I took a small break from blogging for 2 days to visit a nearby place from Mangalore- Murdeshwar. My parents had come to Mangalore, so we planned a weekend trip. We started from Mangalore a little late than planned at 10.00 am on Saturday. We had our breakfast from Suratkal.
Murdeshwar is around 160 kms from Mangalore. The roads near the Suratkal stretch was really in a pathetic condition as 4 lane work was going on. It took me some time to get over this stretch. We passed Udupi and Kundapura and reached a marvelous place called Marvanthe. The beauty of Marvanthe lies in the fact that road (NH 17) is only 100 meters from the sea shore and this stretch of road has Arabian sea on one side and a river named Souparnika on the other side. Its really a unique view having sea and river on either side of a road.
We resumed our journey again after a 15 minutes break at Marvanthe. It was raining heavily on the way to Murdeshwar as monsoon season is in its best during this period. By around 2.00 pm we reached Murdeshwar. Once we got down from the car, we could see the huge statue of Lord Shiva.
Murdeshwar is situated on the coast of Arabian sea, around 12 kms from Bhatkal on NH17. The major attractions of this place are;
Murudeshwara Temple: This temple is built on the Kanduka Hill which is surrounded on three sides by the waters of the Arabian Sea. 20-storied Gopura (Tower structure) is being constructed in front of this Shiva temple. Two life-size elephants in concrete stand guard at the steps leading to the temple.
Statue of Lord Shiva: A huge towering statue of Lord Shiva is present near the temple complex. It is said to be the tallest statue of Shiva in the world. The statue is 123 feet (37 m) in height, and took about 2 years to build. The statue was built at a cost of approximately 10 million Rs. The idol is designed such that it gets the sun light directly and thus appears sparkling.
The Shiva statue has 4 hands and the hand which is having the small drum, behind the left hand was hit by lightning and had crashed down. The construction work on this hand is currently progressing and because of this, we were not able to go near the statue.
The statue and the complete area around is not a govt owned property, but owned by a private party who recently renovated the years old temple. The place is well maintained with greenery all around and lot of other small sculptures.
View of the Arabian Sea.
We had our lunch from a beach restaurant and started out journey back to Mangalore by 4.30pm. We reached back Mangalore around 9.00pm, bad roads and heavy rains prevented us from reaching early. It was really an enjoyable trip.
How to reach Murdeshwar:
By Road: Murdeshwar is one km deviated from the NH17, around 160 kms from Mangalore and 220 kms from Goa.
By Train: Murdeshwar lies in the Konkan stretch and many trains stop at this station, including express trains.
By Air: Nearest airport is Mangalore or Goa.
WOW! Seems like a very interesting place to visit.
Murudeshwar is one of the coolest places in Uttar Kannada District ! Me too from Mangalore urwa Stores area Ashoknagar !
Ahh…. looks cool place to be in! We’ve been to Karnataka tour, but never have visited Mangalore before.
Hi Nirmal,
It sounded like those John Chow travelogues. nice to see you
Will there be more of travel here?
Cheers!
Mani
@Kuanhoong,
Its definitely a great place to visit.
@Vikram,
I stay near Kottara Chowki, good to know that you are also from Mangalore.
@Ashwin,
Mangalore and surrounding areas are famous for beaches and island, there are quite a few temples also.
@Mani,
Thanks for the visit, there is already lot of travel tales here in the blog.
@ Nirmal: Oh cool ,i saw you once last week i think.
Wow Man! You must get a Flickr Pro account and upload all those Murdeshwar snaps there. This place looks really holy . Will sure visit there in winter vacations during my birthday if my dad comes back home fit!
Tell me the URL if you have uploaded some more of the snaps?
@Vikram,
Is it? Where did you see me?
@Rishi,
You can check out more snaps of Murdeshwar here-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34322465@N00/sets/72157601095824810/
That looks like a great place to visit
I’m off to check your Flickr Album
This is beautiful man . Love it .
Great posse on the car, nirmal! lol!
Oh, the statue looks charismatic!
@Shankar and Madhur,
I was struck with the beauty of the statue.
@Ken Xu,
Indeed the statue looks charismatic.
Thanks for that comment.
[...] Nirmal and his latest post: Exploring Murdeshwar [...]
Although I have never been to that part of the world, it does look that you are enjoying it very well.
Sounds like you had a great day Nirmal , glad you’ve enjoyed your 2 days vacation . I had a single day vacation just the other day , will post all the pics asap . !
Great pictures! Looks like you had a blast. That is one beautiful place I’d like to visit someday
@WordPress Plugin Advice,
You should visit this part of the world, we have lots of great places here in asia.
@Cristian,
I had a great day and completely enjoyed.
@BrownBaron,
You are welcome to visit India.
Wow!!! amazing,
I wish i could’ve accompanied you.
So when is the next trip?
@Sunil,
You can accompany me in my next trip.
Next trip is not planned yet, but could be there in a month or two.
Soon you’ll have a new visitor at your place and you ‘ll have to go along with him too
@ReviewSaurus,
I’m waiting for that person to come here.
Cool Place…..
Sounds like a great place!
But I didn’t know it existed until I read this. 
Never heard of that before, but I explored it now
Soon you’ll have a new visitor at your place and you ‘ll have to go along with him too
^^^ mayank is coming to mlore? uber alles!
))
maybe this is the time where i should say i love mangalore! woohoo
lovely pictures nirmal. glad to know you had fun!
One more person will be accompanying you in your next trip.
When you I saw Suratkal mentioned at the beginning of the article, I knew for sure that would mention that particular, beautiful stretch of road between sea and river.
The whole stretch from Mangalore and northwards had wonderful sea-fronts and sandy beaches.
I have travelled Mangalore to Bombay route often to remember Manipal, Udipi’s Diana Ice Cream Parlor, the beach at Kundapura. A small place in Kundapura, used to serve ‘Horlicks’ Ice Cream. From the sound of it – it is expected to taste horrible – but the surprise and hook is in the tasting.
Nice Travelogue.
@RJ,
You seem to know lot about Mangalore and Udupi. Are you from Karnataka?
Hi all,
realy its a nice place to see…beter not to miss it
frm Niranjan
Great place, isnt it? The sight of the beach (flanked by boats, people, eateries, hotels and of course, the gopuram and the temple) from the foot of the Shiva statue is splendid. I went there during Diwali and had a great time too.