“All you’ve got to do is decide to go and the hardest part is over. So go!” TONY WHEELER, COFOUNDER – LONELY PLANET PAGE PLAN YOUR PLANNING TOOL KIT 2 Photos, itineraries, lists and suggestions YOUR TRIP to help you put together your perfect trip Welcome to Colourful and colliding, Welcome to spiritual and soothing, Goa & Mumbai ............. 2 crammed with deserted Goa & beaches, yogic bliss and Mumbai heady nightlife. Goa is many Map .................................. 4 things to many people, but everyone agrees: there’s 10 Top Experiences ........ 6 nowhere on earth quite like it. Need to Know ................. 12 If You Like ........................ 14 Month by Month ............. 16 Marvellous Mumbai sands of fancy À ve-stars, or hidden cres- cent coves, where the only footprints will More than just a gateway to Goa, Mumbai is be15 sea eagles’ and your own. a place that takes © IMAGES PLANET LONELY / CROUCH GRAHAM eating, drinking and mak- ing merry seriously. Luxuriate at a grand Spiritual Sanctuary hotel, explore glorious Gothic architecture, munch on street eats galore and party hard For those keener to top up their Zen than in this sizzling-hot city beside the sea. their tan, Goa’s crop of spiritual activities Itineraries ........................ 20 grows more bountiful each year: silent vi- passana retreats, sunrise t’ai chi sessions, Beach Bounty PLAN YOUR TRIP reiki healing courses and just about every Goa’s greatest drawcard is without doubt other form of spiritual exploration are read- its legendary beaches. Strung in a shim- ily available statewide. By far the most pop- mering gold strand from the tip to the toe ular of myriad regimes on oՖ er is ayurveda, of the state, they cater to every possible the ancient science of plant-based medi- Beach Planner ................ 24 tropical whim: choose from happy, hippy cine; second only to ayurveda comes yoga, Arambol or bolder, brasher Baga; from the » Caption caption caption caption caption whose dozen-or-more varieties make it easy lively sands of Palolem,caption caption or lovely,caption caption laid-back (p000) to LIKE YOU IF À nd the pose and poise that suit you best. Mandrem; from the expansive groomed Bars & Architecture Religious Goa Yoga & Activities ............. 27 Drinking Goa’s heritage is probably If you’re visiting at Christ- Unlike residents of other most visible in its Portu- mas, don’t be surprised to parts of India, many Goans guese-style mansions, many see Santas in saris and hear enjoy a tipple or two upon slowly crumbling away, Christmas carols piped in occasion. A little local bar others in glorious states of Hindi. It’s all part of the provides the perfect ice- renovation. But there’s oth- heady religious mix here, Travel with Children ....... 32 breaker to strike up conver- er architecture, too, if you where Divali, Easter and sation with locals, while a look carefully, allowing you even a ‘À re-walking’ god- cold sunset beer is almost to peel away the years and dess day all put in annual glimpse a much older Goa. appearances. É obligatory along the state’s Sanctuary •# Backwoods sandy shores. Braganza House, Chandor Basilica of Bom Jesus, Old •# Camp •# É Mumbai Hip, minimalist clubs, One of few palácios open to Goa Visit a saint’s desiccated Regions at a Glance ....... 34 Ponda grungy backstreet bars, cool the public, the split-personality relics at this splendid basilica, Velsao •# jazz joints, ’80s music-À lled Braganza House is a fascinating just dripping with silver stars É dives: you’ll À nd them all in insight into how the aristo- and ecclesiastical glory (p 129 ) É abundance in this hard-partying cratic Goan other half once lived Shigmotsav (Shigmo) Goa’s •# Margao city (p 60 ) (p 159 ) version of the Hindu festival of •#Chandor ARABIAN Local bars, Panaji No frills Palaùio do Deão, Quepem A la- Holi sees much Á inging of col- SEA here, but decent drinks in bour of love for its owners – you oured tikka powder in ebullient •#Quepem down-to-earth surroundings can take tea on the terrace of celebration of Spring (p 16 ) 35 É make Panaji’s teeny bars a great this stunning palaùio, marvelling Christmas A highlight on the É at the wealth of painstakingly •#Usgalimal choice for whiling away an hour Goan calendar, Christmas Rock Carvings or two (p 121 ) renovated detail (p 160 ) involves nativity scenes beneath É Anjuna Take the edge oՖ a hot Hampi Wander around stunning palm trees, twinkling lights and market afternoon with a cold 15th- and 16th-century temples jiggle-hipped electronic Santas, drink at Anjuna Market, while and palaces, at this World Herit- making for a very merry vibe Agonda •# É listening to an expat crooner age Site that time forgot (p 143 ) (p 19 ) PLAN YOUR TRIP •# É