Visited in September 2018
GOA……. everybody’s dream destination and the place is beautiful. After lot of googling I planned 3 days Goa trip in so called monsoon month, September (as it was mostly sunny during my stay).
Day 0: We left Delhi in 9:40 pm flight and reached Goa at 12:10am. Since I already informed hotel (M-The Business Hotel) at the time of booking about my late arrival in Goa and have also checked for the conveyance, so after reaching baggage counter I simply called the hotel and asked to send cab.
Soon cab reached the airport, picked us and dropped us at the hotel around 12:40am. It took a while for check-in as two more people were before us who were checking in. We reached our room at around 1 am and after changing went to our bed to call it a day.
Day 1: This was an early morning for us as we wake around 7am and decided to have breakfast in hotel itself. Since our room tariff didn’t included breakfast hence we took coupon of INR 200 per person for buffet breakfast which had a variety of dishes like Maggie, noodles, idli sambhar, sandwich, toast, omelette, milk cornflakes, juice, tea, coffee and banana halwa. Everything was delicious and properly cooked.
After filling our tummy with delicious food, we checked out from hotel at around 10am and proceeded for spice plantation tour to Sahakari Spice Plantation through cab (Cab driver’s number was received from hotel itself and after discussing our plan and charges we finalized the cab).
It took us around 1 hour to reach the place. Spice plantation tour is chargeable at INR 400 per person which includes guided tour around the place, welcome drink along with snack and buffet lunch. The place is huge with greenery all over, this is a perfect place for visit in monsoon.
After having a good time at Sahakari Spice Plantation we proceeded towards our resort Bogmallo Beach resort. I planned visit to spice plantation on day 1 also because the resort check-in time was 2pm and we had to kill the time from 11am to 2pm. As soon we reached resort reception we were served with pineapple juice and after a smooth check-in we proceeded towards our rooms.
Our room, it was beyond my expectation. As I entered the room I could see the sea as the room door opened just in front of balcony door which had a view of sea. I was spellbound and was super happy, the first thing I did is opened balcony door and went to the balcony……. gosh it was beaaaautifullll.
I spent some time at the balcony before going to the room which was also properly done with all required amenities. We spent some time in room inside our bed as it was sunny outside. We thought to explore resort and beach at around 5 pm and following our plan we were up and went around resort.
We sat near swimming pool which had view of the sea, we even went to the beach (Bogmallo beach) through resort gates. Rest of the evening was spent at the beach watching sunset.
It was around 7 pm while we reached resort beach gates but the same was closed and we have to come all over from resort front gate. After reaching we went back to our rooms to get ready for dinner and cake cutting as it was my birthday and cake was supposed to get delivered at 8 pm.
We rested, had some tea and got ready for cake cutting & buffet dinner at resort restaurant.
Buffet breakfast & buffet lunch or dinner was included in room tariff.
What a dinner spread it was everything from salad, pasta, cheese balls, chicken, fish, paneer gravy, chana masala, aloo fry, bharwa baigan and etc. In desert they had ice-cream, rasgulla, alle belle and etc.
After having so many delicacies we went to walk a bit in resort premises around pool area. The weather was superb, we sat there for some time before going back to our rooms.
Day 2: Again, an early morning we woke around 7am and after freshening up I went again to the beach, I can spend a whole lot of time near water weather its beach, river, waterfall, dam; as its super soothing 😊
I spent an hour or so at the beach and then went back to room to get ready for the buffet breakfast. Breakfast again had who’s who of the dishes to savor upon. French toast, pan cake, Danish pastry, dosa, idli sambhar, poori bhaji, Omelette, juice, tea and etc
After some more roaming around in resort we cleared our bills and checked out at around 12 noon. Our next destination from here was Ritz Classic which is famous for its fish thali. Please note there are various branch of this restaurant in Goa but the authentic one is on 18th June road, Panjim.
We went to their other branch at first but since we wanted to have authentic fish thali, hence we went to the oldest branch. The thali is big with so many fish dishes like fish curry, fish fry, prawns, crab, fish kishmur along with solkadi, papad, rice and sewai (desert).
Next, we went to our pre-booked resort “Chalston Beach Resort” on Calangute beach (North Goa). After smooth check-in we went to our room for some rest as again it was sunny outside but I the most active member of the trip went to resort’s beach facing restaurant at the same time to have the view; which was beautiful.
We went to beach around 5pm. There is a huge stretch of sea with multiple beaches, at the right of Calangute beach is Baga beach which is the most happening beach of North Goa and on the left of Calangute is Candolim and Sinquerim.
After playing with water, clicking pictures, negotiating with masseur and walking around, I sat on the beach to watch sunset. It was beautiful, I didn’t even want to leave the place in evening when it was slightly dark as it’s wonderful to sea beach and people (some) around the beach.
But I had to leave and after reaching room we again did some rest, got ready and went for dinner around 9 pm. We thought to have dinner at Brittos for which we booked cab but when cab didn’t turned-up for around 15-20 min we thought to go for dinner somewhere nearby as Brittos was 3 km from our present location.
We went to the beach (Calangute) and after walking for just 2 minutes got a shack with a seating arrangement on beach. It was just awesome candle lit table on beach. Soon we ordered our dinner which took much time to get served. Meanwhile there was a spell of rain due to which we were shifted from open air table to umbrella covered table. The ambiance was superb with sound of tide and cool soothing air.
We finished our yummy meal in this beautiful location and went back to our hotel room.
Day 3: This was our last day in Goa which started with some roaming around in resort and buffet breakfast in sea facing restaurant (included in room tariff) of resort.
The buffet included poha, pav bhaji, milk corfnlakes, variety of omelette (masala, cheese and etc), pan cake, toast, juice, tea & coffee. After breakfast I again went to the beach for the last time as we had to check-out at 11 am.
I thought to spent the remaining time in resort’s swimming pool but the swim wear was only available for purchase and not on rent in resort so I dropped the plan.
After packing and getting ready we completed check-out formalities at resort reception and booked a cab.
Many famous restaurants like Thalassa, La Plage are closed during monsoon hence after a lot of thinking we finalized our plan for the day which included visit to Chapora Fort where movie Dil Chahta Hai was shot. Cab driver firstly took us to a spot from where we can have spectacular view of Vagator beach after that he dropped us to the parking of Chapora fort.
It requires some hiking to reach fort which we covered in around 5 minutes.
The fort is ruined but one can have spectacular view of sea from almost all directions of fort.
We clicked some pictures at the site and then came back to the cab.
I googled some restaurants and found a place to have lunch as most of the restaurant I thought to visit was closed in monsoon season and same goes with my new-found restaurant as well. So, without wasting any time we proceeded to our next destination in south goa, Fisherman Wharff (Cavelossim beach) via panjim for some shopping.
We only purchased some dry fruits from the market (panjim) as only few shops were open due to Sunday. I even purchased “modak” (Indian sweet) from a shop as I haven’t had it earlier 😊
It took us around 2 hours to reach Fishermann Wharf. The restaurant is beautifully done and was lively due to live performance.
They have placed tables overlooking the river which was nice.
To be honest I expected more but the place is okay. After having a late lunch, we proceeded towards Goa Airport (South Goa) to catch our flight back to Delhi. We reached Airport around 6 pm and completed check-in process to board 7:20 pm flight which reached Delhi at 11:20 pm.