Chikmagalur district
Koppa taluk
Quiet Malnad: areca gardens, paddy in the valley bottoms, old agraharas along the Tunga and almost no tour buses. Koppa's draw is its temples and its river — the Sharada matha at Hariharapura, the Veerabhadra temple the town is named after, and a four-hundred-year-old Shiva temple carved with the whole Ramayana.
3 places to visit
- Hariharapura Sharada Peetham on the Tunga
- The Ramayana carvings at the Hara temple
- Kopada Veerabhadra temple
- Areca and coffee country with almost no crowds
Open the full map · boundaries Nayvik, CC BY-SA 3.0
Hariharapura Sharada Peetham
A Shankaracharya foundation on the Tunga that almost no visitor to Sringeri ever hears about.
HeritageHara Temple, Hariharapura
A four-hundred-year-old Shiva temple carved on three sides with the entire Ramayana.
Kopada Veerabhadra Temple, Koppa
The temple the town is named for, in the middle of areca country.
What to eat in Koppa
- Kotte kadubu — idli batter steamed inside a jackfruit-leaf cup
- Areca-belt vegetarian thali: kootu, majjige huli, tovve, rice and ghee
- Halasina kayi palya (raw jackfruit) through the summer
- Kashaya — the pepper-and-jaggery decoction poured after a wet-season meal
Getting around
Roads are good but signage is thin and phone coverage patchy in the valleys. Most temples close between roughly 1pm and 4pm; plan the day around that rather than around distance.