Mookambika Temple

Nearest Railway Station:- Kundapura ( On Bombay - Mangalore Route)
From Railway station about one & half hour journey towards north west side to Mookambika sanctuary to Kollur, by taxi (fare charges seems to be higher side), but no option as bus stand is about one km away from station. so with family better to opt taxi. At Kollur best staying option is Devasthans Lodge, which is at midway between temple and Kollur bus stand.
Do visit to Sopurnika River nearby for a good bath after traveling (great refreshing experience). Then visit the temple. You should visit temple atleast thrice a day as the Mookambika Devis form changes thrice a day. First visit must be in the morning, second in the noon, and third in the evening.
The blue sapphire on Devis idol is claimed to be the largest in the world (do look).
Many young ones do their Vidya-Arambham here. (Look for the cermony in the morning). For vidyaarambham, booking is to be done on previous day. Nothing else is to be done. The poojari (priest) will guide the parents for vidayarambham.
If your stay is for more than one day, do visit to beautiful "Kudachadri" Hill peak. Though the 40 km road traveling by Jeep (only jeep can go) to the peak is very tiring . A must visit for anybody who loves nature. A temple is there below the peak, which is believed to be the moolsthan (original location) of Mookambika Temple. Also it is believed that Adi Shankaracharya meditated at the peak of hill. A small temple dedicated to Shankaracharya is at the top of hill. Do visit here to have a breath taking view of the surroundings. En route you can see Ganesh Gupha. Also if one moves further on the opposite side of hill from the Shankara temple, one reaches to the gupha from where you can see the Kollur Temple. It is believed to be the place where Shankaracharya actually meditated. But the route is a little bit tough. It takes about five to six hours for the complete journey from Kollur to Kudachadri and back.
Now from kollur one can go back to kundapura on to Udupi (3 hrs journey by bus). At Udupi do visit to uniqueSri Krishna Temple. Udupi is a good place to get authentic vegetarian famous Udupi eateries.
For more details about Mookambika one can visit site http://www.mookambika.co.in/