Insider Tips
Goa
- Some of the best restaurants and bars are away from the beach: the Japanese restaurant Sakana and neighbouring bar and club Bubble Brunch, near the Vagator petrol pump, being a case in point, offering some of the best food and music around.
- Salcete and Quepem talukas offer a glimpse of the old Catholic Goa; many heritage homes are open to the public, while the Palacio do Deao in Quepem has some of the best old Goan-Portuguese food you’ll find on these shores.
- Mandrem in the north and Galgibag in the south are arguably the two most unspoilt beaches in Goa.
- Taxis are vastly overpriced.
- Anjuna beach has become overcrowded and polluted in recent years; its old scene has migrated north around Asvem.
- Police set up regular roadblocks in high season, checking licenses, papers and helmet use on the highway.
- Old Goa is best seen around dawn, before the hordes of coaches descend on it around 8am, ruining the peace.
- Newton’s Supermarket in Candolim has more alcohol options than most Indian airport duty frees.