A couple took their dogs on a 120-day journey across India. On the Karnataka coast, they found a property on one of the country’s least explored beaches. They never quite left — and what they built there has become one of coastal Karnataka’s most quietly beloved places to stay.
There is a philosophy buried in the name. Praana — breath, life force, the essential animating energy of all living things in Sanskrit — is the word Priyanka and Tanveer chose for their beach homestay in Dombe village, near Byndoor, in the Udupi district of Karnataka. It is a precise choice. What they have built here is not a resort or a getaway in the conventional sense. It is a place to remember how to breathe.
The origin story is the kind that travel journalists call serendipitous and travellers recognise as the rare, real thing. Priyanka and Tanveer — self-described adrenaline junkies and committed animal lovers, known for their travel project Wheels and Tails — took their dogs on a 120-day, 10,000-kilometre roadtrip across India. Somewhere along Karnataka’s Konkan coast, they discovered a property in the hinterlands of Byndoor: on a secluded, rarely visited beach, in a village that tourism had largely passed by. The beach was pristine. The land was green. The Arabian Sea was at the door.
They built Praana from scratch.
The Property
Praana sits at Dombe village in Byndoor, on one of the least explored and most unspoiled stretches of the Karnataka coast. The property has its own private beach access — the sea directly accessible from the grounds — and is set within lush coastal greenery with coconut palms, a birdwatching observatory, a garden filled with hammocks, and a campfire area where evenings stretch effortlessly into conversations under the stars.
The architecture is minimalist and honest: airy, contemporary, built with sea views as a primary consideration and comfort as a given. An open verandah and dining space, a separate kitchen, the particular quality of light that comes from being close to the ocean — these are the materials of the Praana experience, combined with the warmth of hosts who live on the property and are genuinely invested in every stay.
Frodo, Cruise, Noorie, and Tara — the resident animals — are, by all accounts, part of the welcome. The property’s motto includes the animals, and the animals know it.
The Rooms
There are four accommodation options, each with its own distinct character.
The sea-facing room is the most coveted — a spacious room with direct views of the Arabian Sea, where the sound of waves accompanies sleep and the morning light arrives from the water. The garden-facing room looks out onto the lush greenery of the property, quieter in the mornings, cooler in the afternoons.
The garden cottage offers more self-contained privacy within the property’s green surrounds — ideal for those who want the full immersion of the coastal landscape. The artist’s cottage is perhaps the most distinctive accommodation: a unique space with an open shower, designed for those who want to feel the outdoors as an extension of the indoor, who find the boundary between inside and outside less interesting than the threshold between them.
Two additional rooms and a beach campsite are in development — further expanding what is already a genuinely special offering along a coastline that deserves more considered attention than it currently receives.
Eating Here
Shankar-ji runs the kitchen at Praana with the steady confidence of someone who knows exactly what coastal Karnataka food should taste like. Breakfast is the full, traditional spread: crispy dosas, fluffy upma, tangy chutneys, comforting sambar — the kind of morning meal that sets the tone for a day that should not be hurried. Lunch and dinner are home-style: seasonal vegetables, dal, rice, chapatis, and meat specialities drawn from the culinary traditions of the region.
This is Udupi cooking — one of India’s most distinctive and most celebrated vegetarian traditions — made in its natural context, by someone who lives here, with ingredients sourced locally. The coastal position adds the sea’s generosity to what is already a rich culinary landscape.
Meals feel, in the words of guests, like a warm hug from coastal Karnataka. That is not a poetic conceit. It is the specific, accurate description of food cooked by someone who means it.
What to See and Experience
The private beach at Dombe is the centrepiece — a clean, secluded stretch of Arabian Sea coastline that is entirely free of the crowds that have made Goa’s beaches increasingly difficult to love. Here, the sea is available for swimming, walking, and sitting beside without arrangement or admission fee or the presence of strangers who would rather not be disturbed. It simply exists, as beaches once simply existed, before they became destinations.
Village walks through Dombe and the surrounding coastal settlements offer encounters with fishing communities and the quiet rhythms of Karnataka’s Konkan coast — a culture that is distinctly its own, shaped by the sea, the Western Ghats that rise just inland, and the centuries of trade and movement along this shore. Forest walks into the coastal vegetation provide a different perspective on the same landscape.
