Goa
The ultimate destination for people across the country is ‘Goa’ irrespective of language and region. Goa happened to be a party place for friends and bachelors and spinsters and more. But still you’ll have a great time in Goa if you have a lovely family. Goa is a great place for fun in beaches, people, food and drinks. I went on a 4 days trip to Goa with my family from Chennai in the month of April which is off-season but still Goa is going to be crowded all through the year.
I had my flight in Chennai by early morning to reach Goa in 2 hours. Upon reaching Goa, you can hire taxi at the airport or get pre-booked in your hotel. I chose to stay in Candolim, North Goa which is 20-25 kms from airport. Tourist destination of Goa is in North Goa covering Candolim, Calangute, Baga which are close by one another. You can choose to stay in hotel or resort in any of these places. This makes it convenient to reach beach anytime you desire.
The most popular mode of travel for tourists in Goa is two-wheeler rentals. You can rent it from your hotel or any rental shops nearby. You can take tour cab rentals (with driver) too if you are on a family trip. Considering the former, you need to provide your original PAN and a copy of ID proof and pay a cost of 300-350 INR per day whereas the latter will cost you 1500-2000 INR per day.
You can buy ticket over the counter here. They take people on a boat ride on ‘Nerul River’ to watch Aguada Fort, Light House, Central Jail which are on the banks of the river from boat. After some distance in boat ride, you’ll see 3-4 dolphins jumping out of river. These sights are covered in the boat ride.
The Fort which you saw from boat can be visited by road route. This is an ancient fort where the rock walls stand strong still. Upon climbing the fort, you can see the blue ocean. The place is hot to rest anywhere but good steps to reach the top of the fort in 20-30mins.
These beaches are the happening places in Goa. You’ll have beach restaurants for sea food, beach chairs to rest, water sport activities like paragliding, jet skiing, banana ride, etc. and many more markets for shopping. You should visit all these beaches and choose where you want to hang out more days. All the beaches are pristine and lying close to one another. I ended my first day with excitement for the upcoming days.
On day 2, I started from hotel by 7 A.M. to visit waterfalls. It takes 2 hours to reach near the point ‘Dudhsagar Jeep Taxi Stand’ in Colem, Goa. No private /taxi vehicles are allowed to drive beyond this point. You need to buy tickets and board the vehicles with expert drivers to drive on the rocky terrain amidst forest. You need to purchase life jackets at extra cost which is definitely needed. Reach at the earliest to get vehicle to waterfalls. It is a lot of jumps in this travel of 7-8 kms so stay tight in the vehicle. It is 30-45 minutes bizarre journey to reach waterfalls. On reaching the point, you’ll have 1:30 to 2 hours’ time to trek ahead and get yourself dipped in waterfalls and trek back to the parking lot. It is full of rock path to reach the waterfalls in 20mins so make sure to wear comfortable shoes or sandals. When you get into water, wear your life jackets as the waterfall point has a depth of 6 to 12 feet. There are a lot of fishes in water which bites slightly. You can see the beautiful view of trains crossing above the waterfall point. People generally say waterfall dropping directly on body relieves body pain; so give your try.
While returning from waterfalls, I visited this farm which is a very large plantation place with hundreds of various plant and tree species including medicinal plants. You will be having a ticket of 300 to 400 INR to tour the entire plantation with a guide and lunch buffet. This place is fully covered by greenery and gives a lot of shade during tour letting you smell the plant species. Lunch buffet was very good here. You can spend 2 hours or more here depending on the individual’s interest on nature. They sell various Ayurveda products made in this farm like, tea tree oil, lemon grass oil and other herbal powders.
This is the place where you can see many ancient cathedrals of 17th century and Archaeological Museum of Goa. All these old architectures lie around this circle surrounded by park.
Opposite to the last visited circle is the ‘Basilica of Bom Jesus’ which is an ancient church in Goa visited by most of the tourists. This church from 17th century contains the tomb of St. Francis Xavier.
Goa is famous for floating casinos on Mandovi River. There are a number of casino ships like Deltin Royale, Casino Pride 2 and more. I have never tried casinos in my life. If you are interested in casinos, reach to the Mandovi River to try your hands in casino.
On day 3, we started our own travel on scooters. It takes 30 minutes by walk on sloppy trails to reach Chapora Fort. On reaching the fort, it is a vast terrain open to sun falling on you. You can watch the ocean view and locate Vagator Beach from the altitude.
These beaches lie on the same stretch having rocky beach view. You can click nice photos of backwaters between rocks in the Big Vagator beach point.
Goa is a place to buy various products like, handicrafts, clothes, artworks, idols, ‘GOA’ printed T-shirts, etc. on the markets in all the beaches. We dedicated one whole day for shopping on our fourth day. Next morning was my return flight to Chennai and routine starts directly from airport to office.
