an auto. As enervated as we were, my friend who was not a Gokarna virgin managed to convince us that the 6km long walk with heavy bag packs was worth it. After a long yet interesting walk comprising few encounters with langoors (wild monkeys) and a very interesting pole dance by the boys on a random pole. The view of the magnificent sea with blue water glittering under the 10 AM sun and the smell of sand and I knew I was home. Throwing in a few facts here – The beach gets its name from the ‘Om’ symbol that is formed by the shore.

Well, if they say, leave the best thing for the end, we wholeheartedly complied with it. Huge rocks and uneven patches is what the path to Paradise is made of. You know what they say, to experience paradise, one does have to cross the difficult path. Couldn’t be truer. We stopped a couple of times as we were in awe of the view and of course we could not shut the camera on the phone. (We needed this for our Instagram)Once you get here, you will take a while to believe that you’re not dreaming. You can almost count the people on the tip of your fingers here. A hipster’s haven, you could call this one! We spend a good 2 hours on this beach playing beach games before heading back.So, this is when I realized I made a terrible mistake with the choice of my footwear. On our way back, I happened to trip really bad and fall off a rock. My friends did come to my rescue but there was very little that could’ve been done as damage control. I realized that if I let the pain settle, I wouldn’t be able to walk. Walking slowly, rather limping I made my way back. Somehow the beautiful view more than made up for the pain that was to follow.

‘Gokarna wale utron’ yelled the bus supervisor at 6.40 AM in the morning. I was already up as soon as the sun rose. My friends still sleeping as if they’ve had the most comforting sleep of their lives. A hit on their shoulders was their wake up call for the day. We boarded a local bus from the bus depot and post that you either walk it up to OM beach or hire an auto. As enervated as we were, my friend who was not a Gokarna virgin managed to convince us that the 6km long walk with heavy bag packs was worth it. After a long yet interesting walk comprising few encounters with langoors (wild monkeys) and a very interesting pole dance by the boys on a random pole. The view of the magnificent sea with blue water glittering under the 10 AM sun and the smell of sand and I knew I was home. Throwing in a few facts here – The beach gets its name from the ‘Om’ symbol that is formed by the shore.

After crossing the river, We started walking again. Landscape started changing from Villages to city. Gokarna has become alternate for Goa these days. It was around 4 in the evening when we reached Paradise beach. Didnt get proper place here for camping since there were already so many people. We decide to carry on . Finally we found a proper place near Half Moon beach.Prepared Maggi for dinner. As it was full moon night, Night was lit up from Shining moon and sea was roaring.Just sat on the cliff hearing that sound till mid night. Peace..!

Heart Says:Sometimes when you travel in ​the ​direction of your fears, you get to know where you're heading in life!I marched ahead and after ​a ​few hundred steps, I saw the most beautiful beach ever of my life. Right down a 100 ft cliff, a neat and clean beach with golden sand, tremendous waves coming in their fullest might and a stormy sky! They call it ​the ​Shiva's own beach. And by principle he is the God of Destruction. The deadly sights and experiences this beach gave me, I truly felt like having found ​the ​abode of Shiva! I would recommend camping overnight here, the clear skies will give you ​the ​starry experience of ​ a ​lifetime.

If you wish to immerse yourself in the true hippie culture, then Paradise Beach is just the place for you. Since this beach is only accessible via either a trek or a boat ride, the population here comprises of people seeking solace from the crowd. Before you jump at the thought of going to this beach, I must tell you that only a few basic amenities are available here – this means there is no electricity and only a handful of shacks selling bags of chips and pakodas. If you are not bothered by such inconveniences, this white sand beach is totally worth your time.

Om Beach is even calmer than Kudle Beach, and hence it's a great place to end your day. There are plenty of rock pools here to sit at and enjoy. And many boats for hire that can help you explore the sea for as cheap as 100 bucks an hour during off-season. This place is a favourite with Israelis and Russians, who have made this a permanent retreat away from the hustle and bustle of Goa. The beach is named after its actual shape – the word 'Om'.Dinner

We already had made a booking for accommodation in "Namaste Cafe" (one of the best spots )at Om Beach for next two days. There are some other small shacks offering lodging facility & I'll try them if I visit Gokarna again. My first experience after stepping on the beach was mesmerizing , it was serene , I felt like , we have got our own private beach , the view was spectacular , the waves were high & it was perfect day to spent some time with this amazing subset of Arabian Sea . The good part was because it was an off season , there was not much of local crowd. If I didn't know where I am, anyone could have stated me that I am in some European country & I would have agreed to that. Everywhere I can see these tourists having fun & taking Sunbath "Basking”. This was a great feeling!! . We scrolled along the beach & tried to cover the whole stretch, trust me nothing can beat this feeling of solitude. I tried to communicate with some of these people & understand their experience about India. I would like to mention about Meow (Poland) . We got to know of him over a mug of beer. He is an entrepreneur, running a website, where international travelers can communicate with each other, if someone has seen this movie "The Holiday" starring Kate Winslet & Cameron Diaz, they would understand how these websites work .He is in India from last six months & covered almost all regions. Isn't it amazing ? people like him know more about our country than us & is passionate to travel & see this world, he also offered us a bit of grass, which made rest of our day as well. After some basking, a lot of swimming & ample pints of beer, we came back to our shack.

One of the best beaches I have ever visited. You can either reach by a boat or can trek. You won't be disappointed.

I miss you Gokarna and I'll definitely come back :)