The Gokarna Beach Trek

Tripoto
Photo of The Gokarna Beach Trek by Khushali Saraf

Hankering for a tranquil beach experience, my friends and I decided to plan a trip to Gokarna, which can easily be called as the Bali of India or the quieter and cleaner version of Goa. Gokarna has become quite popular since some time now heeding to the travellers with interests in an idyllic beach trip rather than a more commercialized one. We planned a weekend trip to Gokarna in the middle of our much stressful academic session to refresh ourselves. We took a bus from Hyderabad to Angola, the nearest bus stop to Gokarna. Buses are the most suitable way to reach Gokarna with Mangalore, Madgaon and Bangalore being the most convenient ones. For the short while that we were going to be in Gokarna, we wanted to cover more in less time and that’s how we decided to keep one day for the Gokarna Beach trek.

After getting ready, exhilarated for the day to come, we started with a hearty breakfast at Nirvana Cafe on the side of the Om Beach. The food here was delectable and had set us with a lot of energy for the coming trek. Even though Om beach is the main beach of Gokarna, it was very less crowded to our surprise. We had a mouth-watering meal with the most aesthetic view and were then set to start our trek.

Photo of The Gokarna Beach Trek 1/11 by Khushali Saraf
Photo of The Gokarna Beach Trek 2/11 by Khushali Saraf

The most ideal footwear would be floaters or crocs to enjoy the white clean sand as there was as well as trek our way through the rough slippery rocks. We climbed some boulders, slipped on a few but covered this first half of our trek taking about half and hour to reach the next stop, the Half-Moon Beach.

Photo of The Gokarna Beach Trek 3/11 by Khushali Saraf
Photo of The Gokarna Beach Trek 4/11 by Khushali Saraf

The faint wind brushing our faces, the endless sea with crystal clean waters in front of us and the unsullied white sand on its shore, this beach filled us with the calming feeling which we were there for. We played around, listened to the music there was in the sound of the waves and felt all our worries in life quelling down. We spent about an hour and a half here, after which we headed forward to our next stop, the Paradise beach or the Full Moon Beach as it is also called. This part of our trek was more difficult with the steepness of the slope and the altitude increasing as well. For all the drive that you might be losing out on during this part is regained with the most breath-taking views that you get to see and engenders the feeling of a photographer in you!

Photo of The Gokarna Beach Trek 5/11 by Khushali Saraf
Photo of The Gokarna Beach Trek 6/11 by Khushali Saraf

It isn’t wrongly said that Gokarna is a ‘Hippie’s paradise’. On our way to the Paradise beach, there is no one set path that you follow and it is the hippies sojourning in the Gokarna forest who helped us with the right path ahead. Taking in all the beautiful views that we had come across, we finally reached the end of our trekking experience, The Paradise beach.

Photo of The Gokarna Beach Trek 7/11 by Khushali Saraf
Photo of The Gokarna Beach Trek 8/11 by Khushali Saraf

With its pristine waters, this was the best place to take a dip in. We revelled in the waves on the shore and had a lot of fun moving where the waters take you. This was not all that the Paradise beach had to offer us, with the sun setting past the horizon, it was a prepossessing view all together!

From the paradise beach there are ferri rides to take you back to the Om beach which gives you a lot of ZNMD feels to mark an end of the sombre evening. We reached the opposite side of the place we had started from on the Om beach, letting us cover both sides of it. Here, there are a lot of water sports activities that the adventurous lot can engage in like banana boat rides, kayaking and snorkeling. We had a wholesome dinner at the very famous, Namaste Cafe which is well known for its non-vegetarian food especially. The food here was scrumptious and was what we desperately needed after a long day. We sat at the beach for sometime more watching the luminous canopy of stars above the blackness of the ocean. It left us with a soothing feeling to remember this heavenly place by.

Photo of The Gokarna Beach Trek 9/11 by Khushali Saraf
Credits: Divyang Vashi
Photo of The Gokarna Beach Trek 10/11 by Khushali Saraf

The next day we chilled at Om beach playing volleyball, wandering around the shacks and getting tattoos done. There are also a lot of other relaxing therapies like oil massages and meditation sessions that can take this calming experience to a whole new level. I wish I could tarry our stay at this comely place by a few days but unfortunately it was time for us to leave. We took a bus back to Hyderabad taking with us the memories of serene beautiful sights that we had never expected to experience in India.

Photo of The Gokarna Beach Trek 11/11 by Khushali Saraf