From Wikitravel

Mangalore is a port city and also a district in the coastal region of Karnataka State in India.

Contents 1 Understand 2 Get in 2.1 By Air 2.2 By train 2.3 By Bus 2.4 By Car 3 Get around 3.1 By Bus 3.2 Cabs 3.3 Autorickshaws 4 See 5 Do 6 Buy 7 Eat 7.1 Udupi-style restaurants 7.2 North-Indian Cuisine 7.3 Kerala cuisine 7.4 Premium Restaurants 7.5 Ice Cream and Snacks 8 Drink 8.1 Fruit Juice and Cold Drinks 8.2 Coffee Shops 8.3 Tender Coconut Juice 8.4 Alcohol 9 Sleep 9.1 Budget 9.2 Mid-range 9.3 Splurge 10 Get out 11 Stay Safe

Understand

Mangalore is a port city and gateway to the State of Karnataka situated in South India. It is one of the five taluks (Other than Bantwal, Puttur, Sullia, Belthangady taluks) of the Dakshina Kannada District (formerly which had 8 taluks which have split in August 1997 - the remaining taluks viz., Udupi, Kundapur and Karkala from then on a part of the Udupi district). It is the administrative district headquarters of the Dakshina Kannada District.

Mangalore was named after the goddess Mangaladevi. Other names used by the locals are 'Mangalooru' (Kannada), 'Kudla' (Tulu), 'Kodial' (Konkani), 'Mikala' (Beary) and 'Mangalapuram (Malayalam).

Traditionally, it was an important trading port with ties with the Persian Gulf states dating back to the 14th Century. With its strategic sea-side location, it was occupied by a number of dynasties and colonial rulers - namely the Portuguese in the mid-16th century. In the 18th century its control was contested by Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan on one hand and the British on the other. Under the Mysore sultans (1763) it became a strategic ship building base, which was ceded to the British in 1799 after numerous sieges.

Mangalore is a blend of new and old! With the increasing influx of students from various states of India and different parts of the world, Mangalore has virtually become a 'Melting Pot' of cultures - even otherwise it is one, with the various communities that make up the social framework of Mangalore - the Tuluvas (Bunts, Billawas, Brahmins,mogaveeras), the Brahmins, the Konkani Catholics, the Bearys, the Goud-Saraswath Brahmins (Konkanas), etc..!

Languages : The no. of languages spoken around here reflect the cultural diversity of Mangalore - Tulu is one of the most popular and most widely spoken languages around here (considering the fact that a huge chunk of the population are Tuluvas), Kannada (the official state language of course), Konkani (two different versions exist - the one spoken by the Konkani Catholics and another spoken by the Konkanas or the Goud-Saraswaths) and Beary (A mixture of Tulu and Malayalam). English and Hindi also widely spoken, so communicating wouldn't be much of a problem!

Get in

By Air

Mangalore has a domestic airport situated at Bajpe, about 30kms from the city centre. Currently there are flights to Mumbai and Bangalore only. Alliance Air (a subsidiary airline of Indian - one of the national carriers), Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and Air Deccan currently operate flights to Mangalore.

Flights to Chennai are being restarted by Kingfisher Airlines as of 7th May.

The first international scheduled passenger flight from Mangalore to the city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates operated by Air-India Express will take off on the 2nd of October if things go as planned. As soon as it commences, it will give a chance to travellers worldwide to experience Mangalore besides promoting tourism. Also, Mangalore Airport has plans for expansion of the current terminal to a larger one - with a larger runway so as to cater to the rapidly growing future air travel-influx into Mangalore - both domestic as well as international.

By train

Mangalore has two railway stations. The Mangalore station is at Hampankatta, in the heart of the city. It is a terminus.

Kankanady is the other station. It is situated about 5 to 10 kilometres from the centre of the city. It is on the Konkan railway track and connects Mangalore to Goa and Mumbai in the north and to Kerala in the south. Trains from Mangalore going north have to pass through Kankanady.

