Surathkal is a locality under Mangalore City Corporation located in the Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka state, India. It is a municipality merged with Mangalore City Corporation.

According to legend, the name Surathkal is derived from "shiratakal" meaning "headstone" in Tulu When Lord Ganapathi kept a shiva linga belonging to Ravana on ground, Ravana tried to pull the linga from the ground but could not. The place where the linga is supposed to have been is now known as Gokarna. Due to the force exerted by Ravana, some pieces were scattered. One such piece from the head of the linga is said to have fallen in present day Suratkal. The famous Sadashiva temple is said to be built around that piece of linga.

Surathkal was once a Grama panchayat, then town panchayat, municipality now merged with Mangalore City Corporation.

Surathkal is home to one of India's best technical institutes - The National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK), formerly known as Karnataka Regional Engineering College (KREC). Surathkal is a suburb of Mangalore city located on National highway 17. Surathkal also houses Vidyadayanee High School and Govindadasa College run by Hindu Vidyadayanee Sangha, Surathkal. It also has Sri mahalingeshwara English medium school and holy famly school .