[theredliner]

Originally Posted by ravib

Yes, they are still valid even after 8 years for the places to see, and i guess they are immortal ones for ever
Good luck with your trip.
-Ravi

Originally Posted by NPV

Being your first trip, rather than getting holed up at one place..if you're up for some exploration you may be able to get some ideas from my travelogue here (Dizzy Drive®: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration), we did that trip in latter part of 2017.

Good luck and have fun

Thanks, Ravi and NPV. Unfortunately, my friend fell ill and we had to postpone this trip. I went through part of the linked travelogue (great one BTW) . It will really help me plan better when we visit after a few weeks.

[Samba]

Visited Goa for the 3rd time in Feb 2018.

It was a 4 nights 5 days trip.

Day 1 - Kolkata to Goa by flight
Day 2- Goa
Day 3- Goa
Day 4- Goa
Day 5- Goa to Kolkata by flight

Me and my wife just planned for a relaxing trip to Goa. Just to chill, explore few beaches and have some good food.

Got some good offer on Indigo, so got our flight tickets booked through them.

After some research i booked at Resort Terra Pariso at Calangute through 'Make my trip'. Thanks to Bhpian Me_Sid for the recommendation. This resort is just 100 m away from the beach. Our stay at this resort was flawless and we enjoyed our stay to the utmost. Be it the room, location, food, cleanliness, everything was more than satisfactory and this resort is highly recommended at-least from us.



Day 1-
We arrived at Goa airport by 3pm. A cab was sent to the airport from our hotel. It was an hour drive. Checked in by 4pm. Had not much to do, so we lazily walked to the beach and relaxed in a shack.





Day 2-

Places visited-

Dona Paula
Basilica of Bom Jesus at old Panjim
Fort Aguada
Vagator Beach
Anjuna Beach

For this day i thought of hiring a bike & when it comes to hiring a bike at Goa why not a Harley Davidson! I walked up to the travel agent at our hotel desk and let him know my wish. He told me, they do not have a Harley but he can arrange me one.

A guy from the below travels called me up.


He had a Street 750 & a Iron 883. I chose the Iron 883. They took one of my ID card (original and Rs5,000 as security deposit). The rent of the bike was Rs 5,000 + fuel for 24 hours. I clearly told them, i will check the bike first and will pay them after that. They brought the bike to our resort. Took a quick test ride and the bike was in good condition. Completed all the formalities and hired the bike.



Sharing few selected pics from the day.







Covered all the places by evening. It was a 130km ride. In the evening we decided, as we do not have any plans for any night out lets return the bike. Called up the travels guy, he came to our resort , checked the bike and returned me my ID proof and Rs5,000 caution deposit without any fuss.

Day 3-

For day 3 & 4 i asked for a A/C Thar but all the Thar's available were open hood. I was not interested to drive a open hood Thar till south Goa in a sunny day. So opted for a A/C Swift.
The below travels rented a Swift for the next two days for Rs1200 per day without keeping any ID proof or caution money. The guy was very friendly and helpful too.



Checked the swift. It was battered from outside, the suspension was making sound but the tyres were new, brakes were good and the Ac was a chiller with a working music system.

This was our ride for the next two days.



Plans for day 3 was to visit -Palolem beach and Colva beach in South Goa. Have a drive inside Panjim city, relax the evening at Baga beach and do some shopping at Arpora, Saturday night Bazar.

It was a total 200km drive for the day. The day was enjoying but general parking lot guys at Palolem beach were a bit rude and not much interested to give us parking as we were not interested to go for a boat ride to Honeymoon island. These guys insisted us to park inside some resort with a parking fee of Rs100. I went there, the lady there was not very friendly either. She insisted me to park the car so close to the next car that i cant even open the door! I refused to park there and came out. One elderly guy in a scooter asked me what happened, i told him the situation, he smiled and asked me to follow him. I did. He took us in front of his own house and asked me to park the car for what ever time i want! I thanked him from the core of my heart and parked the car over there. Good people do exist among some crooks!

Sharing few pics from the day-



















Day 4-

Plan for this day was to drive around North goa and visit beaches like-
Arambol
Ashwem
Morjim
Drive around the country roads of North Goa and visit Mapusa. I must say this was one enjoying drive through the villages of Goa.
In the afternoon we again visited Baga, had an evening drive to Fort Aguada and came back to our resort in the evening and returned the car. For the day it was a 100km drive.

Few pics from the day-














Day 5-
Our flight was at 2-45pm so started from our hotel around 11-30am for airport. Goodbye Goa!

Goa without some good food is always incomplete-


Tandoori Pomfret -


Pork Ribs-


Grilled squids (Calamari)-


Chicken Vindaloo & Prawn Chilli


Complimentary sumptuous breakfast at our resort-

[ALTIMAed]

Hi Samba, you keep raising the bar of penning down a travelogue with superb description and clicks.

[Sayata]

Samba magic is on with beautiful pictures and crisp writing. Everytime I read your travellogue, my wanderlust increases to visit that place and explore in your way.

