Goa Rundown

Disclaimer - The opinions expressed are based on our visit to Goa in late September. Obviously if you visit Goa at a different time your results may vary.

Story:

We planned to spend a while in Goa as Nisha has an aunt as well as two cousins who live here that we wanted to visit. Also, this is known as India's most famous beach resort, and is universally recommended by Indians as one of the best places to visit in the country. It gets similar raves from the Lonely Planet and most other things you read. One thing I will say however is that we met some brits trekking in Leh who were here in August, at the height of monsoon, and they said it rained the whole time and almost everything was closed. This information tempered our expectations, but since we would be here at the end of monsoon we thought it would be OK.

We arrived on an overnight train and got picked up by Nisha's cousin, who has a very nice car, which is a rare luxury in India. They were having some water issues at the flat where her and Nisha's aunt live, so she put us up in a hotel for the time we would be with them, which was obviously very nice. They live in a city called Mapusa, which is the biggest town in North Goa, but is 10km from the shore, so it is not visited much by westerners, except as a place to get transport to the beach. The hotel, called Satyaheera, was one of the best values in accommodation on our trip. We had to get a triple room, because the doubles were full, but for 700 rupees (18 dollars) you got a big clean room with AC and a nice bathroom. The only catch was the Indian style toilet, but we are pretty used to those by now.

We spent the next couple of days seeing the sights in Goa, including the main town Panaji as well as the old Cathedrals and some quick stops at beaches. Nisha's aunt also cooked us 3 great home cooked meals at their flat, which were a nice change from restaurant fare. Also, the last night in Mapusa both cousins took us out to a nice dinner at our hotel. The one issue when we left Mapusa was that we had not found a beach we really wanted to stay at yet. Two of the beaches we went to were pretty crowded with people stopping on tour buses, and the other was completely closed down, with not even a place to get a beer, and just the occasional bead hawker.

On the morning we checked out of the hotel in Mapusa, we got a cab to a beach called Anjuna, which is supposed to be a quiet, but not too quiet, and really nice beach. The cab drops us off at the hotel we had planned on staying at, and all that is there are a couple of open bars and a rocky embankment to the ocean, as well as some confused looking westerners. I got a Diet Coke in the bar with the bags and Nisha walked in the direction of the beach, only to walk 1km to find a 1m wide strip of dirty sand. This was kind of a low point, as we had 2 nights left, and all we wanted to do was find a beach where we could go swimming and perhaps get some beers near the beach.

So, we made a last ditch attempt and took a cab to Baga, which is the supposedly quieter end of the Calangute and Baga beach that Lonely Planet describes as being too busy with package tourists. When we got there we finally found what we were looking for, a big beach with plenty of bars well stocked with beach chairs. We also got a room, actually a free standing little house, near the pool at a nice resort called Cavala. The room cost 2000 rupees (50 dollars), but was the nicest place we stayed all trip. The hut was really cute and had a beautiful shower and bathroom, which is really key in India.

The rest of that day we spent trying to find the famous market at Anjuna and drinking beer on the beach. The next day it actually rained for most of the day, but it was great anyway. We got some running in as well as a great lunch and played catch with a bunch of kids on the beach. We also rented a Honda scooter for only 200 rupees (5 dollars) a day, which makes it easy to get around.

Summary:

My opinion of Goa is far more nuanced then most. It is a pretty nice place, and a good place to chill for a while. But the people who say that it is nothing like the rest of India are wrong. It might be a little more western friendly, but it is still very much India. Its not like they stop all hawkers, cows or noisy autorikshaws at the border. Also, it is a pretty good beach resort for the price, but in terms of refinement and luxury it really does not hold a candle to the beach places that Americans are used to going to in the Caribbean, Florida or Hawaii. It is really not in the same league, but try getting 1 dollar beers there, that is the equalizer, if you care about the money.

Quick Reviews:

Anjuna - Big thumbs down. This place is bacially just a cow flop infested one horse town on a substandard beach with a couple of bars. Maybe if you need 100 rupee accommodation it makes sense, but to me it was a dump.

Anjuna Market - Big thumbs down. Someone must have paid off the Lonely Planet to write this up. Same trinkets as in any Indian tourist trap, just harder to get to.

Baga - Thumbs up. Nice beach, lots of places to get a drink. Probably gets crowded later, but was very nice now. A reasonable level of hawkers.

Calangute - Is OK. A little crowded, but an OK beach with a lot of stuff for sale and many hawkers.

Candolim - Thumbs down. This beach may be OK in high season when everything is open, but currently it is very shut down. Also, the end near the Taj is a pretty bad beach, surprising since it is such a high end resort.

Cavala Resort - Thumbs up. Really nice place to stay, the service, restaurant and room were great.