HelenT, we found our accommodation (small flat) the last time we were there. Booked flights with Southall travel. The first couple of times we went we booked with First choice and stayed in a hotel. Once you know your way around there is plenty of accommodation to book direct. I wouldn't know where to start if it was my first time, although you can get lots of advice on this forum.

Hi Helen T have a browse on Owners direct they have some great 1&2 bed apartments
on a new complex opp Highland Beach resort in Candolim [Regent park]ideal position for
shops beach ect. to the Goa forum,i think you helped me out last year on Warsaw
our next visit to Goa Nov 2009 will be our 6th you will love it
annx

Thanks for your quick replies. I really hope we eventually get to go there. There just seems to be so much choice. Hope it's not a daft question - but into what airport do you fly?

its Dabolim in Goa the code is GOI, not Goa otherwise you end up in a completely different country.

I found a place to stay on owners direct for £11 a night. I ussually stay at phoenix park for 1600 rps a night but this year they have told me its 3500.

HI HELEN T You could also fly to Mumbai then on down to Goa,you could fly from Heathrow
rather than the long trek to Gatwick,we have booked Virgin Atlantic to Mumbai and King fisher to
Goa for Nov,booked Virgin as we had some air miles to use but Kingfisher are now going there from
Heathrow
Ann

Just looked at Kingfisher but the flights are not out yet for Easter 2010.

Depends how long you are staying for as to whether it's worth the effort of doing your own thing. Booking with First Choice now is probably as cheap as it would be to leave it until later.You are then guaranteed extra leg room seats on a direct flight, the standard of accommodation you want and the services of a rep if anything goes pear shaped.They may well alter certain aspects of your trip like flight timings but by and large you are 100% safe.
Just my opinion of course ! We operate on a fairly tight budget but to me the standard of accommodation and the hassle in getting to your destination are vital ingredients of my holiday and areas I don't want to make too much compromise in.

Hi Helen,
We've just booked for this Easter at the Sunset Beach for 1800Rs per night for a double room (includes A/C, safe, fridge,TV & breakfast) We usually do package deals but this time we're stopping in Mumbai for a few days so for the first time we're booking it all ourselves. We found this year the travel packages were dear any way over Easter and it's working out cheaper DIY. Here's the hotel info if you want to try them for 2010. We like the Sunset Beach as in a quiet location but it's only a short walk to the beach & restaurants & bars.
Sunset Beach Resort
Vaddy Waddo Candolim
Bardez Goa.
Tel.no- (0832)-2479436, 2479220
Fax. no-(0832)-2479436
Website: http://www.sunsetcandolim.com
Email: sun2set@sify.com
Email: sunsetbeachresort@aol.in
As Ann said there are some nice properties in Owners direct too at good prices so it's worth a look.
Good luck with your searching.
Enjoy Goa.
Gail

Thanks for your replies everyone. At the moment the packages for 2010 seem very expensive - but to be honest I'm not sure what sort of price I should be looking at for 2 weeks at Easter. I'll keep on looking. If anyone sees a bargain I'd be grateful if you'd let me know. We don't mind where we fly from, as we always have to travel a fair distance to do long haul.

Hi, as part of Helen's travelling party can I ask whether we could get a direct flight by going 'flight only' or is it only by doing a Package that we can fly directly into Goa. We don't really want to go to Mumbai and do the connecting flight bit.

Although we've never been to Goa, we are quite competent DIYers and as long as we could book a direct flight into Goa, would consider booking separate flights and accomodation, if it means we can do it cheaper.

We would have to add on the cost of travel and hotel/parking in London as we live over 4 hours away. Do they do flights from Birmingham or East Midlands by any chance as that would probably be a better option for us as we could stay the night at our sister's.

Hi Shirl,
we flew from East Mids last Easter, but we normally fly from Manchester and they do fly from Birmingham, they where all package deals we did but and we flew direct on most of our flights, I would of thought you could do a fly only from all 3 airports maybe some one will no better than i.

Pip
x

Hi Shirley H

You can book a 'flight only' on the charter flights direct to Goa (some fly via Bahrain), sometimes sold as 'dormhouse' in brouchers as they're not meant to sell a flight without accommodation. This is how we normally book and we leave it until about 6 weeks before departure. However the flights did not seem to come down too much last season, especially as we like to upgrade, so we've booked a package this year. Monarch flights are normally cheaper than the rest but after a couple of flights with them I'd rather pay a little or a lot more to avoid flying with them!!

you can get flight only direct to Dabolim with Monarch, and it is cheaper to book with a travel agent as they get the allocation of seats, rather than book with Monarch directly.
Otherwise all the packages fly directly there but at the mo they seem to be lots dearer than getting accommodation and a scheduled flight separate - I know because I have just been let down by a major travel agent and had to re-book for 3 weeks later and got accommodation off a website and bought flights with Kingfisher Airlines - and we have saved 250 gbp.

Hi again,
thanks for your replies. I'm going to trawl a couple of websites pricing up flight only as my first step. Any websites you can recommend will be looked into. I'm going to start with INVALID URL expedia.com, monarch.com and the well known TA's websites. Thanks
I realise I'm but this is a prelude to looking at accomodation

you are not off topic anymore- I've changed the title

We can always rely on you Fiona

You are going

My sister has now read somewhere that rabies is rife in Goa. Is this the case?, as for some reason strays tend to follow her around

I have just looked on Friday and with thompsons flying from east/mids on the 1st apri 2010 for £568.98 is this cheap.?

Pip
x