We travelled to Agumbe in November 2015. My friend and his family accompanied us for this entire trip.
The route that we followed was : Bangalore –> Agumbe –> Jog Falls –> Mookambika Temple (Kudajadri) –> Murudeshwar –> Gokarna Om Beach –> Shimoga –> Bangalore.
My fellow travellers in Bangalore: This is one of the best trips that you can plan from Bangalore. You can cover some beautiful places in this entire road trip. Our’s was a 4N/5D trip; 1 night in Agumbe, 1 night in Gokarna , 2 nights in Shimoga
Agumbe is one of the least explored tourist destinations in Karnataka. It is a small village located in Shimoga district, in the Malnad region of Karnataka, India. Its also known as the place of origin of Malgudy. If you grew up in the 90s and have never heard of Malgudi Days, there’s something missing in your life. Malgudi — a fictitious town from R.K. Narayan’s novel — is actually Agumbe Village.
(Doddamane house below)
Agumbe is popular for 3 things:
1) Snakes especially King Cobra (the most venomous snake in the world)
2) Heavy Rainfall (also known as ‘The Cherrapunji of the South’)
3) Sunset (there is a sunset point 10 minutes away from town)
Agumbe has very limited visitor accommodation (1 hotel and 3-4 Home stays only). So book your stay in advance.
Best part of Agumbe is its location, which is surrounded by lush greenery with no signs & sounds of traffic.
Some places worth visiting:
Agumbe Rain forest
Research Station (ARRS)
Barkana falls
Jogi and Gundi falls
Koodlu Falls
Kundadri Hills (Jain Temple) : It is a hill (826 mt) with dense forests in the Wastern Ghats. This hill is known for 17th century Jain temple. Two small ponds formed by the rock on one side of this temple provided water to earlier sages.
Government of Karnataka joined hands with a philanthropist from Mumbai to construct an all-weather road to the top of the hill.
We stayed at Naveen’s Belachikatte Home stay. We were one of the first families who stayed in that new homestay and infact I was the first person to review this homestay on Trip advisor.
We got a chance to try some really nice Malnad cuisine from this homestay. Thanks to Naveen and his family for making our trip a memorable one.
Note: Please ensure to fill your vehicle’s fuel tank before reaching here. We missed to do so and had to go down the 18 hair pin bends to reach down the ghat section just to fill the petrol in our car. We did not see any petrol pumps on the main town. May be over a period of time, things might have changed.
