4 Day Trip to Goa

Hello Folks! This post is dedicated to our Goa trip from Sept 2^nd to Sept 6^th, 2016. There was a lot of itinerary search that I did prior to this trip and I thought probably what one needs for a Goa trip is a crisp itinerary. After having gone through many articles, I was very confused. Below is a suggested itinerary, where I tried to maximize the number of places one can visit in 3 days (It is not the one we followed, but probably the most logical one, keeping distances in mind).

Three day itinerary for Goa trip:

Goa is split into 3 parts – North Goa, Central/Old Goa/Panjim and South Goa. North Goa is the happening place with a very hippy crowd and lined up with beaches and forts. Central/Old Goa is rich in heritage and is famous for beautiful churches. South Goa is a more peaceful and relaxed place with less crowded and much cleaner beaches.

Day 1: Arrive at airport and travel to North Goa – Suggest to take a hotel in Candolim/Calangute. Check into the hotel, freshen up and head to Chapora Fort at the northern most extreme. You can tick off places in the following order:

Chapora Fort -> Vagator Beach -> Baga beach ->Anjuna beach ->Calangute beach ->Candolim beach -> Fort Aguada, Sinquerim.

Day 2: Old Goa – Start with visit to Basilica of Bom Jesus, SE Cathedral and Church of our Lady of Immaculate conception. Dona Paula and Miramar beach can be covered if time permits.

Day 3: South Goa – Visit Majorda, Colva and Palolem beach. Relax and spend more time at these beaches as I really liked the clean waters of these beaches. On the way back to airport on the 3^rd day, try covering Bogmalo Beach and Customs museum close to the airport (if time permits)!

Travel in Goa is done mostly on rented bikes. Unless otherwise compromised, avoid any other forms of transport, as they are quite expensive, and not very convenient. We got a bike for rent, from a guy very near to the airport, for 300Rs a day. They just collect a copy of your Driving License, and we surrendered it after 3 days, on our way back to the airport!

We had booked a hotel in Candolim. We arrived by bike at around 10am, checked-in, freshened up, and started our first day in Goa with Fort Aguada. It was around noon by the time we ended up at the fort. Decent place, famous for the song in Dil Chahta Hai which was shot here! You get to buy nice hats around here. Do bargain and make sure you buy one!

Fort Aguada of Dil Chahta Hai fame

After Fort Aguada, we headed to Chapora Fort. Chapora is also pretty similar to Aguada, but probably is much bigger. So more places to explore and enjoy the beauty of the sea! We then headed to Vagator beach, lazed around for some time and headed to Cafe Lilliput for Lunch. Decent place, but Anjuna waters are extremely dirty, so that was something we did not enjoy, but otherwise the place was decent enough. We rested for a while and then headed to Calangute! 

@Chapora Fort

The view from Chapora Fort

Lunch +Cafe Lilliput 

Calangute is the most happening beach of North Goa. Awesome eating options. Do try out Souza Lobo - the oldest shack of Goa, on Calangute. We covered Candolim as well on that day and called it a night.

At a shack near Calangute Beach

Basilica of Bom Jesus in the background

Inside the SE Cathedral

Church of the Lady of Immaculate Conception

We then headed to the Church of the Lady of Immaculate Conception. Again, this is a church of the Mujhse Shaadi Karogi fame! The church is closed from 1-2pm. 

Post this, we went for lunch to the Ritz Carlton, and had a Non-Veg thali. Amazing is an understatement for the sea food platter that they serve! Fish, prawns, mussels, salted fish. You name it and they have it in the thali! A non-veg foodie’s paradise! 

Fish Thali at The Ritz!

We next wanted to head to Dudhsagar falls, but got to know halfway through that the falls were closed in the monsoons. 

At the base-camp of Doodh-Sagar Falls

We had time to do some café hopping in Panjim – We tried out some pasta in Route 66. We then headed to Down the Road. Great view by the river, we tried their Chilli con Carne – a Mexican delicacy. Loved their barrels décor too!

Chilli Con Carne

It was a long ride on our two-wheeler, but nevertheless, we next set out exploring South Goa beaches. We went to Palolem, Colva & Majorda beaches. The South Goa beaches are a pleasant change from the northern ones. Firstly, they are not very crowded, and hence you get some “me-time”. Secondly, the waters are much clear and more pristine! I heard some locals saying that these are silver beaches, while the North Goa ones are golden beaches. Cannot comment on the authenticity, but the water felt cleaner for sure!

We returned back to our hotel in Candolim late in the evening, and lazed around on Calangute. We headed for dinner in Curlie's on Anjuna beach. If there are two nightclubs that one MUST visit in Goa, they are Tito's and Curlie's. Do visit these places, but a sincere request to not take your small kids along. I saw some parents getting wasted, with their ten year olds hooked onto ipads.

Curlies in the background!

The next day evening, we were returning back to our hometown, Hyderabad, and hence checked out of our hotel in Candolim. On our way, we stopped at Dona Paula & Miramar beach in Panjim. Try avoiding Dona Paula in the afternoons. It got extremely hot when we went there. Dona Paula is not a beach, but offers a viewing point for tourists to catch a glimpse of the Arabian sea. Few pictures below. It is best to visit during sunrise/sunset times.

From the Dona Paula Viewing Point

On the way to the airport, there is beach called Bogmalo beach. We reached there almost in the evening, but the food in one of the famous shacks there – John Seagull. It was quite late by the time we reached there, but there is a night view of the sea from the shack! One last glimpse of the sea, and the feel of the shack before we headed to the airport.

That in short was our 3 day trip to Goa. Try to sleep as less as possible while in Goa( might vary for people who want to just relax, or who have planned longer trips). Do have a look at the suggested 3-day itinerary I posted above. Signing off till the next post!