Experience the best of Mangalore

Mangalore sits at the mouth of the Netravati and Gurupura rivers on the Arabian Sea coast of Karnataka, its hillsides covered with palms and its houses roofed in the clay tiles named after the city. St Aloysius Chapel is decorated inside with murals by an Italian Jesuit painter, the Kadri Manjunath Temple is an old Shiva temple with bronze images, and the Sultan Battery is a watchtower built by Tipu Sultan.

Beaches such as Panambur, Tannirbhavi and Someshwar are close, and Ullal has a seaside shrine and a long sand beach. Udupi, a temple town famed for its Krishna temple and its vegetarian cooking, lies to the north up the coast, and the temples at Dharmasthala and Kukke Subramanya are in the Western Ghats to the east.

Mangalorean fish curry with coconut and tamarind, neer dosa, lacy rice pancakes, kori rotti, chicken curry with crisp rice wafers, and Mangalore buns, sweet banana puris, are the dishes to look for, and the gadbad, a layered ice-cream sundae, is the local sweet. The monsoon from June to September is heavy, and the dry months from October to February are pleasant.