At exactly this same time last year, I booked 3 weeks at the Sunshine Park Hotel, Candolim for mid November and paid £1004 total.

The identical holiday with the same company for November 2008 is now £1612 - a 61% increase.
I do appreciate that the high price of fuel is causing some price increases, but a 61% hike seems excessive to me.
I also notice that they're charging under occupancy for 2 people (£73.50 total) but both of the rooms we stayed in November 2007 & February 2008 could not have accommodated an extra bed, so I think they're taking the p**s a bit.

I think we're going to give Goa a miss this season unless prices come down a fair bit.

No doubt this will mean that all the prices for food, taxis, drink etc etc will be hiked up in Goa, if this year was anything to go by, not so much business meant that the Goans made things more expensive to compensate.

This is one of the reasons that I am glad that we are staying in an apartment, instead of in an hotel room, where by you have to eat out, as there are no facilities to cook a snack or make a drink. I now do a lot more cooking (snacks) and buying drinks for the fridge. We often have friends over to our apartment for a meal, instead of going to a restuarant, I am not a lover of spicy food, so eggs, cheese, tomatoes, bread rolls from the Biker Baker Boy (the rolls are 2 rps each) do me fine. Three months, of endless price rises do annoy me, so the shacks and restuarants lose out, because I have now started to use the local restuarants, where prices are a tenth of what the prices are down Beach Road, and in Calangute .

I am not tight, far from it ( ask my husband) but I also do not like to be ripped off, last year we found that the shacks were charging more for there food and drink, than the restuarants, we went to the beach practically every day for three months, and slowly our bill crept up and up and up, for exactly the same meals and drinks. OK if you are going for a 2 or 3 week holiday, I doubt that you will notice the difference in prices, but we noticed that when prices WERE put up it was mainly on Tuesdays, and Saturdays, that is when the big tour operators do there change overs. So the incoming tourists didn't know any different. It is still cheap compared to many countries, but far more than we were used to paying, and the price rises are so blatently done.

This year, we know before we get there that the prices will be high, to cover the disasterous season last year. But as long as the beach is still there, ( some of it anyway) and the sun is out, I will be happy doing my own thing, if they want to put the prices up its simple I just wont buy.

And as for taxi's and tuk tuk drivers, they are way over the top, the first year we started going to Goa we found a lovely tuk tuk driver, he was driving for his boss, then he borrowed money to buy his own tuk tuk, now he has three tuk tuks, and is building his own house. All in the space of 5 years. I wonder if he could have done that if they had the meters, that are sopposed to used on every trip. Last year we told him point blank, that he is charging us too much, and we were going to use someone else. He couldn't have cared less, because there are plenty of MUGS over there that will pay his prices. 90% of the time I now use the local buses, and keep all my loose change for the bus fares. If you give a note to the conductor you are very lucky to get any change back, people who are going on there first visit to Goa, don't realise how much they are being ripped off by.

last year we found that the shacks were charging more for there food and drink, than the restuarants

This always surprises me, surely the shacks are open longer and do more business during the day. Strange logic in Goa with prices, when things get tough they put prices up... I can appreciate that fuel and rice has gone up, but not enough so that it would encourage the Goan hike.

I suppose there is also the laziness factor. Those who have profited from the 'Golden Goose' no longer want to do the jobs they used to do during the monsoon. Now need more cash during the season.

Those who have been visiting Goa for years (myself) are wise to the scams and are a little more careful with our money. I realise that the Westerner will always pay more ... but there is a fair price for everything.

Price rises in Goa

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Goa/Price_rise_worries_restaurateurs/articleshow/3150370.cms

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2008/06/19/27954/interview-platon-loizou-jewel-in-the-crown.html

well at least the bloke is being truthful, he is basically saying that even though the prices are going to rise this year, next year will be even more expensive!!!

You will always find good reasonable priced places to eat it Goa,the ones who are putting there prices up will be struggling to get people in the doors,do some leg work and save some money,dont use
the ones who are robbing the tourists.

Seems prices can be held during the monsoon when very few westerners are visiting however will increase when the western tourists arrive!!!

I will be limiting the food I buy in shacks if the prices rise a lot as £2-£3 for spring rolls in Goa is over the top. Although I appreciate it is £2-£3 those of us who have been visiting regularly and know how much the raw ingredients cost will start reducing what we buy from the shack and start boycotting restuarants that have increased so much that it feels like a "rip off"

Goan logic is very difficult for me to get my head around and understand!! Although I appreciate they are in business to make a profit, I noticed on last years forum that visitors were changing shacks from their regular shack because costs had increased and service and quality decreased. Can see this happening again 2008/2009 season if prices increase too much because of less visitors.

Lets hope we are all wrong and prices rise in line with inflation which is 10.7% in India,however I somehow fell 10% won't be enough for some shack owners and restaurants - hope I am wrong

Well I'm sure it will still be cheap. I've never really eaten in shacks during the evening and only a light snack during the day. Beer of course... but will be so cheap compared to downtown Edinburgh prices... £3.20 small bottle of Becks beer!

