The Small town of Kapu Lighthouse, NH 17, Beaches of Karnataka

The small town of Kapu or Kaup is located very close to Udupi on the NH 17 highway of Konkan Karnataka. Inter-city buses and local buses to & from Udupi/Mangalore – inexpensive ones as well as AC volvos pass by Kapu.

One of the popular Mariamma temples in this town is right opposite the bus stop. I tried asking which deity this ‘Mariamma’ is but didn’t get a proper response. A quick google search tells me that she is the rain goddess in south India. A form of Durga/Kali which makes sense as I think all goddesses in Hinduism come from Shakti – energy.

Now the star attraction – Kapu Lighthouse was pretty amazing.

The sea there is so terrific – raging away in all its fury!

There is a nice little parapet leading to the lighthouse. The lighthouse is on a rock and there are places to sit on this rock, so lot of people climb this rock and sit around there.

The lighthouse has some timings when it is open for visitors. I saw this board there, but don’t know about whether it is still valid.

Around the lighthouse I saw couple of very natural, non-touristy beaches. I would have loved to explore but I had to be on my way. From the look of it however these might be truly untouched beaches cause I can’t see any tourist related facility there like cafe or vendors or boating etc..

Behind the lighthouse there is small inlet of water, would have loved to play around in it!

Apart from the lighthouse and beaches, the town has 3 Mariamma temples and a Tipu Sultan Fort. Another interesting place to visit if time permits is Shankarpura – this is a small town which has distinguished itself by exporting Jasmine flowers is very close to Kaup. Would be good to see some Jasmine farms!