Places to visit near Udupi

Malpe Beach is the town's beach; from it boats cross to St Mary's Island, a National Geological Monument of hexagonal basalt columns. Boats run roughly 09:00–17:00 in season, about ₹400 per adult return, and not at all from June to September. Nothing is sold on the island, so carry water.

On the road beyond Malpe: the swaying Kemmannu Hanging Bridge over a channel of the Swarna, then the sandbar of Delta Beach at Kodi Bengre, where the estuary is calm enough for kayaks. The river mouth itself has dangerous currents; do not swim.

The village where Madhvacharya was born: the family house, a small temple with a foot impression in stone, four spring-fed tanks, and the Durga Parameshwari temple on the hill above, with a view almost all the way round.

A rocky headland with a lighthouse of 1901, old Jain shrines and a Mariamma temple. The tower opens only in a short late-afternoon window, usually quoted as about 16:00–18:00; tickets are about ₹10 for Indian citizens and ₹25 for foreigners, plus GST. Not a swimming beach.

Barkur, the old Alupa capital: temples, the dark-stone Kattale Basadi and about twenty acres of fort ruins scattered through a working town. Free, but spread out and barely signposted; an auto or a local guide helps. Best October to February.

The university town up the road has the Hasta Shilpa Heritage Village, eighteen-odd rescued historic buildings, and Manipal End Point, a cliff-edge park over the Swarna valley at its best before sunset.

Padubidri is the district's Blue Flag beach, with a marked bathing zone, showers and walkways. Busiest at sunset and on Sundays.

Two Ganesha temples on one outing: Anegudde at Kumbhashi, one of Tulu Nadu's seven mukti-sthalas, with a standing silver-plated Vinayaka; and Guddattu, where the deity stands in water in a rock cavity and the chamber is refilled with a thousand pots twice every morning, free to watch. No photography in the cave.

A Jain morning: the 42-foot Gomateshwara (Bahubali) monolith of 1432 on a bare rock hill, 80–100 steps up, and a kilometre away the four-doored Chaturmukha Basadi of 1586. Nearby Attur has the St Lawrence Shrine Basilica, a church usually dated to 1759. All free; go early, before the granite heats up.

The easiest waterfall in the district, half a kilometre from the parking area near Hebri. September to February; see waterfalls near Udupi.

The Kollur Mookambika Temple, one of the great goddess temples of the west coast, is 2–2.5 hours each way by road: a full day. The dress code is enforced and darshan queues run long at weekends and during Navaratri.

Uppinakudru, in the backwaters near Kundapura and reached by ferry, is the home of Yakshagana string puppetry, kept by a handful of families. Come for that rather than for a beach.