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Manipal is very close to both (me and my wife) our hearts as we did our education from there and post graduation haven't got the chance to go back together. The last time I visited Manipal was for a day in 2006 whereas it was 2002 for my wife. We have been planning to have a 10 day vacation with a 2-3 day stop dedicated to Manipal in particular in which we will get to re-visit our regular haunts.

So this is how the rough draft looks:
Day 1: Hyderabad - Manipal (Via BLR) - Is there any other and better route? (Early Morning Start and reach by 8 PM to enjoy Saturday Night)
Day 2/3: Manipal
Day 4: Manipal - Kundapur / Marvanthe /Byndoor
Day 5: Byndoor - Gokarna / Murdeshwar
Day 6: Gokarna - Malvan
Day 7: Malvan
Day 8: Malvan - Hyderabad (Back on a Sunday night to start on the rat race from Monday)

Few queries that I would like people familiar with that stretch to help me with:

1. Hotels / Restaurants in Manipal: Last time I visited, had stayed in Valley View but this time looking to stay somewhere else. Not Green Park as well. Any other good hotels near M.I.T. Used to be regular in Cosmo Cafe/ Dollops and Downtown. Any other restaurant worth visiting?
2. Hotels / Restaurant in Kundapur / marvanthe : Intend to have lunch at Shetty's Lunch Home in Kundapura and stay in Turtle Bay Beach Resort. Any other good resort to stay on the beach on thsi stretch. Budget about 1k a night.
3. Which would be a better place to stay Gokarn or murdeshwar?
4. As part of thsi trip we also want to explore the Konkan coast and taste Malvan cuisine. Please let me know which places to visit and stay.
5. Any other info that you feel I should know.

Cheers

Hi MC,

In Malvan you should head to Chaitanya for all your Malvani food! They have just four dishes.
Dont be too shocked!
Fish Thali
Mutton Thali
Chicken Thali
Veg Thali
Believe me the food is delicious. :thumbs up

You can visit Tarkarli, Devbagh beaches, Sindhudurg fort. All of them are at a driveable distance from Malvan town. MTDC has a resort in Tarkarli, but am not sure if accommodation will be available at short notice. You can take the coastal road and drive down to Vengurla beach/ Light house. Breath taking view from the top. There are a few other beaches which are not very famous, but beautiful nonetheless.

I'll try to find some more info regarding places to stay.

Regards
Gautam.

I recently went to Tarkarli which is 6 kms from Malvan. This place has good white sand beaches & one can also get to see dolphins too from chivla beach by taking an early morning boat ride + snorkling :)

It has MTDC resorts which can be booked online.

You can try this route Hyd-Raichur-Shimoga-Agumbe-Manipal. It is considerably shorter than the Bangalore route, but no idea about the conditions tough.

How about Kediyoor hotel in Manipal? I've heard quite some good reviews about it. Although I've not been there personally.

Having travelled to Hampi on this route, I know the road condition upto Hampi but am woriied about the stretch thereafter.
Isn't Kediyoor in Udupi? Long Back there used to be something called Hotel Janani on the road leading to Karkala and there were other hotels also coming up. Any idea if something good is there?

There is a big difference between Valley View and the next tier of hotels. The price difference is as much as 5 times. You can get a clean AC double room for 500-700 in Janani, Bhavani or Dashrath. But the ambience of Valley View doesn't exist here. Most of the hotels have pubs in the ground floor, and the howling by drunk students can get to you. Kediyoor is in Udupi.

Original Downtown pub in Bhavani Hotel has become Dee-Tee under new management, but attracts same kind of crowd. The old management restarted Downtown in Dashrath hotel on Alevoor road, closer to new TAPMI building. Regarding food, the good restaurants are as follows:

China Valley: Great chinese/thai/vietnamese/malay/korean food (this can be collaborated by many TBHPians)
Basil: Very good Italian food
Snack Shack: Good mixture of chinese/malay food. Best Ice-cream in the entire district.
Hangyo: Best Indian food in the area.
KMC Food court: A very ambient AC food court similar to transit in Forum mall. You can find Subway, Pizza Corner, Hangyo express, Noodle shop, Malay food, Udupi food, etc.

