Places to visit in Chikmagalur

Mullayanagiri

The highest point in Karnataka, wrapped in cloud

Baba Budangiri

A shared shrine on a ridge of coffee legend

Kemmanagundi

A garden hill station laid out by a king

Seethalayyanagiri

The green shoulder below Mullayanagiri, with a Shiva shrine and a view over both valleys.

Sringeri Sharadamba Temple

The seat of the Sharada Peetham on the Tunga

Charmadi Ghat

Twenty-five kilometres of hairpins off the plateau to the coast, through the wettest forest in the district.

Hebbe Falls

A two-tier fall deep inside a coffee estate

Kudremukh National Park

Six hundred square kilometres of shola grassland and rainforest — tiger, hornbill, and the source of three rivers.

Vidyashankara Temple, Sringeri

Fourteenth-century Vijayanagara stone, with twelve zodiac pillars that catch the sun month by month.

Kavikal Gandi Viewpoint

The horseshoe gorge on the Mullayanagiri–Baba Budangiri road — fifty steps up, and the whole range in front of you.

Ballalarayana Durga

A Hoysala hill fort on the Charmadi ridge, reached on foot through shola grassland.

Jhari Falls (Buttermilk Falls)

A white sheet of water off a granite face

Ettina Bhuja

The ox's shoulder — a 1,300 m rock nose over the Charmadi valley, and the district's best half-day climb.

Bandaje Arbi Traverse

Two days from Sunkasale over Ballalarayana Durga and down past the falls to Ujire — the finest walk in these hills.

Kudremukh Peak

The horse-faced peak of the rainforest Ghats

Bhadra Dam, Lakkavalli

One of Karnataka's oldest big dams, holding the reservoir that forms the tiger reserve's western edge.

Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary (Muthodi)

A tiger reserve in the coffee hills

Hariharapura Sharada Peetham

A Shankaracharya foundation on the Tunga that almost no visitor to Sringeri ever hears about.

Simhanagadde Jain Kshetra

The Jwalamalini atishaya kshetra — a Jain place of miracles, and the district's Jain centre.

Deviramma Betta

The third summit of the Chandra Drona range, and an 800-year-old hill goddess.

Horanadu Annapoorneshwari Temple

The goddess of food, who feeds every visitor

Kalasa & Kalaseshwara Temple

A Shiva shrine below Kudremukh

Amedikallu

The hard one on the Charmadi ridge — steeper than Ettina Bhuja, rockier at the top, and far quieter.

Gangamoola (Varaha Parvatha)

One hill, three rivers — the Tunga, the Bhadra and the Netravathi all start here.

Kalhatti Falls

A cliff cascade over a small temple

Hara Temple, Hariharapura

A four-hundred-year-old Shiva temple carved on three sides with the entire Ramayana.

Kurinjal Peak

Seven kilometres each way from Bhagavathi camp, through rainforest into grassland.

Kadambi Falls

A thirty-foot fall through rock inside Kudremukh National Park, right beside the road.

Netravathi Peak

A long grassland walk above the Netravathi's headwaters, with the coastal plain in view.

Sirimane Falls

A stepped, family-friendly fall near Kigga

Amruteshvara Temple, Amruthapura

Hoysala stone carving on the northern plains

Manikyadhara Falls

A sacred spray on the Baba Budangiri slopes

Rambhapuri Peetha, Balehonnur

The oldest of the five Veerashaiva Panchapeethas, on the bank of the Bhadra.

Shanti Falls

A small fall on the Z Point path that almost nobody stops at — which is the whole point.

Gangadikal Peak

Rolling shola grassland near the three-river source, with the Kudremukh massif on the horizon.

Hanuman Gundi Falls

A rock-cut plunge inside Kudremukh park

Rishyashringa Temple, Kigga

The rain-bringer's shrine, ten kilometres above Sringeri in the rainforest.

Bhadra Backwaters, N.R. Pura

The upper reach of the Bhadra reservoir — coracles, islands, and the tiger reserve on the far bank.

Kodandarama Temple, Hiremagalur

The town temple where Sita stands on Rama's right — an arrangement you will not find elsewhere.

Veeranarayana Temple, Belavadi

A rare three-shrine Hoysala temple

Z Point

Kemmanagundi's sunset ridge

Jenukallu Gudda

Honey-rock hill — named for the wild hives on its cliffs, and they are still there.

Lakya Dam

The mine's old tailings dam, now a still green sheet of water under the Kudremukh grasslands.

Coffee Museum, Chikmagalur

The bean's journey, from Baba Budan to your cup

Hirekolale Lake

A mirror for the Mullayanagiri range

Kopada Veerabhadra Temple, Koppa

The temple the town is named for, in the middle of areca country.

Ayyanakere Lake

One of Karnataka's great old tanks

Sakharayapatna

An old chieftain's town at the foot of the Baba Budan range, and the seat that built Ayyanakere.

Galikere

A small hill tarn on the Baba Budangiri ridge — the windy lake, and usually empty.

Meruthi Gudda

A half-day grassland climb outside the park core — the trek to do when the permits have gone.

Mallikarjuna Temple, Yagati

A quiet Shaiva temple in the dry east, where almost no visitor from the hills ever gets to.

Kottigehara

The junction town where the plateau ends and Charmadi begins — coffee, cardamom and the last fuel pump.

Sarva Siddhi Ganapathi Temple, Samse

A Ganapathi shrine standing in the middle of a tea estate, ten kilometres from Kalasa.

Chandranatha Basadi, Kalasa

A Jain basadi in a Shaiva temple town — the other half of Kalasa's history.