The birdwatching observatory on the property is a serious addition — the coastal Karnataka ecosystem supports an exceptional diversity of birds, particularly during migration seasons, and the observatory allows guests to observe without disturbance. Toddy tasting — the traditional palm wine of coastal Karnataka, drawn fresh from the trees and best drunk within hours of tapping — is an experience arranged through the homestay that gives access to one of the region’s most distinctly local pleasures.
Private surf lessons are offered for those who want to engage more actively with the sea. The Kaup Lighthouse, a few kilometres away in Manipal, is worth the short drive — a working lighthouse on a rocky headland with the Arabian Sea in every direction. Malpe Beach, St. Mary’s Islands, and Udupi’s legendary Krishna temple are all within an hour’s reach.
The property also runs the Frodo Foundation — an animal welfare initiative that reflects Priyanka and Tanveer’s deep commitment to the animals they live alongside and the communities that coexist with them.
Why It Stays With You
Praana’s rating of 4.9 out of 5 across 110 reviews is not an accident of algorithm. It is the consistent verdict of people who came to an unfamiliar beach on an unfamiliar stretch of coast and found something they had not expected: a couple who built their dream home from scratch, on land they found by accident, and opened it to the world because they thought what they had found was worth sharing.
The hosts are warm, hospitable, knowledgeable about the coast and its ecology, and possessed of the particular generosity that comes from people who chose this life deliberately rather than falling into it by circumstance. The location is remote and occasionally difficult to access without private transport — but guests describe this not as a flaw but as the point. The network signal is poor. The sea is loud. The animals come to find you. The food arrives from a kitchen that cares.
That, in the end, is what Praana means.
Plan Your Visit
Address: Paduvary Village, Praana Dombe, Byndoor, Udupi — 576214, Karnataka Instagram: @praanaexperience Booking: Via Instagram DM · Also listed on Booking.com and Airbnb (search Praana Experience Byndoor) Animal Welfare: Frodo Foundation (@frodofoundation)
Hosts: Priyanka and Tanveer (Wheels and Tails) Chef: Shankar-ji Resident animals: Frodo, Cruise, Noorie, Tara
Accommodation: 4 units — Sea-facing room · Garden-facing room · Garden cottage · Artist’s cottage (with open shower). Two additional rooms and beach campsite coming soon. Meals: Breakfast included · Traditional Udupi home cooking by Shankar-ji · Lunch and dinner available Pet-friendly: Fully and enthusiastically yes Rating: 4.9/5 (110 reviews on Justdial)
Experiences: Private beach access · Village walks · Forest walks · Birdwatching (on-site observatory) · Toddy tasting · Private surf lessons · Bonfire evenings · Stargazing · Animal interactions
Getting There — Mangalore International Airport is approximately 100 km from Byndoor — around 2 to 2.5 hours by road. Taxis available. — Byndoor Mookambika Road Railway Station is the nearest rail connection — on the Konkan Railway line, with trains connecting to Mumbai, Goa, Mangalore, and Thiruvananthapuram. The station is approximately 5–8 km from Dombe village. — From Mangalore: approximately 100 km north along NH 66 (the coastal highway) — around 2 hours. — From Goa: approximately 250 km south along NH 66 — around 5 hours. — From Bengaluru: approximately 450 km via Shimoga — around 8–9 hours. — Note: The property is in a remote coastal village. Private transport (cab or rental car) is strongly recommended for reaching and exploring the area. Phone network connectivity is limited — coordinate arrival details carefully with the hosts in advance.
Nearby — Dombe beach (private access): on property · Kaup Lighthouse, Manipal: 15 km · Malpe Beach: 60 km · Udupi Krishna Temple: 65 km · St. Mary’s Islands: 70 km · Jog Falls: 70 km · Mangalore: 100 km
Best Time to Visit: October to March for the best beach and sea conditions · November to February for birdwatching (migration season) · June to September for monsoon drama — the Konkan coast in the rains is extraordinary, though the sea is rough for swimming.