The above list completes the list of restaurants that serve tasty stuff in an hygenic way. Rest you can forget for various reasons. And never ever venture near the CCD, people have had nightmares after that.

Oops! my badstupid:. I had heard from one of my relatives who had stayed in Kediyoor. They had to visit someone in Manipal. So, I figured out that stayed in Manipal.

Shimoga to Agumbe is very good. Agumbe to Someshwara is ghat section and you can manage it. It's been the same since last 20 years I guess.
Someshwara to Hebri, they were laying roads. The parts that were finished were very smooth. Expecting the same in the parts that are being laid, I guess it would be a belter. Road work was going on during christmas.
Hebri to Manipal is motorable with speeds of 60 - 70.
@Samurai - On a lighter note - Howling after being drunk? It's the birthright of every MITian to howl after being drunk. Not to forget the customary KMC visit (with howling) after every photo session!

Very well said about the characteristic trait of M.I.Tians. Been there and done that
BTW are you by any chance M.I.Tian? I'm a 2001 I.P. Pass out

If you like sea food and beaches, Malvan is the place to spend a lot of time in. And eat every meal at Chaitanya, and it has a colorful and well made menu card too! The vegetarian thali is just as good as the others - the restaurant is one that Goans visit for a meal - there are of course many other places to eat at as well and the best cuisine to my knowledge/taste along the coast from Goa up to Alibag is at Malvan.

Hyderabad-Raichur-Hubli-Harihar-Shimoga-Tirthahalli-Agumbe-Manipal is a good route to take.

Alternatively, you can take the route from Hubli-Yellapura-Ankola.

If you are looking for a nice tough scenic route to take, either way, you should try the Dharwad-Londa-Supa Dam-Anshi WLS-Kadra Dam-Sadashivgarh-Karwar route, one of the most scenic in the Western Ghat regions, but most of the time devastated condition.

I would prefer Gokarna to Murudeshwar - the latter has too much of a pilgrim atmosphere although the RNS hotel and Naveen Beach resorts are nice places to stay at.

Kediyoor is in Udupi, next to the bus stand. I have stayed there a couple of times and found it a nice place with good food too and ample car parking. Not expensive either. As Samurai says, Valley View is far too expensive - not even sure of the valley view, all the valley facing rooms are permanently booked by students! The few occasions I've stayed in Valley View, I could not get the valley view rooms.

Thanks Chief for the route guidance.
The last time I stayed in Valley View in 2006, IIRC rooms were for 1400/- all incluive. Have they increased that much. I'm not too much of a valley viewing person but hotel has some good parking.

Anyways will bugging all especially Samurai for the more details as the trips materialises.

Cheers

They have totally renovated the rooms since then. The last time I checked, the price for the cheapest room was 2400+VAT. The trouble with next tier hotels is that the AC won't be on generator. If you lose power, which happens a lot these days, you will have no AC.:D If you want to be very sure about AC, stick to Valley View.

Have heard bout this place Wageshwar Mandir, Tondavali
Supposed to be a very nice un-explored beach jus around the temple.
Around 15-20km North of Malvan. MAP
May be you can check it out :)

You can take the following route

Hyderabad - Bangalore - Kunigal - Hassan - Kottighehara - Charmadi - Belthangady - Mudabidri - Karkala - Manipal.

Murdeshwar would be a much better place to stay. There are good hotels there. Gokarna is not a very safe place to stay.

You can stay in Hotel Kediyoor in Udupi, the food is also very good. Manipal is 6 kms from here. Its near Udupi bus stand. Its famous also.

Places to visit - Udupi Krishna & Kadaiyali temple, Malpe beach, Kumbashi temple, Hattiangadi temple, Kollur Temple, Maravanthe Beach.

There is a resort in Murdeshwar also where you can stay.