Fort Aguada Beach Resort, Bardez

...looked at the five star Fort Aguada Hermitage on line at home and the prices were not cheap($130 per night for a 1 bedroom villa) But we decided nothing ventured nothing gained and were so fed up we got a taxi to the huge grounds that belong to the world famous Taj group of hotels.


Upon asking at reception we were blown away when they said the same villa we looked at on line was $90 to book there and then so we asked if we ...
...reason this is called the Fort Aguada is because it is built on the ramparts of a 16th century Portuguese fortress.
Building commenced in 1612 under increased threats from the Dutch.

A huge advantage of the sight was the abundance of water from natural springs on the hillside which meant that the fort became an important watering place for ships and also led it to be named Aguada(agua is the portuguese for water)

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During a very cheap deal staying in a B&B in Goa John & I decided we had had enough of sleeping in what felt like a sauna and being bitten to death every single night by mosquitoes.

We had looked at the five star Fort Aguada Hermitage on line at home and the prices were not cheap($130 per night for a 1 bedroom villa) But we decided nothing ventured nothing gained and were so fed up we got a taxi to the huge grounds that belong to the world famous Taj group of hotels.

Upon asking at reception we were blown away when they said the same villa we looked at on line was $90 to book there and then so we asked if we could have a look.Now the villas are spread out through the hilly gardens and the grounds are so big that you have to get a golf buggy from reception to take you there!

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The villa was out of this world and more to the point had fully working air conditioning .As soon as we spotted that feature we said" yes well have it" and booked it for the last three nights of our holiday.

We took a quick trip back to our mosquitoe ridden B&B to get our bags and tell everyone how fabulous our new accomodation was just to make them really jealous.

We jumped in a taxi and it wasn't long befor we were luxuriating in our villa with room service bloody mary's and air con on so high it was almost like a freezer.

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The villas are like small cottages with a set of stairs leading up to them, a huge main bedroom with a large satelite TV ,comfortable table and chairs ,beautiful dressing table,huge double bed and bed side tables.

The entire room was immaculately tiled floor to ceiling.Off the bedroom was a small hallway with a large built in wardrobe that contained the safe and plenty of hangers and drawers for storage.

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The bathroom was fabulous with a huge walk in power shower that had great water pressure and constant hot water.A bath tub.There was a huge marble sink with a large wall mirror and baskets of posh Ayurvedic toiletries on either side.One for me with make up remover,face cream,toner, manicure kit,cotton buds, cotton wool,soft tissues and other girly things and his had shave foam,razor,shower gel,shampoo a small bottle of mens cologne and other macho things in it.

After our cupboard sized shower with cold water coming out of a plastic hose we were in heaven and both took long hot showers.It was the first time we had felt really clean since arriving in the country.

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The accomodation here is 144 rooms,24 suites all with airconditioning,ceiling fans,wall safe,bath tubs,colour TV,direct dial phone,tea / coffee maker and hair dryer.Laundry and dry cleaning facilitys are also available.

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The main building houses superior rooms.Cottages which are either 2 or 4 bedroom units dotted around the hill side.Villas of 1,2 and 3 bedrooms.

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Taj Holiday Village which is also located on the same vast complex has 20 superior rooms,44 superior sea view rooms,10 luxury tents,42 garden view cottages,24 suites,9 one bedroom villas with garden view,3 one bedroom villas with sea view,2 two bedroom villas and 1 three bedroom villa.

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Also in the leafy grounds of the Taj Holiday Village is an open sided restaurant called the Banyan Tree.Green curry costs around Rs 285 and at the top end sea food dishes can be anything above Rs900 which at the exchange rates then was around £11.

I dont think you could get food like this in a five star restaurant in the UK.The food here is geniunely spicy and truely delicious.

If you like a good curry you definitely will not be dissapointed by the variety and tastes on offer here.

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The reason this is called the Fort Aguada is because it is built on the ramparts of a 16th century Portuguese fortress.
Building commenced in 1612 under increased threats from the Dutch.

A huge advantage of the sight was the abundance of water from natural springs on the hillside which meant that the fort became an important watering place for ships and also led it to be named Aguada(agua is the portuguese for water)

The fort was so succesful in its location and size that it was never taken by force and the huge water tanks under the main courtyard indicate just how seriously the architects took the threat of long sieges.

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We had developed a bit of a siege mentality ourselves, baracaded into our room with the air conditioning on and no notion of wanting to leave the room.

Room service cocktails and food was excellent and all we had for the first night we were there.Every now and then we stepped out side to remind ourselves of just how hot it was,waited for a slight sweat to break then went back into our little igloo.

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The 88 acre sight over looking the Arabian sea also has its own little stretch of beach called Sinquerim where water sports are the main activity and therefore swimming is not completely safe here.You can paddle but common sense prevails that with speed boats zooming around one should keep ones eyes open!!!

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The hotel pool is excellent for swimming and a free first dive lesson is available to most guests at the time of our stay.I wish we had known this as I would have loved to try it out

Next to the pool is the outdoor bar and a restaurant called the Fish Tail that is semi formal and serves fresh sea food.

IL Camino is an Italian restaurant again it is semi formal and serves very good italian with a wood fired pizza oven.

The Morisco is an elegant restaurant overlooking Candolim and Calangute beach serving what they call "ultra fresh sea food" and is semi formal.

The Sea Shell overlooks the Arabian sea and serves a wide variety of international cuisines.So food wise every one is catered for & you dont have to love curry to eat at any of the restaurants.

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We did drag ourselves out after the first night and went to the Italian restaurant.John had Veal saltimbucca which was out of this world and I hade a very delicious home made pasta dish.Garlic bread was included and boy was it garlicky but devine.

We also had dinner in the Sea Shell and ordered Goan dishes which are a mixture between South Indian and Portuguese.The currys can be very strong and most are laden with coconut and chilly.The garlic nan bread is an absolute winner as is the paneer nan(Indian cheese) So huge and soft that one can easily serve two generously.We also had some Goan vegetarian dishes which were truely mouth watering.

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The grounds are green,lush and full of coconut trees with hamocks tied in some of them and sun loungers dotted around.The pool is also surrounded by loungers but by mid day the sun here is relentless and no shade is available.

It is nice just to slip into the pool to cool off and then go to a lounger in the shade of a coconut tree to read or have a long afternoon snooze before deciding which cocktail to have .

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There is a good Spa here offering many types of treatment but with my hectic schedule I simply did not have the time to check it out.

After the busy time we had had touring the coast line this was the perfect remedy to unwind before we had to leave for home.The staff are attentive to a fault and always smiling,nothing is too much trouble and lets face it in a five star hotel thats exactly what you would expect. 

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