Never been that early. A lot of the places would still be closed I imagine and maybe a bit cloudy/overcast as well.

Unless you are very unlucky and get the odd shower the weather should be o.k. It will be hot and mabey a bit humid. About half the shacks will be up and running and all the resturants will be open Lots of early season tourists and loads of Indian ones especially towards the end of the month in the run up to the Diwally festival. We,ve spent the last few Octobers there and find it a great time in Goa as everything is fresh and green Alan

Hi alan Lots of the tour companies dont offer holidays until November so did you travel independently in october. It does sound a nice time of the year to go and I would like to try it.

The only charters going in Oct. are Monarch flights from Manchester and Gatwick. Jewel in the Crown have the lions share of the seats Their brochure is running from early Oct. and if you want flight only you can either deal with them or get a last minute deal from any of th usual places. They used to be very busy with people going out for the season but the four week max. rule will have changed that and there may be more seats available as a consequence. We usually pay about the £400 for a flight only at this time, but it may be cheaper this year Alan

Thanks for the info Alan much appreciated. Anything is better than the weather in Scotland mind you!

Was there last year October 1st week - not all shacks were open - but was quite busy during the nights at the pubs and clubs. Went later again around the third week in October and found most of the shacks up and running and business in Baga and Calangute beaches were in full swing. Anjuna and Vagator were not all that busy, a few shacks were open and mostly free from beach sellers as cops made regular rounds. Weather was perfect.

We went to Goa by the end of October last year. Superb weather and very few tourists!

diplomacy

We have booked to Travel on the 20 Oct this year, check out Southall Travels website, they have flights with Jet Airways to Goa (via Mumbai) in the low £400's (from Heathrow) these are way cheaper than Monarch - even if you do have to change in Mumbai, connections are good too.