I've never been at this time of year and your question may be better answered by someone who lives over in Goa but I'd bet it's very quiet with most tourist facilities closed down.

Once the flights end there are few foreign visitors but I guess Indian nationals still visit. It will be very humid as it gets closer to the monsoon season. Personally, I wouldn't recommend it.

what do you mean by a "short break"?

We were in Goa this time last year.
It was one of the best times we have had there.
Some of our friends were there Chilly & Mike also Cheryl and we had a great time.
Some of the regulars had gone but with so many people we know from HT you are never alone

The weather is HOT
If are are not suited to this you will need aircon.

A lot of the bars restaraunts and shacks will be either closing or shut.

This is not a problem if you like to use the places where the locals eat and drink.
We find that its the best way to find those who are there for the people rather than just for the tourist season.
Don't use places that are shutting down as the might be using whats left in the fridge.

You may find it quiet. We felt it was like turning the clock back 10 years.

If I had the chance to go I would be there like a shot.
but we will have to wait till November.

If you want any ideas of places to eat and drink please ask. I am sure someone out there on here will be able to say if they are open or not.

I can carry you bag if you want

steve

My guess is it will be very hot and humid.

We have been in late March and found it uncomfortable on the beach and AC a must at night.

Everyone is different though and many have far more tolerance to the high humidity.

Me I just dripped all day and night.

Papa

Well took the plunge and booked we fly tonight, Im kind of looking forward to the quietness of it all we always go xmas & new year so its quite busy, will miss sitting in the country pub watching the mayhem of sunburn. We managed to get in pretty petals which gos to show how quiet it is as when we try to book a year in advance its still a no go.

I guess all our usual haunts will be closed, but if any body over there could recomend where is ok to eat now we would appreciate it, and if you spot 2 people looking a little lost with thier selves please come and say hi.

Thanks for all your help will let you know how it was when we get back and Steve if itnwasnt for my bags I wouldnt need a husband

if its anything like October, just before the season starts, it will be quiet but there will be enough places to open not to get bored. Candolim was like a ghost town. We were lucky as we had a 2 min walk to our regular- Nirvana. None of the shacks was up at that time but there are places on the beach to eat and also sunbeds( we had to pay for them). We did have rain but not enough to spoil things. I liked it then.
Have a great time- and lets face it, even if it rains it can't be as bad as the weather here

We got back Tuesday afternoon. Jambalaya, Mango Grove and Bending Bamboos were all closed by the time we arrived on the 17th. We ate in Kalinga on our first night as we were told it was closing soon but when we got there we were told it was going to be the end of April so they may still be open.

Fisherman's Cove tends to be open all year round as does Tuscany Gardens. Roy's on beach road should also still be open.

It is hot and humid but very windy at times so not too bad.

I am sure you will have a great time.

Mango's told us they where open all through the year oh well never mind we enjoy fishermans cove, what ever is open or closed it will be an experiance of some sort and any thing has to be better than this cold and rain and if we do have rain there that is fine at least the beer is cheep

corinna i am sure you will love it we enjoy this time more than anything, and always look forward to it... as Steve says its quieter but thats almost a relief after the madness of the season ..the roads are empty (you can actually cross them ) the local restaurants are just that 'local' and they have more time for you and you can get seats and generally everything is just so much more chilled... there are still plentiful places to eat if you look... just not tourist places and i agree its just like the 'old days' ... there are certain places that remain open but Holiday road etc will probably be dead as a dodo... calangute will still be busy and you will find capricorn open (great food extensive menu ) also brittos will be open and many more ... one thing we have noticed over recent years is that the Indian tourists have increased at this time this means a lot more places do stay open longer...but mainly in Baga and Calangute..not so much candolim but cactus might be open sometimes they stay open through monsoon
Unfortunately we are back in uk due to my husbands ill health or we would have met up with you
ENJOY
Chilly

Corrina,Please come back on line after your hols let us know what you thought and what your findings were at this time of the year,hope you have a lovely time..

We went to Chef Soumyen's last night and the service was spot on even though it was their last evening of the season, had an excellent meal and spoilt ourselves with a bottle of Bubbly, had a lovely evening even though there were not many other tables in use, in fact we were the only ones still dining at 10 pm

Most of the seasonal restaurants have already closed and the last few remaining ones appear to be closing early this week so it looks like it will be curry or home cooking from now on but as Chilly says there are still plenty of local places to eat at all along the CCB strip and a few continental places especially in Calangute and Baga

The weather is mainly hot and sunny with a few cloudy days a week and most of the time humidity is no worse than March was, certainly low for late April but the best thing is we are getting a whopping 85 Rupees to the pound

We went to Chef Soumyen's last night and the service was spot on even though it was their last evening of the season,

He told me he was staying open this year for the locals???

that would surprise me as its mainly a tourist restaurant i have rarely seen locals in there
Chilly

I have seen a few locals in there.
But by locals I mean Indians, so I guess they could be Indian tourists and not really locals, who would find it too expensive I imagine.
Certainly, I could only see locals eating there on special occassions.
To be honest, we only eat there a couple of times each visit because of the prices, food nearly as good can be had at many places for much less and the wine there is quite expensive and not a great deal better than some of the local drink.

