Gokarna - Part 4 - Exploring the coastal town of Kumta

Kumta is another seacoast town near Gokarna, Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka state. Mostly famous for its temples but this town has various beautiful attractions such as Kumta Beach, Baada Beach and most importantly Agnashini river that connects Gokarna in its own natural way. In this blog I will be taking you all along my journey to Kumta and the places I covered during my short stint here. 

Since we had covered Yana caves in the first half of the day, we just had second half to cover Kumta today. Indeed a very short stint. 

From Yana, we reached Kumta in less than 42 minutes (30 km). From Gokarna, if you don’t take diversion to Yana caves, you can reach Kumta in around 40 minutes (30 Km) via NH. 

How to reach Kumta from Bangalore 

You can take an overnight bus from Bangalore and reach Kumta next day morning. You can even take the Karwar special train from Bangalore and get down at Kumta station next day morning. You will have to take an auto from station to reach Kumta town. 

Places to stay 

Once you enter Kumta you can find some good hotels to stay there. But if you really want to stay closer to the beaches, then there are good homestays and resorts near Baada as well. 

Places to see 

Temples

For spiritual enthusiasts, once you enter Kumta you will find a street called temple street which is very close to the old bus stand. In this temple street you will find the most famous Shri Mahalasa Narayani Temple, Shri Shanteri Kamakshi temple , Shri Kumbheshwar and many more. 

During our frequent visits to our native, we had visited many times all these temples. So this time we decided to cover Baada and Agnashini. 

Beaches 

Since Kumta is located along the coastal belt, you will be super excited to visit the beaches here. Two most famous beaches of Kumta are - Kumta beach and Baada beach. You can hire local auto here and visit these beaches. 

Baada temple

This temple is in Baada village of Kumta situated on a hill-top overlooking the Baada beach. From the base point, you will need to take around 100 steps to reach to the temple on the hilltop. But on the left side there is a road and you can take your vehicle on top right next to the temple parking lot. From here you can get inside the temple easily. We parked our veicle here. 

Inside the temple you will find Goddess Kanchika Parameshwari residing with full glory. The temple has a wonderful ambience - and you can hear the sound of waves from the beach nearby. 

We quickly offered our prayers to the goddess and came out to take a parikrama of the temple. While taking the parikrama, you will get to see the Baada beach from the temple premises which is worth a watch. 

We came back to parking lot and we could get a glimpse of Baada beach from here. Locals told us that there is a path from here which takes you down to the beach. So you can plan to visit the temple first and then the beach. Worth a visit for a peaceful getaway with family. 

From here next we drove along the Kumta- Agnashini road to reach a small diversion. This road was less crowded and the lush greenery on both the sides tempted us to drive along to unfold a surprise viewpoint. We could see Agnashini river flowing with good forest cover on both the sides. We could also see a tiny cruise pass by along this river. 

After clicking few pictures, we further drove along the Kumta-Agnashini road, to reach the last point of this road which is Agnashini. Here you will find a parking lot where all vehicles wil be parked. You can even take Kumta-Agnashini bus from Kumta Bus stand to reach this place 

Agnashini 

Agnashini is a small village situated on the southern banks of Agnashini river in Kumta. River Agnashini is also called– ‘the cleanser of sins”. It arises in Sirsi town of Uttara Kannada District of Karnataka, flows for about 117 kms to meet the Arabian Sea at Tadadi. And it is believed that the course of this river has till date never been altered by any human intervention and this is the only free flowing river in the country. 

We parked our vehicle at the parking lot and started walking to wards the ferry point. 

This place has offered lakhs of people with their livelihood who are directly dependent on the estuary famed for its protein rich fishes, crab and shrimp harvest. When we reached there, fishermen were just preparing for this harvest and we could get a glimpse of it. 

We reached the ferry point from where you can take a ferry to Tadadi port with a nominal fee of Rs 5. 

From Tadadi port, you can see the convergence of this river into Arabian sea. We took a quick 15 minutes ride one way, explored the Tadadi port and returned in the next ferry.  You can plan to visit Agnashini from Gokarna as well by taking an auto/local bus till Tadadi and taking the ferry from Tadadi port to Agnashini. Worth a visit. 

This place is a delight for photographers. One cannot stop clicking pictures here. For the first time, I had a tough time choosing the best pictures for my blog😊. 

There is also a cruise service along the river. You can google and book this online. We could spot this cruise which was ferrying some tourists with good music. The drive is around an hour along this river, and you will be served refreshments also. Most of my friends and relatives have taken this cruise service and they have recommended it’s good to take. We didn’t have time to plan this. Hence decided to take this cruise during our next visit. 

Finally, we bid adieu to this nature's wonderland and during our return journey we took another road to reach Kumta which was along the Agnashini river. On one side, big coconut trees and on other side, isolated, stunted mangrove patches along the riverbank draws your attention. And this was the best drive of my life along the coastal belt till date. You will understand once you see the pictures posted below😊.

This place is a must visit when in Gokarna, Kumta, or any of the places in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka state. 

I have visited this place multiple times since my childhood, but this time from blogger’s viewpoint this place started looking differently. I started admiring it even more after understanding what this river has to offer. I hope this river continues to be one of the most virgin, untouched rivers of India. 

As you all can see Kumta has everything to offer to quench travel thirsty souls - spiritual enthusiasts who can soak themselves into divinity by visiting the ancient temples, beach lovers can soak themselves in sea through Kumta and Baada beaches, nature lovers can just take a stroll around the Agnashini river and admire how a free-flowing river can feed through mangroves/locals along its journey. All in all, Kumta forms a perfect holiday getaway for relaxing, unwinding and solitude. 

Gokarna – Part 1 - Explore offbeat places beyond beaches 

Gokarna - Part 2 - Street Walking : Photographer's Delight

Gokarna - Part 3 - Trek to Yana Caves