[BenjiRoss]

How is it to visit Goa in the last week of September. This is school holiday time and hence convenient. My concern mainly is the weather - will it be raining too much to even go out? I dont mind short bursts of rain as we would like to relax and not travel around too much. Will probably be there for 5 days.

[patron]

Originally Posted by BenjiRoss

How is it to visit Goa in the last week of September. This is school holiday time and hence convenient. My concern mainly is the weather - will it be raining too much to even go out? I dont mind short bursts of rain as we would like to relax and not travel around too much. Will probably be there for 5 days.

We were there last week and yes it is raining and maddening crowds as usual. But the rain is not continuous and enjoyable and it is a different Goa when it rains. Most of the beaches are closed except for some like Baga.

[ashis89]

I am planning a trip to Goa in the last week of August. Need some pointers:

• Will it be an off season?

• Will the water sports be closed? Any other restrictions in state during that time?

• Will the state be crowded as usual? I prefer if it's not.

Any other tips will be helpful. I have been to Goa once, way back in 2012. I can be called a first timer.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by ashis89

I am planning a trip to Goa in the last week of August. Need some pointers:

July-September is generally considered off season due to the monsoons. However, you can still expect a handful of tourists but way better than peak tourist crowds. Since many of the foreign tourists prefer to visit the beaches during the peak season mainly for the Sun, many of the beach shacks shut shop due to lower footfalls and the rains. For the same reasons, water sports/activities may also not be available.

I think it will be a great time to visit especially if you love the rains and greenery around and the fact that there are lesser number of tourists around

Do check other threads and decide where to stay, generally the beaches in the south are less crowded.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by NPV

July-September is generally considered off season due to the monsoons. However, you can still expect a handful of tourists but way better than peak tourist crowds. Since many of the foreign tourists prefer to visit the beaches during the peak season mainly for the Sun, many of the beach shacks shut shop due to lower footfalls and the rains. For the same reasons, water sports/activities may also not be available.

I think it will be a great time to visit especially if you love the rains and greenery around and the fact that there are lesser number of tourists around

Do check other threads and decide where to stay, generally the beaches in the south are less crowded.

Thanks for the update.
My main intention to visit in August is to witness Western ghats during rains. I hope I can see some seasonal waterfalls as well. As you said, South Goa will be preferred.

Also any other places (especially waterfalls) that I should be covering as it will be peak/end monsoons? I can plan my itinerary accordingly.

Thanks in advance.

[dass]

Originally Posted by BenjiRoss

How is it to visit Goa in the last week of September. This is school holiday time and hence convenient. My concern mainly is the weather - will it be raining too much to even go out? I dont mind short bursts of rain as we would like to relax and not travel around too much. Will probably be there for 5 days.

I think it would be a perfect time to visit. It is still considered off peak during the last week of September, so the prices are reasonable. The places aren't very crowded either. There will be occasional rains, but not as much as what you get now. We had gone couple of years back during the last week of September and that was my best visit to Goa so far.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by ashis89

Also any other places (especially waterfalls) that I should be covering as it will be peak/end monsoons? I can plan my itinerary accordingly.

I have read about Harvalem/Aravalem waterfall (also famous for the caves).

Some excellent threads for Goa reference are here:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...-sojourns.html

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...south-goa.html

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...hins-taxi.html

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...soujourns.html

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...-explored.html

We did a trip last year, but due to time available we limited it to a mix of forts, beaches and Old Goa for the history (we did something like this) - here (Dizzy Drive®: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration)

[pedrolourenco]

Just a word of caution to all you who are planning to enjoy some fish in Goa.
https://indianexpress.com/article/in...ehyde-5257192/

https://www.ndtv.com/cities/goa-mini...de-use-1882460

There is quite a bit of anger over the statement that the Formalin in the fish is within permissible limits.

[roby_dk]

Guys I am in Goa staying at Club Mahindra Varca beach resort. Are there any good food junctions around have tried Martins Corner and family liked it. BTW the weather is too good here.

[rambo1o1]

Originally Posted by roby_dk

Guys I am in Goa staying at Club Mahindra Varca beach resort. Are there any good food junctions around have tried Martins Corner and family liked it. BTW the weather is too good here.

Martin's corner is still quite good. You could try star light in assolna,

https://goo.gl/maps/KBRRJEnohwB2

It's famous for it's sea food but will be packed with people.

You could also try The Fishermans Wharf,

https://goo.gl/maps/ejwaVt4tqaF2
Again another famous Sea food joint.

During the monsoons I'm not quite sure whether the beach shacks in benaulim are closed but you could visit Johncy Restaurant
Beach, Benaulim, salcete, Goa 403716
0832 277 0916

https://goo.gl/maps/9DnepUEEXe32

There are other options available, you can use zomato to check them out but the above mentioned restaurants are the well known ones around your resort.

[roby_dk]

Originally Posted by rambo1o1

There are other options available, you can use zomato to check them out but the above mentioned restaurants are the well known ones around your resort.

Thanks for prompt reply. Family is not a big fan of sea food though we love to have chicken and mutton. I hope we will get good food there leaving for lunch to one of the above restaurants.