Oct 20th was my birthday and DH had presented me a perfect memorable gift – “ A trip to Goa “. Wow !! i was so overjoyed.It was my first trip to Goa, and i was super excited .Had heard lot about Goa and was looking forward to visit it .Goa is one hot happening tourist place.GOA have lots and lods of things to do
Whenever we think of traveling, initial homework and planning part is done by me.I in fact enjoy doing that.So after googling many a sites I prepared few draft itineraries n we together finalized our itinerary for the trip as below :
Oct 18th, Fri – Departure From bangalore
Oct 19th,Sat – Morning Reach Goa , leisure.Thought we will plan for the day after reaching there .
Oct 20th , Sun- North Goa Trip
Oct 21st,Mon – South Goa Trip
Oct 22nd,Tue- First half relax,Chk out Room,cover any left out place or hit any beach /shopping , Evening Departure from Goa
After finalizing the itinerary, we were pretty much happy as we felt we had planned well.
My next task, was to select mode of traveling .. Again my so called R&D started ..
Bangalore to Goa Distance : approximately 555 kms – 650 kms. Depends on the route you choose.
Duration of the journey : Approx 11-13 hrs
How many of us were traveling – We 2 and our 2 small kids..
Modes of traveling Considered :
Flight-felt would be expensive
Car-too long a journey and needs breaks in between.Also with 2 kids , felt its difficult to keep them engaged throughout.While traveling with kids i prefer night journey .
Train- didn’t get ticket.Disappointed .Had heard Traveling to Goa from Bangalore via train is an awesome experience as the route was very scenic ,You pass through few lovely tunnels,and most importantly, you get to see the Dudhsagar waterfalls from the train.
Bus -So finally chose sleeper bus over all and it was a very very comfortable. The Paulo AC sleeper bus was too good and we all could get a good sleep.Road condition was also great.
Ok,so mode of traveling finalized.Before booking bus tickets, a big major work was pending.Where to stay? Before we , start searching for accommodation we had to decide, which plan to goa,tour to goa,2 days topart of Goa shall we stay ?
North Goa / South Goa?
North Goa – Happening part ,beach filled with activities. Crowded always .
South Goa- Silent and scenic beaches.Less crowded part .
After few arguments,discussions,comparing pros and cons of both places, we finally zeroed on staying in North Goa.
Goa is a very small state area wise.Considering its size, i was thinking finalizing an accommodation would be easy as my search was streamlined only to North Goa. But No .. My God !! i was totally surprised when i hit the search button ..So many options popped !!!I wondered do even the residents of Goa stay in hotel ??!!
Finalizing a hotel was biggest headache.Refined the search,shortlisted a few,spoke to few and finally shortlisted – Annapoorna Vishram Dham @ Anjuna Goa.
Oct 18th, Friday :
Finally the D- day came.All set,bags packed,all excited,we left our home to catch our bus..
At what time did bus leave Bangalore and reach Goa ?
Bus left at 7.15 PM at scheduled time from race course road and reached Panjim ,Goa at 9.30AM.
Our hotel was 18kms from Panaji.Took a taxi and reached hotel where our rooms were booked for next 4 days.Our accomodation was decent, clean and well maintained.The staff were obliging and at your service always.Food options for vegetarians were less, but OK could manage.Overall we were happy with our choice of accommodation and would definitely go back!
After freshening,kids wanted to go to pool.Spent a good time playing in water, splashing..
Later took a nap and were fully energized for our nxt 3 days in Goa… and for our 1st destination of the trip…
Calangute Beach :
We reached Calangute beach at abt 4.30 PM .The street was bustling with visitors all around the world,with shops selling all fancy things .I was tempted by all those shops and straight away wanted to shop but the kids had other thoughts.They won and we straight away headed towards beach. Being 1 of the hot spots of Goa,,it was fully crowded. Thankfully, the sea is huge and the beach is big so everybody was able to squeeze in. .Weather was lovely and ambiance was perfect for enjoyment .We all thoroughly enjoyed playing in water , building castles etc etc..
Sunset at Calangute beach
We don’t realize how time flies when you are having fun and it was time to quit for the day..end of DAY 1…
Also see :
TRIP TO GOA – A PERFECT HOLIDAY DESTINATION – PART 2
TRIP TO GOA -A PERFECT HOLIDAY DESTINATION – PART 3
DON’T FORGET:
to take extra dresses,swim wear,hat,sunglasses and a big bottle of Sun screen lotion.Though i was dabbing the sunscreen lotion many a times a day, we couldn’t escape the Goa tan 🙁 🙁 … The Sun was very harsh though it was October ..
Very interesting post.we also went goa in this Oct.Your post is refreshing my memory
useful and informative post…
Seems your having so much fun smita…. Enjoy!!’m
Goa is a nice place, lovely clicks.
thx all for liking my post.. Goa has lot to offer tourists.. Its wort a visit..:)..if u need any information while planning, u can always get back ,ill b more than happy to help you..
absolutely goa is a wonderful Indian tourist palace.. foreigner say “Goa is not India”
Hmm GOA……………..visited long back dear , feeling to visit again after checking ur trip picsnice pics too.nice place to enjoy right?
nicely written sir…
Goa is such a attractive place for tour lovers. Please help me to get details about Goa Tour Packages and Goa ATTRACTIONS.
Thank you for writing such an amazing article about Goa.Goa is my favourite holiday destination! I opted for Lifetime Tourism’s Goa holiday package and went there last year.
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Thanks for post! Goa ATTRACTIONS. Goa ATTRACTIONS
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Thanks for the post, I am planing Goa this year, these details are very helpful 🙂
Thanks for the post, I am planning Goa this year, these details would be very helpful
Goa is indeed the most happening place in india. Well, I’m a travel freak and will plan to go there for sure..!!
Goa is my one of favorite place. i like you blog
When Goa comes in my mind , It makes me feel awesome . sandy beaches , Blue sea , pleasant air , In short Goa is outstanding .
Your photography is awesome, your pictures and well written experience have suddenly put goa on my travel map. Thanks for sharing good information.
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This is really tremendous that the way you describe I’ll really appreciated your work.hope i’ll come back to get some more information .ThanksAsante Holidays
Hi Smitha ! Thanks very much for the detailed holiday Posts. I congratulate you on your posts – any one who reads your posts has all the details should they decide to make the trip. Btw, I never knew there was a wild-life sactuary/resort so close to B’lore. I live near Blr too !I am very-well travelled, hv been travelling the world last 30 yrs. BUT you vanquished my pride, Hahaa!
Awesome blog smitha…helped a lot in planning journey
Hello Your blog is very Informative, I like it so such, thanks for sharing the such information……..
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lovely pics, it sounds like you had a great time with family. Goa is really an awesome destination.