Goa – Sun and Sea

I think this is pretty naive of me but I never realised that Goa is a state of India…it’s pretty big too, compared to British standards anyway. There are mutiple beaches and accommadation to choose from along the stretch of coast and then inland there are the western ghats (hills and forests) to explore (although we didn’t have time).

We were only able to spend 2 full days in Goa, and we wanted to chill on the beach so we didn’t do a lot of travelling about.

We were both a bit unsure about going to Goa because, to be honest, we’d heard that it is party central and full of tourists. Whereas we just wanted to relax after the chaos of Mumbai. We also heard that the North is more touristy than South (unable to verify this as we only stayed in the South). It just so happened that we’d met some people in Jaipur who were going to Goa before us so they were able to recommend a whole host of places to go, stay and eat. We settled with their recommendation to go to Palolem Beach in the South of Goa.

We had an excellent time, the beach felt pretty quiet most of the time and we stayed at Cafe Blue, right on the beach near the North end which is quieter. Our beach hut was fully equppied with bed, private bathroom and AC.

The beach is stunning…one guy from the accommodation told me it’s ranked 8th best beach in Asia. It’s about 3km long with restuarants and guest houses a plenty. At the North end there is a river you have to cross (at high tide you need a small boat or to be a strong swimmer – at a low tide it comes up to your knees so you can wade across.) And from there is a nice bar with a the perfect view for sunset.

There are also a plethora of boat tours you can choose from. We would have done a dolphin tour at sunrise but I wasn’t feeling great (story of our travels) on one of the days so had to stay in bed!

The beach is equipped with lifeguards so it feels really safe to go out swimming in the sea…although Rach did get stung by a jellyfish (top tip use vinegar – it kills the venom!)

Getting to Goa is confusing on the trains because there are 3 large stations that service the whole area, vasco de gama in the North, Madgaon in the middle and Canacona in the South. We stupidly booked our train before booking accommodation so ended up having to take a 1 hour taxi from the Madgaon station to Palolem beach (instead of the 10 minute tuk tuk from Canacona). Although, I do have to say that the stations are all set up for the long taxi travel so it was not too bad at all (I was stressing on our train to Madgaon about how we would get to Palolem but it was all fine!) Taxis from Madgaon station can cost between 1000-1500 rupees. Most hotels will do taxi transfers from the airport and train stations if you ask beforehand.

We can definitely recommend Goa, the sun and sea are amazing.

Next stop the ruined former capital of an ancient civilisation…Hampi.