Goa! Sun Sand Beaches Beers

The info below is a very subjective and recommendations are based on a few trips to Goa and some extensive research on Internet. Should be applicable to families more than for individuals.

Goa in a nutshell:

Goa can be divided into 3 parts — North Goa, The City & South Goa:

1) North Goa — Very active nightlife and street life with a number of bars, restaurants, and hotels (ranging from cheap budget hotels to fancy ones like the Taj Holiday Village).

Places of interest:-

• Baga beach: The good thing is that you have everything available here — beach beds with umbrellas for rent, water sports (Jet-skis, Parasailing, banana boats), temporary tattoos, massages, pedicures etc. — all on your beach bed, food served to the beach bed from the beach restaurants including Brittos (even Dominos delivers Pizzas). The sand is smooth and very nice to walk on).
• Calangute & Candolim Beach — Connected to Baga and has more or less same things to offer.
• Anjuna & Vagator: Less crowded beaches with most of the amenities at Baga not available.
• Sweetwater lake near Kalacha beach and you can reach just by walking from Arambol beach, climb up through the mountain to get to a better place.
• A number of hotels call themselves “Beach Resort” and claim to be on the beach. Well, none of the hotels in North Goa really are a beach resort in the way you would be expecting. They all may have a small stretch of sand nearby. The real beaches in North Goa are Baga, Anjuna, Vagator and Ashvem (maybe Calangute to some extent) — none of these have a nice beach right on the property. So don’t pay a premium for a beach resort.
• Some other beaches Mandrem, Miramar, Chapora, Arambol.
• Salaulim Dam must visit place for its unique overflow design.

2) The City with Mandovi River — This is the Panaji area — most hotels will recommend you to take the river cruise- found it cheesy and not worth the time. The city area (old Panaji) is quite nice with a number of churches and nice architecture. Unless you are into this, the city can be given a miss.

3) South Goa — Is all about fancy resorts, a lot less crowded than North Goa. South Goa beaches and virtually made these private beaches of resorts have less footfall.

• Some of the resorts are true to their name, have a nice big beach very accessible from the resort. So if you are going to spend a lot of money on a beach resort expecting a nice beach right on the hotel property pick something in South Goa — real good ones: Leela, Taj Exotica, Club Mahindra.
• If you pick south Goa, you probably will have to eat at the hotels you stay in (outside options are few), be prepared to spend big money on food.

For a first time visitor who wants to get a feel for Goa, and not spend too much money:

1) Pick a decent value for money hotel in North Goa.

2) If you have only one day to spend:

• Plan the day at Baga beach. Get there post noon/early afternoon, rent a few beach beds, hit the water, take your pick from the watersports, drink and have fun. Spend 50 bucks per beach bed per hour, 200–250 bucks for jet ski, 500–600 bucks for parasailing. Get a temporary tattoo (100–200 bucks depending on the design). Get a foot massage (100–200 bucks).
• Eat at Brittos (if you are nonveg) — everything here including the veg food will smell of nonveg. so if you are a strict vegetarian, avoid the food here.
• Visit the Anjuna Flea market on Saturday night (starts only in mid-November)
• Shop at the local street stores for knick-knacks have fun bargaining like crazy.
• Buy some cashew nuts at any of the govt. approved stores (big boards are there).

3) If you have second day:

• Do Baga again (depending on how much you liked it the first day)
• Explore Anjuna and Vagator beaches — a little less crowded — carry a beach mat and some towels.
• Do a dolphin watch boat ride near Aguada Fort — I did it once and didn’t see any dolphins, people do see from time to time, depends.
• Visit Aguada Fort — the fort is quite nice with a great view of the sea, one time visit.
• Visit Chapora Fort — The Dil Chahta Hai fort, has nothing resembling a fort, made famous by the movie. Preferably visit during evening to catch a beautiful sunset.

4) If you have third day:

• Visit Old Panaji city (if you like monuments, churches, old building etc.).
• Do the river cruise — just for the fun of it.
• Do one of the secluded beaches — Ashvem in the north
• Try Go-Karting — there is a decent place on the road from Anjuna to Baga.

5) If you have fourth day:

• Do one of the really secluded beaches in south Goa — beaches all the way up to Palolem. Google will give you a list of beaches.
• Spice Plantation tour — This is a popular one on the tourist circuit in Goa (most hotels will recommend this). But this is hyped.

6) If you have a fifth day — You probably know more about Goa than I do now — so you figure out your own thing.

For Vegetarians: You will find a number of options in Goa, including a bunch of Pure Veg places serving even Jain Food. Most of the Italian restaurants in town are quite good and have good veg options.

About renting a bike/scooter: This will be the best mode of commuting in North Goa — for 200–600 bucks a day, you will get a decent Honda Activa/Dio/Bullet/FZ. Finding this is easy — just ask your hotel reception or walk on the main road and you will find enough boards. Taxis are also easily available for you to get to South Goa/city etc.