12+ Scenic places to visit along Seetha River in Udupi!

Sita River, also spelt as Seetha river or Sitha river is a prominent river in Udupi district. From its birth near the foothills of Western Ghats till its entering Arabian sea near Hangarakatte, Sita River flows for about 50 kms. If you love water and nature, there're multiple spots along the length of Seetha river that you can stop by and indulge. In this post, I am listing 10 different spots along Sitha river in Udupi, that tourists can visit to enjoy and experience.

Below itinerary makes for a nice 66 km/half a day trip. More if you'd like to spend time in temples, water parks and other attractions. If you are going to Agumbe from Udupi, instead of taking shortest road take the road shown below, stopping over at key points.

Map link here.

I have listed places below in reverse order- from the place where Seetha river joins sea backwards towards its origin. Depending on your convenience you can reverse the order or visit only select places that interest you. Quick summary below, details at the bottom of the table.

#	Place	Popular for	Distance from Starting Point (km)
1	Hangarakatte & Kodi Bengre	River enters sea Shipbuilding Barge ride House boats Kodi Bengre delta and Beach, Sunset view, river side drive Temple n resting places available	0
2	Mabukala Bridge	Easiest access point to view Seetha Nadi Right on the highway River side short drive possible. Access to river available	2.6
3	Barkuru Bridge	Bridge, riverside drive	8 kms
4	Immanuel Recreations water park	Boating & relaxation activities <closed due to Covid-19>	12 kms
5	Neelavara	Temples, Bridge	14 kms
6	Kokkarne	Bridge	21 kms
7	Avarse	Durga Amma temple by the river, Bridge	28 kms
8	Jomlu Theertha Falls	Waterfalls (now closed)	33 kms
9	Sita River Bridge, Chara	Picnic spot, bridge, river and rocks, easy access	46 kms
10	Seethanadi nature camp	Stay option (Dorm, cottages) Guided trekking, coracle ride etc	+7  kms
11	Nayarbett Garadi	Bonus spot- river access, under construction bridge

1. Hangarakatte & Kodi Bengre

Hangarakatte has a port and ship building factory. Hangarakatte is where Sita river joins Arabian Sea. On the other side is Kodi Bengre. River Suvarna also merges here with Sita river just before joining the ocean.

House boats are available in Hangarakatte/Kodi Bengre if you'd like to spend a night or hold any event. A barge service ferries people across the river between Kodi Bengre and Hangarakatte. Otherwise a commercial town, you can view Seetanadi in its final moments before merging into mighty sea.

View at Hangarakatte is more of a sea than river as river water can be seen with sea like waves. A temple and some benches on which you can rest and relax are available in Hangarakatte.

2. Mabukala Bridge near Brahmavara

Mabukala Bridge is on NH 66. It is the easiest and most convenient way to look at Sita River. You can also take some side roads and ride/drive parallel to the river for some distance, enjoying the nature. -Look at the perpendicular road in below image.

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Road in between river water..

A post shared by Shrinidhi Hande (@enidhi) on Jul 16, 2020 at 4:18am PDT

It is also possible to access seeta river via road that goes parallel to NH66, accessible via diversion from Hangarakatte road. 

3. Barkuru Bridge

Worth visiting for nice river side ride/drive in narrow roads. Otherwise normal bridge.

4. Immanuel Recreations Water Park

A small water park on the banks of Sita river, about 10 kms from Brahmavara- had facilities like boating etc. Ideal for family fun and relaxation.

https://immanuelrecreations.com/

Immanuel recreation and water park is not operational right now.

5. Neelavara temples & Bridge

Neelavara is a temple town near Brahmavara and has multiple temples on the banks of Sita river. If you like visiting temples you can have dual advantage of visiting temple + river. The Kurady-Neelavara bridge is scenic. I could see some rocks with steps in the river- probably it is accessible in summer when water levels are low.

View of Seeta river from Kurady-Neelavara bridge

There is a small Subramanya temple (Neelarathi kshetra) right near the bridge. This temple has river access.

View of Seetha river from a spot near Neelavara temple

6. Kokkarne Bridge. Normal bridge over Sitha nadi (river). Nothing spectacular. Can be skipped if tight on time.

7 Avarse Durga Amm Temple/ Averse Bridge. Avarse village has couple of temples on the banks of Seetha river.  Durga Amma temple and Laxmi Narasimha temples are worth a short visit. Durga Amma temple is easier to access, while Laxmi Narasimha temple is in a private property and will need some detour if going in a vehicle. If short on time you can skip Laxmi Narasimha temple. Averse bridge has a small spot where you can drive into the river or close to the river.You will save about 12 kms detour by skipping Avarse.

8. Jomlu Falls/Jomlu Theertha: A lesser known falls in the region, off Brahmavara- Hebri road. Often remains closed and accessible via an easy 1 km trek. Detailed post here

9. Under Chara-Sita River Bridge, 5 kms from Hebri

My favorite place- 5 kms from Hebri, near Chara Village and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyala campus, you can go down the road and get very close to the river. There're rocks to sit and relax. Roughly 5 kms from Hebri town. Beware of local youth consuming alcohol under the bridge.

10. Jungle Lodges Sita Nadi Nature Camp

Jungle Lodges is operating a nature camp between Hebri and Someshwara. For about INR 1800-2300 per person per day, you can stay there overnight, take part in some activities like trekking, coracle ride etc organized by JLR staff.  Rent includes food n activities.

Detailed review here

You will find more homestays/hotels closer to Sita River if you search, but may not be so close and well organized like JLR.

These are my hand picked spots. What are yours?

11: Nayarbett Garadi. River access is available, a bridge is being constructed here.

12: Soorgoli Dam

Nice little dam.. a bridge is also under construction. We visited recently in November 2021

13: River access near Kudlu Theertha falls entrance

At the spot where we turn right (while coming from Hebri) on Hebri-Agumbe highway to go to Kudlu theertha falls, there is easy access to Seetha river.

Related: 15+ top beaches of Udupi * Kayaking at Kemmannu * Agumbe attractions *  * Varanga Lake temple * Barkuru town  * Waterfalls of Udupi * JLR Seethanadi Nature camp *