Surathkal is a town on the National Highway 17, about 20 kilometres North of the city. It has a railway station that is about 2 kilometres from the heart of the town. Passengers arriving from north of Mangalore usually prefer to alight at Surathkal and take a bus to the city. This is because trains usually get held up in traffic between Surathkal and Mangalore.

By Bus

There are two bus-stands in Mangalore for long-distance bus services.

• One is the state-run KSRTC bus stand in Bejai, towards the North of the city, but not far off from the city centre. The bus-services are run by the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation - they operate scheduled bus services to Mumbai, Bangalore, Mysore, Goa and many other areas within and outside Karnataka. Services run by the Kerala State Transport and Tamil Nadu State Transport also call in Mangalore at this very bus stand.

• The other one is behind the Town Hall. It is known as the 'State Bank' stand by the locals, because of its proximity to a branch of the State Bank of India. It is the last stop for most of the private bus services to Mangalore (mostly Inter-District viz. Mangalore-Udupi and Inter-taluk buses).

• There is a third bus-stand (not exactly a bus-stand but an alighting point for passengers) in front of Milagres Church - where most private tour and bus operators - Ideal Travels, Canara, Canara-Pinto, Vishal Travels, Anand Travels, etc. have their offices. They operate buses of semi-deluxe, sleeper and Volvo types to various destinations viz. Mumbai, Bangalore, Goa, Thrissur, etc.

• Various other pick-up points and drop points are there in Mangalore city according to your convenience!

There are numerous bus services from Mangalore to all the nearby towns in Karnataka and Kerala. The long-distance bus services to major cities like Mangalore, Mumbai and Goa run along the National Highways radiating to the North (towards Goa and Mumbai) - NH-17, South (towards Kerala) and the East (towards Bangalore) - NH-48. The thumb-rule for bus fares is about 60% of the distance in kilometres. For example, it would cost Rs. 60 to travel a distance of 100 kilometres.

By Car

Mangalore is well connected to the rest of North India (Goa, Mumbai, etc.) and Kerala via National Highway-17 (Mumbai-Kerala highway) and the state capital Bangalore (via National Highway-48 which traverses a considerable amount of the Western Ghats). Highways are only two-laned - very narrow. There is a lot of traffic load on the highways owing to the increasing no. of 'Express' buses plying on these routes as well as goods-transport trucks owing to the location of many plants and factories as well as New Mangalore Port on NH-17. So exercise caution while driving during heavy traffic load.

Plans are underway by the National Highways of India to convert NH-17 into a four-lane highway soon enough.

Get around

By Bus

There are numerous private bus companies which run bus services within the city of Mangalore and its suburbs. They have names like Padmavathi Bus Co. Ltd. emblazoned in large letters in English on the front windscreen of the bus and on its sides. These buses also connect to all the minor urban centres surrounding Mangalore. Most of them originate from the Central Bus Stand at Mangalore behind the Town Hall - the 'State Bank' bus stand.

Even though the buses are operated by different private companies, the bus numbering scheme is unified and quite useful. The destinations and routes are however all written in Kannada. The best way to use these buses is to ask around - the people are most helpful. If you are armed with a city map, one can get the hang of things within a day or so.

The minimum bus fare is Rs. 3. The conductors carry a small pad and tear of scraps of paper in which they scrawl the fare. A carbon copy of the fare is also made for their records. Some city bus conductors carry a computerised ticket issuing machine. Bus fares rarely exceed Rs. 10 for a journey which could be around 20 kilometres.

In addition city bus service, there is limited stop ( usually called express) bus service (majority of them run by various private bus companies) for inter-town/city travelling to neighbouring places. You may find these useful to visit places like udipi, manipal, kaup, karkala etc. Bus fare ranges between Rs. 14 to Rs. 35 for a distance upto 65 kms.

Cabs

White Ambassador Cabs / Indicas are available - usually used by passengers on long-haul routes. Shared cabs are also available for travel between the city and other talukas viz. Bantwal (BC Road), etc. Prepaid cabs are available from the Airport to the city generally at a flat rate of Rs. 350-400.

Car-Rent facilities are also available in Mangalore.