I am an 8 monther in Goa at the moment - just got our 1 year visa (was 2 year but they did not give us that again) the week before they went private - thank goodness - but I have a friend who last year did a couple of week in November then the same in March. Both times they stayed at Marina Dourada and liked the hotel but when they tried to book it for this coming season the price had gone up by nearlly 200 pounds as the hotel has been taken over by a big named company (European but don't know who - will find out) and including the flight supplements the cost was over £800 for 2 weeks in March. This is her "second" holiday so when you add on this the now price of the visa - £30 plus costs plus vat plus whatever comes to nearlly 50 pounds so she told me yesterday she is not going to bother to go to Goa but will go back to Thailand where she went before I convinced her to go to Goa as she will not have to bother to get a visa for a couple of weeks - the food is as good if not better - the beach shacks cleaner but she enjoyed the beach culture in Goa more than Thailand [ oh and the taxis are much cheaper!!!!

Hi,

I was very interested in tomitma's comments. Can you please tell me what local restaurants you use, and where the bakery is. We been going to Goa for the last 2 years and we still love it. Want to go to Goa again next for for 3 weeks but only want to take 2 week money!! We have always eaten very well and gone everywhere by taxi but would like to try it with less. Any tips greatly appreciated!! Jazz

Hi Jazz 12

The local restuarants, that we use are the SEA GULL, which is at the side of the football field in Candolim, there is a car rental place there, it is just at the side of that, there is a bakery next to the sea gull, but that mainly specalises in Cakes and Savories, the carott and sultana cake is wonderful.

There is a small bakery at the side of Candolim Market but it is very erratic getting bread there as they wait until they sell every last bread roll, before getting a new batch in the oven. There is a massive bakery that has just been built, that is situated just behind the new coffee shop just past the football field on the way to Calangute, we usually buy our bread from the boys that go around on push bikes honking there horns. It is still warm from the ovens, and it is delicious.

Another local inn is the Snow Inn, by the side of the Candolim Market, the food there is really nice, cheap, and very popular with the locals and the tourists. The kingfisher is charged at local prices, I begrudge paying five times more for the same food in the resturants down Beach Road. When it is a much nicer atmosphere chatting to the locals, and eating very good food. The local resturants do close at 11pm, sometimes there is a lock in, where you have to beg to be letout, thats if you are still sober enough to do the begging.

Also using the local buses is an experience for 8 rps you can go all the way to Panjim or Mapusa, where the taki's and tuk tuks charge 450 rps, the buses are a tight squeeze and 90% of the time you will have to stand up all the way, as they tend to cram as many people as they can onto them, but it is a way of saving money, and they run frequently you can flag them down, or find a bus stop. But make sure you have change as they don't usually give change to tourists, they just smile when they see the note.

Thanks Tomitma,
it doesn't matter how many times you go to Goa there are still things you find out!! Is the apartment and flights a lot cheaper than a package holiday? Is it your own apartment or one you found online? Does it have a pool? So far we have stayed in hotels but are quite interested in an apartment. My OH wanted to buy in Goa but now thinking otherwise. If you remember any other tips please let me know. Thanks again Jazz

send him to the expats forum here and to Goa thread if he is still showing signs of interest in buying. That will put him off for good

Hi Jazz

We rent the apartment, and pay about 6 pounds per night for the both of us, the price has gone up since last year, it is ideal for us as we are staying for 3 months, and after staying in hotels, and only having one room, we had to go out every night, because the walls seemed to close in on us.

The apartment is in the village just behind the football field, it has a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room, a huge balcony, and cable TV. We found it by looking around and talking to the locals, they seem to know where the apartments to rent are.

Buying is a no no at the moment, as there are so many bylaws that stop you from owning the property, a lot of people have thought that they can use the loopholes in the by laws, but the Government is clamping down and a lot of people are in danger of losing everything they haave got, because of it.

It is unusual to find an apartment that has a swimming pool, there are some, but you pay the price for the privilage of the pool, most of the to lets, are in private houses.

We have friends that actually rent the apartments for the full year, staying for 6 months, and then going home for 6 months, and they pay a nominal retaining fee for the monsoon season, they have bought there own furniture, and utensils, and these stay in the apartments, a cheaper way of doing it rather than risking buying.

Just have a wander around the side of the football field, there are loads of properties to let around there.

we too eat at mostly local pretty unknown places all the time.... but (sorry!!) i am always a little reluctant these days to 'name' them!! as in the past when we have done this they have become so packed with tourists we cant get in!!! ..... and also sometimes the prices start to alter!!!! upwards i think this has been the case with snow Inn which has started to get more pricey these last few years .. its nowhere near as 'local cheap' as it was...
chilly

100 x the flies than customers in the Snow Inn

Thanks to all for the comments/tips!! Jazz

I do think there will be a fair bit of profiteering going on next year with all the doom and gloom about fuel prices and increased food costs.