Old Portuguese forts or professional yoga lessons? Crowded beaches or all on your own? Luxury hotels or palm thatched huts? Whatever you prefer, you will find a favorite beach in Goa.
Calangute, Baga & Candolim - The family beaches in Goa
At Calangute Beach there is room for the whole family, with 3 miles of pure entertainment. The younger ones can play beach volley while older people can relax in the shadows, while enjoying a Mango lassi, the sweet yoghurt-based drink with Mango. For those wanting to party on when the kids have been put to bed, there is Baga Beach in the north, where the beer flows freely along with western pop music around the small palm huts on the beach. For the more adventurous minded, there are dolphin and crocodile safaris leaving Candolim Beach, to the south.
Calangute, Baga and Candolim beaches are located south of Anjuna, some 12 miles away from Panaji, and 40 miles from Dabolim Airport.
Benaulim - Beautiful sights and colorful entertainment in Goa
According to Hindu myth, Goa was created when the god Vishnu in his sixth incarnation shot an arrow from the mountains in the south, and asked the god of the seas to retreat to where the arrow landed. Banali means "where the arrow landed", but the Portuguese found it easier to pronounce as Benaulim. On this beautiful beach the melon sellers mingle with holy cows, fishing boats and unauthorized masseurs, and if the show gets just too colorful you can also rent a scooter and take a trip beyond the old Portuguese mansions lining the beach.
Benaulim Beach can be found 3 miles from Margao in southern Goa
Anjuna & Vagator - the birth place of Goa Trance
Where the rhythm reigns! It seeps into every pore and makes you move in step with the hundreds of other people on the beach, all dancing, alone or together with others, but hardly ever to impress anyone. It still happens that a group gathers at some remote beach and dances thru the night on chemicals and love. But if you want trance parties that have not been outlawed by the local authorities, you have to go to the legendary Nine Bar on Vagator Beach, or Paradiso on Anjuna Beach.
Anjuna Beach is located just north of Baga Beach, about 15 miles from Panaji, and 45 miles from Dabolim Airport.
Arambol - Yoga and wholemeal bread the Goa way
When the tourists took over Goa, the hippies moved north to Arambol Beach, set up yoga institutes, health care shops and paragliding schools. A little to the south, you can visit Morjim Beach, where sea turtles lay their eggs in the sand, and Indian guards watch over them until they hatch exactly 54 days later. Stay at the old Fort Tiracol north of Arambol, which has been transformed into a tasteful hotel, or one of the palm thatched huts along the beach.
Arambol Beach is in northernmost Goa
Palolem - The Postcard Beach in Goa
The beautiful Palolem Bay is refreshingly free of concrete constructions, as the local authorities bulldozed all illegal buildings in 2006. Instead there are palm huts, great food and lots of places close by where one can find an isolated spot. No matter if your partner is your boy or girl friend, a good book, your iPod or just silence, you're sure to have a lower heart rate when your return from here!
Palolem Beach is found in southernmost Goa