Autorickshaws

They are available all throughout Mangalore City - starting fare @ Rs.11. Pre-paid autos are available from the City Railway Station and the KSRTC bus stand at Bejai. Autos also ply to far off destinations - outskirts - at a one-and-a-half fare - roughly around Rs.150 - depend on the amount of money you can blow - though one would prefer buses to reach these areas as a cheaper mode of transport.

See

Do

1. Make sure you try the ice creams from ideal ice cream parlour in hampankatta. The recipe is a family secret. 2. There are a lot of temples and churches to visit, or if that doesn't interest you , relaxing at the beach is a good idea . 3. For the adventurous, the western ghats near mangalore provide ideal location to get lost in the dense jungles.

Buy

There is no dearth of malls and shopping complexes in Mangalore. Apart from Hamkankatta ,Balmatta,Kankannady and posh Falnir ,most of the new malls are coming up on the MG Road which is a dual carriageway.The Empire Mall has the Nilgiris supermarket,dollar store and few other retail chains . The Bharath mall has Big Bazaar,Food bazaar,PlanetM,Pizza hut just to name a few. The Saibeen complex is also located on MG Road.One of the biggest malls of South India is coming up on K S Rao road ,(Mohtishams citi centre) It has a retail space of almost half a million square feet.Spencers,Mcdonalds have already booked their spaces. The mall will also feature a five screen cinema.

The Bangalore based Prestige group is investing about 300 crores on another Mall in Mangalore.

Eat

Udupi-style restaurants

There are numerous small restaurants where one can gorge on cheap food as long as one likes South Indian food. The most typical ones are the Udupi-style restaurants which serve the stape fare of idli, wada and a variety of dosas. You can wash them down with some home-grown filter coffee or tea.

One of the more famous Udupi-style restaurants is the Woodlands situated on Bunts Hostel Road which has preserved its old-world quaintness. The gentry of Mangalore drive into its courtyard and remain seated in their cars. Nimble-footed waiters with their white mundus hitched up scamper around to serve them their food which is eaten inside the cars.

The lunch menu in Woodlands is particularly tasty if you like typical South Indian food. Lunch includes two varieties of rice - Normal rice and Boiled rice (Kerala style). The tiffin menu (evening) also is delicious with several choices. The dinner menu is very plain and contains many repeat dishes.

Also , be sure to visit the restaurant Tajmahal, located in three different locations in mangalore (Car Street, Hampankatta & Town hall). The Coffee served in tajmahal is regarded by many to be the best coffee available anywhere-the exact contents of the coffee powder used are kept a secret, tajmahal has a lot of patrons who visit the restaurant almost ritualistically thrice a day. Apart from the coffee there are a wide variety of dishes available including the dosas.

North-Indian Cuisine

If you are looking for North Indian food, you are not spoilt for choice. Some of the larger hotels have a larger menu but the food is not particularly appetizing. One important joint in this category would be the restaurant at Hotel Srinivas on G.H.S Road - awesome food at great prices (Veg-only).

Otherwise for the Mughlai-tandoori variety, don't forget to check out The Royal Darbar (Bendorewell-Kankanady Road) and The Mogul Treat (at Highlands - opposite Highland Hospital).Chicken Tikka Halal (Saibeen complex),Biryani Paradise (Kankanady-Pumpwell road).

Kerala cuisine

Another category of small eateries is the Malayali joints. As Mangalore is adjacent to Kerala, it has a fair share of Malayalis who patronize these joints which have their names written in large letters in the Malayalam script. They provide a selection of non-vegetarian food prepared in typical Kerala-style. A famous joint to cite in this category would be Kairali Restaurant - near the Railway Station behind Milagres Church.

