If you can brave the 10 hour + flight and Goas airport beaurocracy then you have to take a holiday here. It won't cost you an arm and a leg and you'll make so many friends of the locals that you'll want to return year after year.
We stayed in South Goa at the Majorda Beach Resort approximatly 20 km or 30 minutes from the airport. Speaking of which was the only downside of our holiday. Horendous waits with registration/landing cards to complete through several security checks and finaly harrased by customs officers to make sure tou have no more than 200 cgarettes.!! Greeted by our rep' (and about 10 willing "bag carriers" who were cheeky to ask for a tip for just saying hello) we were escorted to our taxi. Phew - we made it out of the airport.!!
The scenery en route was hardly breathtaking and a lot of stray dogs abd cows were roaming the main road!!
At the resort we thought we had entered a different world. Beautiful reception area and excellent, friendly staff welcome you. Our room was very spacious with a queen sized bed each. Clean and airy overlooking the beautiful gardens with views of the beach in the foreground.
The resort is set among 70+acres of lush gardens with a good sized outdoor pool and an heated indoor pool (apparently the only hotel in Goa to have one) It fronts a splendid, clean beach with very few pedlars, a couple of beach shacks which were reasonably priced - ie kingfisher beer was a third of the price we paid in the hotel.
Staff at this resort were the best - you think American Service is good well it aint a patch on service here - nothing was too much - a real treat.
Ladies, if you want to pamper yourself you can have a full manicure and pedicure plus a haircut and return for a luxury face massage for less than £25.
We felt no urge to venture away from the resort as it has all the food choises available in it's 5 restraunts ranging from typical Goan to English, Chinese and Italian. We ate very well having 3 good meals a day with a bottle of wine on an evening and plenty of chilled kingfisher beer and we spent about £22 a day for the two of us.
The climate in November is pleasanyly warm, with some cloud and we had a couple of thunderstorms which were eye openers.
South Goa is much quiter than the popular Northern resorts but for middle aged couples I believe more suited.
Talking to several fellow Brits who had been on trips, their general view was not to bother has most of the worthwhile attractions involved a 5-6 hour journey usually in a non-air conditioned bus.
With the airport experience inbound we dreaded going home. Worse was to come - we went through a total of 9 security checks before finaly boarding so be prepared and make sure you read the list of banned items in hand luggage as it is not limited to sharp instuments. Gas lighters are one!!
Overall - I would not hesitate to return.
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Advantages: Cheap, Quieter than the North of Goa, more laid back, good selection of accomodation to suit all pockets Disadvantages: can sometime be popular with busloads of Indian Tourists
Sari 05.07.2000 ·
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Dec 16th, 2004
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