Had a fanatsic time in Goa was only there for 8 days though which wasn't enough!. I got back on Mon and here is my trip report!
Flew to doha and then to mumbai with Qatar. The flights were fantastic with qatar really reccomend them especially now they go direct to Goa. Used spiceject for the flight from Mumbai to Goa, which was fine and only cost £25 all in i think.
Once there it was such a culture shock on the first night and admittingly i hated it. But by the end of the holiday we were looking forward to coming back!
Stayed at the Nazri resort in Baga, opposite East Meets West. The hotel and the rooms itself is lovely, though I had a few issues with the customer service - i am going to start another thread regarding this. Loved the location of the hotel, and the pool was lovely, so peaceful and overlooks lots of greenery.
Got stuck in the terrible rain last week. Rained for about 3 days. Booked three trips with Daytripper and two of them got cancelled because of the weather. Managed to re-arrange one of them though so ened up going on two trips. See section below
Nightlife was very good in Baga - i am in my twenties and loved Tito's road lots of nice food. Never actually made it to the clubs, the price seemed to put me off even though it was only 500 ruppes in
The food really was something else Goa. I have travelled a lot and have never eaten as well as i did in Goa.
On the last night in Goa I stayed in at the silk cotton resort right next to Goa airport. This was really nice, and the service / rooms where brilliant. We even got a lift to the beach, and a lift at 5am to the airport.
TRIPS
Spice Plantation (DayTripper) - Amazing trip! Visted a school, a temple, a local village, a cashew nut factory and the spice plantation. Highlight of the day was to wash the Elephants and then let the wash you. Got some great photos, really reccomend this one and was approx £26. If i was to go again i would take somethings for the children, there were about 35 in the class and i am sure they would be happy with anything like pens / pencils / paper etc.
Grand Island (Daytripper) - This was ok. Basically a boat ride to a very small privateish beach, a bbq, dolphin spotting and snorkelling.
RESTAURANTS
Salt n Pepper (Baga) - Loved this restaurant, its just before east meets west. The indian food was amazing and so cheap, much cheaper the east meets west. The decor and the service was brilliant. Very surprised nobody else has recommended this one, maybe its new.
Electric Cats (Baga) - This was ok, wasn't a patch on Salt n Pepper though
Nishas (Baga) - On tito's road, had Chicken Biryana for lunch was lovely.
J&A's Italian (Baga River) - Expenisive, but the starter and desset were amazing. The main course - pizza I found the bread a bit too sweet tasting for my liking so might be better off getting pasta instead.
Oriental at the Mira (calungute) - Went twice it was so good, the steaks are amazing and the thai meals are good too. Service also great.
Joets(Bogmarlo - near the airport) - Very very nice, had a lovely indian meal here.
The negative points;
- The Taxi drivers (its so hard to be polite after saying no thankyou 100 times after leaving the hotel)
- No pavements - sometimes i couldnt walk with the people i was with, had to walk in single file!- Beaches - A bit mucky / grotty and lots of hawkers. Not very peaceful but I never got the chance to go to some of the nicer beaches
- Shops / Taxi's - Found it a bit hard work having to negoiate for everthing though some people would love this.
- Customer Service - I found particulary in the hotel that when everything is going well the service is great, but when something goes wrong it is dealt with very poorly.
- Power - went off 2/3 times a day but wasn't too much bother.