Premium Restaurants

If you're ready to spend a little more moolah to give yourself and your family that perfect 'pet-puja' (tummy treat!) while in Mangalore, suit yourself at the various restaurants around which offer varied cuisines of your choice and taste - at a price! Some of the famous ones include:

• Paalkhi (Balmatta Road)
• Maharaja (Bunts Hostel Road,Interior and food is not so impressive!!!)
• Abhiman Residency (Kadri Road near Bunts Hostel)
• Kadal (Nalapad Residency - Light House Hill Road)
• Kudla (Balmatta Road)
• Diesel Café (Mischief - SCS Hospital Road, Balmatta)
• Amazon (Empire mega mall,Mg Road )

Ice Cream and Snacks

If you scream for Ice-cream and other snacks - the usual fare of junk food, look no further than Mangalore-which is often labelled 'ice-cream town' for the boom in the no. of parlours in and around the city - some of the famous ones which include

• Ideals' (Hampankatta)- There are two parlours actually within a proximity of 200mts. One near the Milgres junction and the other one near next junction towards market.
• Komal's (Hampankatta - adjacent to Ideals(Milagres junction))
• Pabba's (at Lalbagh diagonally facing Saibeen Complex)
• Cherry Square (major Mangalorean hangout for the youth - next to SCS Hospital)
• Dino's (Awesome snacks and pasteries), Danish Bakes (A.R.D'Souza Complex - Bendorewell Road)
• Snack-Shack (beside Move'n'Pick Supermarket at Valencia)
• Pop Tates (Balmatta)
• Prax (Kadri Road) and many others!
• Mahalaxmi Sweets and Chaats (Kankanady)
• Cochin Bakery (Three outlets throughout Mangalore - At Ceebees tower on Old Pumpwell Road (Kankanady), at A.B.Shetty Circle (near State Bank) and at Nanthoor (opposite Padua High School).
• IceBerg (Souza Arcade, Opposite Jyothi Talkies, Balmatta)
• Freeze (Highlands)

The above joints are world-famous in Mangalore. If you're in for the other world-famous MNC joints - Dominos Pizza (Bendorwell - next to Colaco Hospital) and Pizza Hut (at Bharath Mall - Adlabs Multiplex - Bang opposite the KSRTC bus stand at Bejai), also now pizza corner has opened in The Empire Building.

Drink

Fruit Juice and Cold Drinks

An array of mini fruit juice stalls dot every nook and cranny of Mangalore City - at bus stops, near shopping areas,etc. that serve the usual fare of juices and milkshakes - name it and its all there for you. Though not recommended if your gut is not immune to such juices! Normal restaurants would definitely be a hygienic alternative!

Aerated cold drinks like Coke & Pepsi are also available - just like in any other part of the world. Try out the local varieties like 'Zaffa' for taste.

Coffee Shops

Well there's the usual Cafe Coffee Day with its main outlet at Balmatta and two others at Deralakatte bang opposite the A.B.Shetty Memorial Institute of Dental Sciences campus and at the ONGC-MRPL Complex at Katipalla - Surathkal (near Infant Mary Church). The outlets offer the youth a good hangout and a place to chill.Recently Cafe coffee day opened two new outlets, one at Bharat mall, the other at The Empire Mall.

Or if you're game for just plain filter coffee without the extra hype, try out any of the Udupi cafes.

Tender Coconut Juice

One thing that you should NOT miss when you're in Mangalore is the coconut juice (the bonda) - that'll drive you crazy and you'll be asking for more! Try out chilled coconut juice in case you happen to visit Jimmy's Supermarket (Falnir Road) - there's a tea/coffee/juice stand next to it which serves awesome chilled coconut juice!

Alcohol

And yes.. If you're looking for that perfect night out with friends over a couple of beers or vodka, you can either buy your liquor from the many wineshops around - eg. HI-SPIRITS (Bendoorwell-Kankanady) OR you can check out the various resto-bars/lounge bars in the city -some of the famous ones include

• The Liquid Lounge (Balmatta Road - The general youth hangout!)
• Pegasus (Jeppinamogaru - near Fisheries College)its very expensive but great place to hangout
• Kainos (at Abhiman Residency - Bunts Hostel Area)
• Zero Degree at the Pailands Plaza (above Jimmy's Supermarket - Falnir Road).
• Village (Yeyyadi road)
• Amazon (Empire mega mall, M.G.Road Lalbagh)

