Places to visit in Udupi

Udupi is small (about 145,000 people at the 2011 census), and its centre is a single square. Car Street (Ratha Beedi) runs round the Sri Krishna Matha, the temple tank Madhva Sarovara and the Ashta Mathas, the eight monasteries that take turns running the temple.

Manipal, 4–5 km up the road, is the university campus, with most of the cafés and bookshops; buses leave every couple of minutes. Malpe, 6 km away on the sea, has the beach, the district's largest fishing harbour and the boats to St Mary's Island.

Tulu, Kannada and Konkani are spoken here, and English is enough in tourist places (more on language).

• Sri Krishna Matha: Krishna as a child, installed by Madhvacharya, is seen only through a silver-plated window with nine openings, the Navagraha Kindi. Legend says the image turned to face the poet-saint Kanakadasa, refused entry, as he prayed outside. The kitchen feeds everyone who comes, twice a day (prasadam).
• Anantheshwara Temple: a few steps from the matha, generally dated to the 8th century, with a low tiled roof and a copper-sheathed sanctum. Madhvacharya studied and took his vows here.
• Corporation Bank Heritage Museum: more than 1,300 coins, the oldest from the 1st century BC, five minutes from the temple square. Free; 20–30 minutes covers it.
• Malpe Beach and the harbour: come early, as the boats come in and the catch is auctioned on the quay.
• St Mary's Island: basalt islets of hexagonal columns, a National Geological Monument, reached only by boat from Malpe.
• Other beaches: Mattu, long and nearly empty; Padubidri, the district's Blue Flag beach, about 25 km south; Kaup, with a lighthouse of 1901; Delta Beach at Kodi Bengre, a sandbar at the Suvarna estuary, past the Kemmannu hanging bridge.
• Hasta Shilpa Heritage Village, Manipal: eighteen to twenty old buildings, from merchant houses to a 13th-century shrine, taken down where they stood and rebuilt here. Allow two to three hours.

• Karkala (about 37 km): the 42-foot Gomateshwara (Bahubali) monolith of 1432 on a bare rock hill, and a kilometre away the four-doored Chaturmukha Basadi of 1586. The two fill one morning.
• Barkur (about 16 km north): the old Alupa capital: temples, a Jain basadi and fort ruins across a working town with few signs; take an auto or a guide.
• Pajaka (12–13 km): Madhvacharya's birthplace, with four spring-fed tanks and a hilltop Durga temple above; two to three hours.
• Anegudde and Guddattu (25–35 km north): a silver-plated standing Vinayaka on Elephant Hill and, easy to combine with it, a Ganesha standing in spring water in a rock cavity, refilled with a thousand pots twice every morning.
• Kollur Mookambika (about 80 km north): a major goddess temple, 2–2.5 hours each way, so a full day.

On the Konkan line, Murudeshwar is 1–1.5 hours away and Gokarna about 2.5. More on the day trips page.

One day: the Krishna Matha, Anantheshwara and the coin museum, a meal from the temple kitchen, and Malpe in the late afternoon.

Two days: add the morning boat to St Mary's Island and Manipal.

Three days: add one trip inland: Karkala, Barkur with Pajaka, or Kollur. Add a night if a Yakshagana is on nearby.

November to February is the season: dry, with highs around 33°C and the sea open. March is still dry but hotter, and in April and May the sea turns rough. The monsoon brings about 1,000 mm of rain in each of June and July; from June to September sea entry is officially banned after drownings, and the St Mary's boats stop. October is a shoulder month with a rough sea.

Paryaya (17–18 January 2028, expected) comes every two years in January: before dawn the head of one matha takes over the temple from another. Book rooms about two months ahead. In the days around Makara Sankranti the deities float on the lit temple tank, and on Sankranti night three chariots circle Car Street (10–16 January 2027, expected). The matha keeps its own Janmashtami, sometimes a month after the date elsewhere; the next day is Vittla Pindi, with the golden chariot and Huli Vesha tiger dancers (24–25 August 2027, expected). From November to May, Yakshagana troupes play night-long dance-dramas in nearby villages, usually free when a temple sponsors them; shows end around midnight or at dawn. Monthly figures are on the weather page.

By train: Udupi station (UD), on the Konkan Railway, is in Indrali, about 3 km from Car Street. From Bengaluru the overnight Panchaganga Express takes about 9.5 hours (about ₹400 in sleeper, ₹1,070 in 3A); from Goa, 4–5 hours; from Mangaluru, about an hour. A prepaid rickshaw counter at the exit fixes the fare into town (about ₹50–100).

By bus: overnight sleepers from Bengaluru take 8.5–10 hours. From Mangaluru buses leave every few minutes: 1–1.5 hours, about ₹60–100.

By air: Mangaluru airport (IXE) is 60 km away; a taxi costs about ₹1,800–2,500, or take a bus via the Mangaluru city stand.

Around town: rickshaws do not use meters, so agree the price first (about ₹50–100). Local buses cost under ₹20. More on getting here and getting around.