It’s party time that's the first thing that comes to mind
when you think of Goa, well there is more to it which often get overshadowed by
the booze and party thing. Well who cares we all just want get away and have
fun.
Planning is an essential part of any trip that includes Goa too. I have
been to Goa especially North Goa quite a few times and here is my experience on
some of the usual questions that pops up.
North Goa – Calangute, baga, anjuna, vagator, aguda fort,
chapora fort, flee martket, visit to church and museum in Goa. That’s mostly
the list that comes to mind when you think of north Goa.
You know the places now, what next ?. There are enough
website list you places with tons of details.
The Season – The rates go up starting October 1st
but this is just on their website, mostly till mid November the rates would
remain same as the off season time. Don't book it from their website check out
some travel portal which really get you a good price. To be honest season is
nothing to do with India or Indian people, it’s mostly the foreigners who flew
down from Europe and other countries to escape the cold in their own countries
and enjoy the hot and humid weather in Goa. The foreigners do fly down in huge
numbers and they stay for months, the season ends in April. The hotel names in
Goa sound french. I initially used to wonder why, couple of visits in peak
season would justify that. If you really have to enjoy Goa you do have to go in
Season, many of the Shacks are put up mostly during the season.
How many days – at minimum a 3 night 4 day trip is needed to
cover just north Goa, you got to also consider the humid condition and the
hangover time, above all it’s vacation lets keep it relaxed. The time period I
mentioned is just to cover the popular places, if you want really explore you can stay there
for weeks. I have normally visited over long weekends which is 2 night and 3 day
and at the end of it I have always felt that extra day would have made the
whole trip more relaxed.
Where to stay – When the options are plenty it actually is
really tough to pick a place, before you pick a hotel I thinks it’s good to
pick the kind of place you want to stay.
Calagute is really crowded peak season or not this is the
default go to location of all the visitors. What’s around ?. hmmm other then
the crowded beach, of course lot of shacks and quite a lot of restaurants. I
would say this place is way to commercial, visit this place but I would not
recommend to stay out here. I have actually ended up staying most of the time
here because the number of options for the hotel. I am sure a little more
search and you could get a better place.
Baga – Party time, the most popular pubs of North Goa are
here. Tittos, mamboos and lot of them around. If you want hit the pubs late
night and hang out dentally Baga is the place to stay. The baga beach itself
is less crowded compared to Calangute.
Anjuna – Want to get away from crowd, I would recommend
Anjuna. I have never personally stayed here but when ever I visited place
there was very less crowd.
Does it really matter where do you stay, I mean in terms of
the distance to these popular places. Once you rent a bike/car these places are
not really far from each other and you can reach them in very short time. I
would really like to stay near Baga and walk around, what better then walking
around to explore a place. You can also stay in Anjuna which is of course lot
more calmer and lot more foreigners. I have heard of some wild party places
here, google it out.
Where to eat – This is of course has been on the top of the
list lately, shacks have not been consistent with quality of food, there are way
too many shacks and I wonder where do they get cooks from. It’s always been bit
tricky situation on where to eat, we are normally around the beach and would
like to have something around other then Brittos(Baga) and souza lobo(Calangute) none of the other
restaurants have really appealed to me. You end up paying little more in these
restaurants but better then taking risk at other shacks. If you don't mind
getting away from the beaches and to get good food, then there are plenty of
good restaurants in the city.
A must go place for me as always been Infanteria near
calngute, it as never disappounte me till date. Great food. If you cant find
anything good, you can blindly go to this restaurant. Fish cury and the rice
along with the Kings beer followed by some yummy deserts they have, definatley
a fine dining experience in the commercialized calangute.
Get a swim – Have you seen Calangute or Baga in peak season
or during long weekends, there are people everywhere. I would definitely
recommend to go to Anjuna, the place exactly opposite to Curlys restaurant, if
you have kids this definitely a great place to swim. You can expect more of
foreign crowd here well they definitely know where to go in Goa better then us.
Curlys restaurant as such was average but I would definitely go to this place
both in afternoon and night, this place really lits up in the night and a
perfect place to grab a beer and take few dips in the afternoon.
Water Sports – Go to Calangute and Baga there will be number
of vendors forcing you to take a ride. They might give you a bargain,
considering the number of people out there they would like to make as many
trips as possible and your rides maybe cut shorted. I would definitely
recommend going early around 10 before the crowd builds up. I last visited Sequirium beach and it was less crowded and the quality of rides was much better,
worth the money.
Renting bike/cars – I personally have never faced any
problem with renting car/bike, you got have your driving licence and that's it.
I would defiantly recommend renting through your hotel, who will be happy to
help you out. This way you really don't have to worry about drooping/picking off
the bike.
Pubs - uh lala, you can see 100’s of people standing outside
Tittos and Mamboos, they don't have Stag entry so people try to sneak in
somehow. Tittos really charges high entry fees during season time. If you are a
group of young boys go early they might let you in and as the time goes by they
will strict for couples only. There are number of pubs around which are good, my
best experience as been in one of the small pub Rio’s. If you are a couple and
looking to get that romantic dance in, there are lounges which you can go, where
you get a descent crowd mostly couples and expect some erotic dancing late night.
I don't remember the name of the lounge I visited but it was around Baga. If you
want to Party Baga is the place to be.
Drinks are cheap – Unless you go buy in retail shop and
party yourself, nothing is cheap in Goa. Any restaurants/pubs you are charged as
good as any other city, may be slightly lesser. So it’s definitely not cheap.
Dirty – How clean Goa is completely depends on which
government is running in state. Last time I visited Calangute/Baga it was a
total mess, although they clean it up every day. Just unbelievable on how people
throw the bear bottles around and all the thrash around. Only us to blame.
I
am sure there are are lot of places which I don't know and obviously
not covered, this is just single person perspective ;). Please do share
your experience in the comment and I would be glad to add that to the
Blog.