We go to Soumyen's for a special evening or when we just want to spoil ourselves and always get well cooked and nicely presented food with good service and I think we get good value for money

Tonight we went to Lazydays in Baga and I had a few kings, steak, egg and chips, a large black coffee and a large Honey Bee, 'er ladyship had two mojito cocktails, a prawncocktail with double prawns and a Honey Bee floater coffee, the food was excellent and the atmosphere was nice with good back ground music also it was a lot cheaper but we can do that any night of the week so doesn't seem special

We have also tried a couple of the new restaurants that have recently opened for the monsoon tourists and found them expensive with small beers from 60 Rps and basic curries or chinese around the 180 to 200 rps a dish, rice from 80 rps and plain naans about 50 rps

We flew on the 27th with Air India, was dreading it after reading a few horror stories, but I have to admit they where fine, but having said that we did sleep most of the journey. Was a bit peeved when they served the dinners all the indians where getting a curry of some sort and we got fobbed of with roast lamb, veg & potatoes, I have to admit there was a whole lot of lamb in the container. The weird thing I did find was after all the airport security and the no sharp object thing, is Air India actually give you a proper metal knife & fork.

Well we arrived in Candolim at around 10.45 pm through our bags in Rising waves and not pretty petals, I think we where the only people staying there. Headed to fishermans cove to be told they cant serve us with any alcohol due th the 11 o clock rule oh well thank god for Newtons who happy to serve us with a few king fisher & a bottle of vodka, so we sat on our balcony till 5 am.

Next day we headed down to the beach there was only 5 shacks open so it was nice to actually see some beach rather than shack after shack, spent our time mainly in tidal wave.

Candolim was very quiet as we expected, a few places on beach road where open but come the 30th it was all closed down, leaving Jazz corner & fishermans open.

Went Anjuna market after saying I was not going again this time, glad we did, all flip flops had been reduced to 100 rups so I couldnt affored not to buy myself quite a few pairs. And a gorgeous bed spread with matching pillows that was then half the price we had paid for previous ones on other visits.

Took a ride down stone house end and went in a bar called Mikeys bar, the owner was a fab guy whos english was very good and was one of them people who are funny with out even knowin it, he got his mum to cook us a meal and invited us down the neaxt day for it, it was bloody fab, never thought I would be a vindaloo girl but this was amazing, hot but not sit there and make you sweat hot and you could taste every spice in there, me & the hubs felt like food conisuirs.

All in all we had a fab time, yeh it was hot and humid, but the breeze on the beach was welcome, the exchange rate hit 86 in Calangute so we exchanged quite a bit for future visits, looking forward to my xmas visit and maybe another April visit next year.

We had a one hour delay on the way back so not the end of the world, and I have to be honest I had the best Mcdonalds ever in Dheli aiport.

Hi Corrina

Pleased to hear you had a good time.
Was Rising Waves stopping open?
When we were there last year they had shut early.

Would you go again at that time of year?
I know we would
Makes you wonder what the pace of life is during the monsoon?

Nice report

Steve

Makes you wonder what the pace of life is during the monsoon.....???

Hi steve,
we have been 3 times during the monsoon (August and September...) and found it fantastic.
So much warm rain, but beautiful.
All the dogs and cows are so clean and healthy...
Everywhere is full of beautiful colourful flowers in bloom...
I would recommend monsoon time to anyone..

Rising waves was one of the first places to close in April but Cactus, the Old Mango Tree, Bobs Inn, Toto's and Over the Flames were still open a week ago also a few new places had opened up in that area

The weather is still hot and sunny about 33c in the day time and 26c at night, the humidity is not a problem near the coast as you get that cooling breeze most of the time and in fact it is not that bad inland, about 73%, certainly no where near as bad as previous years

We love it over here at the start and end of the season but have decided not to stay for the rains and have booked our flights for the end of the month but still waiting for the price to come down for our October flights

Had an email from Chef Soumyen to say he is opening on Monday the 15th of October, which we will miss by a few days if we get the flights we want and I can't help wondering if we will still be getting 86 rupees for a £ by then