Sleep

Budget

There is no shortage of Budget hotels in MANGALORE. KS RAO Road has many affortable hotels. Hotel Roopa Ganesh Mahal Vasanth Mahal Woodlands Siddharth Ganesh Prasad Ayodhya Vishwa bhavan Dhanyavad Hotel Usha Rajadhani

Mid-range

There are many midrange hotels in Mangalore Prestige,collectors gate Shaan Plaza Saptagiri International Vimalesh International Manorama Navaratna

Splurge

The only five star hotel in Mangalore is the Taj Manjarun situated near State bank.The other deluxe hotels are Motimahal, Poonja International Nalappad Residency Navaratna Palace Abhiman Residency Srinvas Hotel mangalore International

There are some deluxe hotels under construction in Mangalore at present.

Get out

• Kasargod - check out Bekal fort and the beach.

• Dharmasthala - Sri Manjunathaswamy Temple.

• Surathkal Beach and Lighthouse - Check out the beach there (includes a private beach owned by NITK - the National Institute of Technology Karnataka - one of the few universities in the world to own a beach!) - wonderful place to hang out, sit and watch the sun go down over the Arabian Sea!

Gates usually open after 4.30pm

• The neighbouring towns of Mulki, Katapadi and Padubidri. Check out the '24-hours open' Bittu-da-Dhaba on the NH-17 at Hejmady (between Mulki and Padubidri)!

• Udupi, the temple town and headquarters of the neighbouring twin-district which bears the same name around 60kms from Mangalore- the town has its usual hustle-bustle of daily life activity just like Mangalore though not at par with it. It also houses the famous 'Udupi Sri Krishna Temple'.

• Manipal - part of the district of Udupi and around 9 kms from Udupi town, has earned its name and a place on the world education map for being the 'Education City Of India' housing the colleges and institutions (which include the famous Kasturba Medical College and the Manipal Institute of Technology) under the Manipal Academy Of Higher Education - which was started by the late Dr. T.M.A Pai. Don't forget to check out the world-famous Anatomy Museum (Hasthna Shilpa) on the KMC campus. Also don't forget to check out the ever-so-delightful eye-candy 'End Point', the various eateries and clubs around this wonderful university town!

• Kaup Beach and Lighthouse - around 50kms from Mangalore - unspoilt beach - amazing experience!

• Malpe Beach and St. Mary's Island - around 65-70kms from Mangalore.

• Just 2 hours from Mangalore is a beautiful coastal town of Kundapur. When you visit Kundapur you can stay at a beautiful backwater island resort called Amgol. It has cottages situated right at the waters edge, where you can even feed fish from the steps.

At Kollur, The Sri Mookambika Devi Temple is situated - many pilgrims from all over visit the temple.

• Moodbidri - Thousand Pillars Basadi.

• Maravanthe Beach - Situated 105kms from Mangalore after Kundapur - The National Highway - 17 (NH-17) separates the river from the Arabian Sea offering a wonderful sight to travellers on the highway. Does get flooded during the monsoons and makes travelling difficult on the highway.

If you are looking out for a performace or a quiet evening in airconditioned atmosphere then Dr TMA Pai International convention centre is the place . It is one of the largest convention centre in India.In terms of Indoor capacity it might be the second largest in India closely behind the Hyderabad International convention centre.The seating capacity ,all indoors is about 3000.There are parking spaces for 400 cars and 200 two wheelers .About 50 crores was spent on this project which was inaugurated by Mr Chidambaram.

Stay Safe

Mangalore is endemic for Malaria. So don't forget to carry your Mosquito repellant creams, Mosquito mats, coils, liquidators, etc.along with you (let that be your first priority on your list of things to pack!) Consult your doctor for advice on Malaria prophylaxis before you arrive in Mangalore. If you have the slightest idea of a fever with chills, rush yourself to a nearby hospital to get yourself checked!

Also, it is advisable to get yourself vaccinated for Hepatitis A (food-borne Hepatitis) in case you haven't been vaccinated already. Always choose water from filters (Aquaguard water) or Bottled Mineral Water just to be on the safer side.

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