Cotigao Wildlife murder yet another Hotel Goan Forts The Goan coastline Church of Our Lady of the Sanctuary California (p 87 ) is dotted with the atmospheric Immaculate Conception, Palolem •# Cafe Chocolatti, Candolim remnants of a once mighty Panaji Clamber the steps to this Sip a ginger-lime À zz or an seafaring nation, all ripe for the wedding cake of a church, where old-fashioned English cuppa exploration (p 175 ) sailors once stopped to thank One month alongside a slice of chocolate the heavens for safe their arrival Anjuna & Panaji & Palolem & cake in Chocolatti’s shady, from Portugal (p 113 ) REGIONS A GLANCE AT The Best of Goa North Goa Central Goa South Goa Á owery garden (p 105 ) Entertainment 333 History 333 Beaches 333 With a month to spare, you can truly get to the heart of the state. Start in the n Luxury 333 Wildlife 33 Yo ga 333 Beaches 333 Temples 33 Exploration 333 winding down for a few days in backpacker-central Arambol, and following up some more in quiet Mandrem, with a yoga retreat or some solitude on its sa Next head down through the pretty inland village of Siolim, to explore what’s le Entertainment History Beaches the trance scene at Chapora and Vagator, before moving on to hippyish Anjuna to hi North Goa is where it’s at in Picturesque Portuguese-era Excellent strips of quiet terms of after-hours enter- bungalows abound in the beach can be found Á ea markets. Press on then to hard-partying and À ne-dining in Calangute and Baga tainment. Calangute, Baga, historic villages of Central throughout South Goa; then visit the hulking River Princess tanker at Candolim. Anjuna and Candolim oՖ er Goa, and in the slow-paced Palolem’s glorious crescent Meandering slowly south, stop oՖ to explore the string of villages along the Man live-music joints, bars rang- state capital, Panaji. Not serves a lively traveller com- ing from spit-and-sawdust to far away, Old Goa’s glorious munity, while a little further River: drop in on Corjuem Island and Naroa, then hop a ferry to Divar Island, w mixology central, and even cathedrals once earned it north, À ve-star hotels back exploring for its slow, sleepy pace of life and crumbling old homes. Travel on, via Old G the occasional nightclub. the moniker ‘Rome of the onto beautiful undeveloped once the fabled ‘Rome of the East’, to Panaji to eat well and soak up the easy city East’. tracts of white, palm-fringed Luxury sands. Once comfortably installed here, take a trip out to the lovely little riverine Dr Salim With a bumper crop of Wildlife boutique hotels, North Goa Dr Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, Yoga Bird Sanctuary on Chorao Island Striking out still further into the hinterland now’ oՖ ers the state’s best luxury on lovely Chorao Island, Yoga, ayurveda and massage stays. Bed down in a con- makes for a leisurely spot aplenty are on oՖ er in Pal- verted fortress, a chic village of birdwatching beside the olem, Patnem and Agonda, bungalow, or minimalist river. Further aÀ eld are along with a whole host of beachside haven; many also Bondla and Bhagwan Ma- other seasonally-changing oՖ er spa services for ad- havir Wildlife Sanctuaries, spiritual pursuits. Visitors ditional pampering after a while Backwoods Camp is should check local notice hard day’s lounging. an ornithologist’s dream. boards to À nd the yogi, guru or t’ai chi master of their Beaches Temples choice. From the bustling beaches Temples abound around Pon- of Baga to the empty da, where the Shri Manguesh Exploration stretches at Mandrem, and Shri Laxmi Narasimha Getting oՖ the beaten track there’s a beach to À t every temples are especially worth is easy in South Goa, where inclination in North Goa. a visit. Further east, Tambdi tiny coastal villages invite Arambol, Vagator and An- Surla is home to the inter- exploration by scooter, juna’s beaches are popular esting little 12th-century motorbike or rental car. with backpackers; Calan- temple, which has survived For adventurous souls, the gute and Sinquerim are the centuries of conquerors and trip out to the Usgalimal places to head for water temple demolitions. rock carvings makes for the sports. ultimate Goan road-less- p 110 travelled. p 70 p 150 PAGE UNDERSTAND GET MORE FROM YOUR TRIP 187 Learn about the big picture, so you GOA & MUMBAI can make sense of what you see population per sq km Goa Today ....................... 188 USA GOA INDIA History ............................. 190 ≈ 30 people g across the border in British India. But es ite wi es rea The Way of Life ............... 197 tions, on 10 June 1947 the Portuguese Minister of Co onies, C À lo Duarte, warned that the ‘Portuguese Á ag will not fall do without some thousands of Portuguese, white an co oure their blood in its defence’.