Gokarna Solo Woman Backpacking

Gokarna !!

Why travel solo ? that too being female ?  are the questions everyone raise when they hear of solo woman travelling. So to break the norms , to reply back 'why not ?' , to get into the ground and experience what exactly is solo woman travelling I geared up myself and headed for my first solo trip to Gokarna ! a backpackers paradise.

I took overnight bus(sleeper class) from Bangalore to Gokarna which costed me approx Rs 800 ,I woke up when i was nearing Gokarna and peeked curiously through window to see how it looks like and to my surprise it was lush green palm trees everywhere !

Soon after reaching Gokarna I headed to Zostel by auto(costed Rs.80) where my stay was booked , you can also reach Zostel by walk since its just 950m away from main bus stand wherein you pass by many local antique shops.

On the way to zostel

Streets in Gokarna

Zostel is backpackers hostel which provides cheap accomodation in dormitory and private rooms with great ammenities.

Welcomed by this cute one

I was welcomed by this cute one at Zostel and made myself comfortable with amazing beach view .

Since i had arrived early before checkin time ,liberal receptionist told me that i can keep luggage at common room and have a look around zostel. So i became free of my luggage and took an early morning beach walk which is a short hike from zostel, explored zostel hut and sitting area.

Beach view from the hut at zostel

Gokarna beach view from Zostel

View from Gokarna beach

My first day was slow , i checked in, had breakfast at Mantra cafe which is food joint of zostel

I took a nap and inn evening i walked to Kudle beach to watch sunset which was just 1.1kms from zostel.

Bliss at the beach

Beautiful sunset at Kudle beach

while heading back to zostel

My day 2 was packed with lots of activity. I met a solo female travel blogger from Japan who was in the same dorm as mine , as we were having chat regarding places to visit in and around, we came up with a plan to visit Honey beach which was suggested by host Pankaj at zostel . We rented scooty (Rs 300 per day excluding petrol charges) and started our journey to Honey beach which is approx 18kms away from zostel wherein we had cross Gangavali river by a ferry to reach Honey beach.

All set for ride

Me riding scooty in Gokarna town

Beautiful roads towards Honey beach

Ready for ferry ride to cross Gangavalli river

Pic credits - Samantha 

I enjoyed my ride to the core as route was very scenic and no soul was around, . Ferry ticket costed Rs 5 per person and Rs 10 for the scooty for one way. Ferry ride was pretty good offering scenic views of palm tress and an ocean at a distance.
We once again started our journey to Honey beach soon after getting down from ferry.

Vibrant frame

Serene beach

Rushing waves!

Honey beach

We parked our vehicles at entrance of beach and walked a bit, to our surprise this beach gave a spectacular views from far which created curiosity of how it would actually look when we are closer to beach ! we reached and were awestruck by the views, secluded , serene vibe beach had offered.Honey beach is not commercialized  and i would recommend this place as a must visit place in Gokarna.

We came back to zostel , quickly had our lunch and joined to circuit beach trek organized by zostel host which covered Paradise beach - Om beach - Kudle beach in the same order. Once reaching to trek base point , we had a quick introduction round of each other wherein i met lot of solo travelers from different parts of India. The route to paradise beach was quite easy through thick forest. Paradise beach was calm,no one around so we had whole beach to our self. My fellow travelers started having fun in water while i went for a beach walk and found lots of rocks towards left side and i started doing mobile photography , to my surprise there were lot of colorful crabs and fast moving fishes and i totally loved that place.

Trek within thick forest

Paradise beach

 After spending good amount of time in Paradise beach we headed to Om beach . I cannot explain you by words how beautiful the route is towards Om beach , Oh my goodness it was just out of the world ! at a point you will see beaches from both the sides , pristine blue water, lush green palm trees, gushing waves sets perfect picturesque place, it almost felt like I'm in another country. So i would highly suggest one to do this hike who are planning for Gokarna trip.

On our way to Om beach

Bird eye view of beach

Postcard anyone ?!

Our gang ! 

We sat on a cliff,  enjoyed Om beach view with our packed snacks, beach is named as 'Om' because beach looks similar to the symbol 'Om' from top view.

Om beach

 We headed to our last beach i.e Kudle beach by walking across Om beach which was little crowded.
 We reached Kudle beach and stopped by to a famous cafe called Namaste cafe for snacks, chilled for sometime and head to watch sunset from a hidden sunset point which our zostel host had explored.

Nature is pure bliss !

Sunset point

We could see sun setting at horizon level. We ended our day with good sunset and reached back to zostel.

My day 3 started early , me and my dorm-mates decided to explore famous Murudeshwar temple and beach so we left early from Gokarna and reached Murudeshwar temple in noon, since we were damn hungry we had lunch at a restaurant near temple and gave a visit to famous Shiva statue and was mesmerized by the size of Shiva statue and temple . 

Rear view of Raja Gopura

Raja Gopura

Rear view of shiva statue

Famous attraction point here is top view of beach and Shiva statue, we reached top floor by lift and the view was just outstanding . Check out the pictures !

View from top floor

Town view

Beach view from top floor

Views are just crazy from this place, one must visit here if you are visiting to Gokarna. After exploring Murudeshwar we headed back to Gokarna with happy faces :)

I had come with a plan to stay for 2 nights but extended one more night because i could not leave Zostel which offered me great beach views, chill vibe so i stayed back for another night .

So my day 4 was basically relax and chill at Zostel .

 Finally the time had come to say bye to Gokarna carrying beautiful memories to cherish and end my solo trip!

I reached home safely and cheers to my first ever successful solo trip !!

So what did i learn from my solo trip ?  I gained confidence ,as if i conquered world ! haha, I learnt about my weakness and strengths and how to overcome a situation without freaking out. I was responsible of me and my actions above all I met lot people and got inspired by their life stories, I want to conclude by saying that one should go for solo trip atleast once in their lifetime!

Travel tip : One can reach to Murudeshwar from Gokarna by taking bus, Gokarna - Kumta and then Kumta to Murudeshwar , then take a shared auto(costs Rs.10 per person) to reach temple.

Thank you for reading , Happy travelling :)