GundiMane Homestay

GundiMane is a wonderful homestay up near Jog Falls, in between Hubli and Mangalore (around three to four hours from each). We went for four nights in February 2023 and would have gladly stayed much longer. It’s a great place to work from home, and as we were there off-season we were the only guests there, which was very nice. I highly recommend it, with the caveat that it’s difficult to get to, but if you’re heading in this direction you should definitely make it part of your itinerary. We paid around 3k per night, but I don’t remember if that included meals or not.

Here’s the Google Maps link and here's the website: https://www.gundimane.com/

There’s not much to say other than the home is lovely, the surroundings are stunning, the hosts are incredibly sweet, and the food is amazing. It is on a large betel nut plantation, and the mornings are genuinely magical, with fog enveloping the property and a chorus of birds chirping. We spotted peacocks and many other beautiful birds as well malabar squirrels, which was very exciting for me. 

Auntie and uncle (as I called them) didn’t speak much English or Hindi, but we managed to communicate and they couldn’t have been nicer. Auntie’s Havyaka food is terrific and itself worthy of the journey. I’m not totally sure what sets this apart from the food of neighboring regions in terms of spicing (it was very different from the North Karnataka meals we had in places such as Hubli, Bijapur, and Badami, but seemed like a closer relative of Udupi cuisine), but every meal was fabulous. They typically consisted of both a rasam and sambar (both different every day and quite different from most rasams and sambars I’ve had), a dry vegetable, a lightly tempered salad, and a raita like dish (I loved these, with different vegetables every day, they went very well with crispy chapatis). There were some interesting chutneys/pickles, notably a raw mango one. One of the desserts really stood out, a mix of pumpkin, jaggery, and spices. And breakfast was usually a different kind of dosa with chutneys as well as a really delicious spiced liquid jaggery dip. Also, great homegrown filter coffee! Needless to say, they spoiled us silly!

We only left the property once when we were there, just to take a short late afternoon walk (around 20-30 minutes) to a tower which gives a stunning view of the reservoir. Other than that, we just worked, read, and explored the property, which has plenty of room to walk around. 

There is a fair amount to do nearby, though nothing is that close, and we just wanted to take it easy after a month of heavy travel. Most people come to see Jog Falls, which is around half an hour away, but it wasn’t the season for it and water flow would have been minimal. There’s also some temples and historical sites I would have loved to see about an hour away at Ikkeri and Keladi (likely others as well, I didn’t fully research).

They have great wi-fi, and my Jio reception was generally good, but Airtel didn’t work at all. I would love to come and work here for a longer stay!