travel

TRIP TO GOA -A PERFECT HOLIDAY DESTINATION – PART 1

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 –Ā  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 engagedĀ  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 ofĀ  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, weĀ couldn’tĀ escape the Goa tan šŸ™ šŸ™ … The Sun was veryĀ harsh though it was October ..

 

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27 Comments

  • Reply
    ą¤‰ą¤¦ą¤—ą¤¾ą¤°
    October 31, 2013 at 1:58 pm

    Very interesting post.we also went goa in this Oct.Your post is refreshing my memory

  • Reply
    Happys Cook
    October 31, 2013 at 2:21 pm

    useful and informative post…

  • Reply
    Bhawna Bagri
    October 31, 2013 at 2:34 pm

    Seems your having so much fun smita…. Enjoy!!’m

  • Reply
    Subha Bose
    October 31, 2013 at 6:05 pm

    Goa is a nice place, lovely clicks.

  • Reply
    Smitha Kalluraya
    November 5, 2013 at 8:38 am

    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..

  • Reply
    goa new year tour packages
    December 13, 2013 at 5:55 am

    absolutely goa is a wonderful Indian tourist palace.. foreigner say “Goa is not India”

  • Reply
    Vibha Sp
    February 2, 2014 at 4:53 pm

    Hmm GOA……………..visited long back dear , feeling to visit again after checking ur trip picsnice pics too.nice place to enjoy right?

  • Reply
    @nonymous
    February 3, 2014 at 7:17 am

    nicely written sir…

  • Reply
    Herry Smith
    February 13, 2014 at 7:01 am

    Goa is such a attractive place for tour lovers. Please help me to get details about Goa Tour Packages and Goa ATTRACTIONS.

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    minu srivastav
    March 5, 2014 at 9:48 am

    Thank you for writing such an amazing article about Goa.Goa is my favourite holiday destination! I opted for Lifetime Tourismā€™s Goa holiday package and went there last year.

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    vivaan yadav
    March 8, 2014 at 6:09 am

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    March 18, 2014 at 9:40 am

    Thanks for the sharing of such information. we will pass it on to our readers. This is a great reading. Thanking you.Holidays Package in Goa

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    Herry Smith
    March 28, 2014 at 6:16 am

    Thanks for post! Goa ATTRACTIONS. Goa ATTRACTIONS

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    rebeka christy
    April 11, 2014 at 11:53 am

    Its really very nice post.Thanks for sharing such a great blog…British Holidays 2014

  • Reply
    Saraswati Rawat
    May 6, 2014 at 6:38 am

    Thanks for the post, I am planing Goa this year, these details are very helpful šŸ™‚

  • Reply
    Saraswati Rawat
    May 6, 2014 at 6:40 am

    Thanks for the post, I am planning Goa this year, these details would be very helpful

  • Reply
    mrkk08
    June 19, 2014 at 12:48 pm

    Goa is indeed the most happening place in india. Well, Iā€™m a travel freak and will plan to go there for sure..!!

  • Reply
    Harry
    July 30, 2014 at 12:45 pm

    Goa is my one of favorite place. i like you blog

  • Reply
    Goa Tour Packages
    August 27, 2014 at 6:21 pm

    When Goa comes in my mind , It makes me feel awesome . sandy beaches , Blue sea , pleasant air , In short Goa is outstanding .

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    stay in goa
    September 12, 2014 at 3:17 pm

    Your photography is awesome, your pictures and well written experience have suddenly put goa on my travel map. Thanks for sharing good information.

  • Reply
    Anonymous
    April 29, 2015 at 7:58 am

    This blog is fantastic. That’s not really a really huge statement, but its all I could come up with after reading this. You know so much about this subject. So much so that you made me want to learn more about it. Your blog is my stepping stone, my friend. Thanks for the heads up on this post. philadelphia dance academy

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    faryal naaz
    December 21, 2015 at 10:45 am

    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

  • Reply
    Sujata D
    March 5, 2016 at 5:37 pm

    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!

  • Reply
    dhiran kumar
    November 2, 2016 at 3:47 pm

    Awesome blog smitha…helped a lot in planning journey

  • Reply
    bim Pra
    February 27, 2017 at 3:10 pm

    Hello Your blog is very Informative, I like it so such, thanks for sharing the such information……..

  • Reply
    anshika gupta
    May 24, 2017 at 6:04 am

    Your blog is very Informative, I like it so such, thanks for sharing

  • Reply
    Roshan
    November 30, 2020 at 6:01 pm

    lovely pics, it sounds like you had a great time with family. Goa is really an awesome destination.

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