Where To Go In Goa

Where you stay in Goa will have a marked influence on your overall holiday experience

, as the complexion of individual resorts varies greatly. An hour's drive from the airport, the stretch of coast immediately north of the state capital, Panjim, has emerged as the principal charter belt. Its three main centres - Candolim, Calangute and Baga - nowadays form an unbroken conurbation, with most of the comforts and amenities you'd expect of international resorts - and a beach jam-packed with parasols, cafes and sunloungers. New river bridges have stimulated a slow spread of package hotels northwards, but the area beyond Baga - around the villages and beaches of Anjuna and Vagator - remains the preserve of mostly longer-staying, independent travellers. Further north still, towards Arambol, the scene grows more alternative. Tourist accommodation in Goa, with a few notable examples, is basic pitched primarily at backpackers who stay from months, though this is changing fast.

South Goa, closer to the airport and with the town of Margao as its hub, has its own package tourist enclave centered on a string of ultra-luxurious resort complexes erected directly behind Colva beach, a 25 kilometre stretch of sand that's as spectacular as any you'll find in India. If you're travelling to Goa on a budget tour, the village to head for hereabouts is Benaulim, an ideal arrival point with inexpensive guesthouses and beach shacks, and plenty of Goa Catholic character. It's been exlipsed in recent years, however, by Palolem, and neighbouring Patnem in the far south of the state. Picture-postcard bays of golden sand backed by swaying palms and jungle-covered hills, these beaches are undeniably idyllic and thus far free of concrete, but get correspondingly overwhelmed from November onwards.

Visitors in search of space and calm tend instead to hole up further north at Agonda - a low-key resort offering a range of inexpensive accommodation, most of it in beach huts.

Foremost among the attractions away from the coast are the ruins of the Portuguese capital at Old Goa, 9 km from Panjim city - sprawl of Catholic cathe drals, convents and churches that draws crowds of Christian pilgrims from all over India. The other essential excursions are to the flew markets at Anjuna and Arpora, where you can shop for Indian souvenirs or the latest designer party gear. Further inland, the thickly wooded countryside around Ponda harbours numerous temples showcasing Goa's idiosyncratic brand of Hindu architecture, while the taluka (district) of Salcete, around Margao in the south, is littered with wonderful Portuguese mansions. In addition, wildlife enthusiasts may be tempted into the interior to the visit the nature reserves ar Molem, in the far east of Central Goa, and Cotigao in the south near Palolem, which both support fragile populations of rare animals.

With so many tempting beaches, markets, monuments and nature reserves within Goa. it's no surprise that few travellers venture across the Goa border into neighbouring Maharashtra or Karnataka. But beyond the shelter of the Western Ghats, amid the plateau lands of the Deccan Trap, lie the remnants of several ancient capitals. The day long train journey to Goa is an adventure in itself.

by: Sobha Sharma

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