Karnataka Coast Complete Guide 2026: Mangalore, Udupi, Malpe and St Mary's Islands
Browse more guides: India travel | Asia destinations Karnataka Coast Complete Guide 2026: Mangalore, Udupi, Malpe and St Mary's Islands TL;DR I went to coastal Karnataka expecting a quieter Goa and got something completely different. The 320 km stretch from Mangalore up to Karwar is Konkan country, where the Western Ghats fall straight into the Arabian Sea. This is Tulu Nadu, a cultural region with its own language spoken by around five million people, its own folk theater called Yakshagana, and a coastal cuisine that gave the world the masala dosa. Mangalore is the southern anchor, a working port city with the ancient Mangaladevi temple, Tipu Sultan's 1784 Sultan Battery watchtower, and the painted ceiling of St Aloysius Chapel from 1885. An hour north, Udupi houses the Sri Krishna Matha founded by Madhvacharya in 1238. Next to Udupi, Malpe beach has a ferry that takes thirty minutes out to St Mary's Islands, where 88 million year old hexagonal basalt columns rise ou...