Distance - 550 Kms from Bangalore
Travel period - 6 days
Time to reach - 9-10 Hours approx.
Type - Beaches
Best time to visit - November to February
Famous for: Beaches, Churches, Casino
Day 1:
- There are different ways to reach Goa (Via Gokarna->Karwar or Via Hubli). I prefer to travel via Hubli since its a 6 lane road. Gokarna -> Karwar -> Goa is a Single road (2 Lane road).
- Lets start early morning so the drive would be pleasant and travel via Tumkur. From Dharwad we have to take a deviation towards left and travel towards Goa via Panjim Road (Make sure you fuel tank has enough fuel as there would not be any fuel station until you reach the Goa-Karnataka border).
- Lets cross the border and reach "Old Goa" and visit our First destination which would be "Basilica of Bom Jesus" (which holds the mortal of St. Francis Xavier)
 |
| Basilica of Bom Jesus |
 |
| Basilica of Bom Jesus (Inside) |
- Next lets head to our Second destination which is "St.Augustine Tower" (Left out of the very old complex) which is diagonally opposite to the Basilica.
 |
| St.Augustine Tower |
- Diagonally opposite to "St.Augustine Tower" there would be our Third destination which would be "Museum of Christian Art" .This is a museum where you can find different cultures of art. The art is very well displayed in a compact place. If you love art then you must and should visit this place (That doesn't mean its not meant for the people who are not interested in art).
 |
| Museum of Christian Art |
- After that lets head to our Fourth destination which would be "Archaeological Museum" (Historical museum with ancient artifacts) which is towards the other side of Basilica.
- Behind the Basilica there is "Wax De Goa" (World Wax Museum of freedom fighters and many well known people around the world) which is our Fifth destination.
- Lets head towards Panjim City and reach Candolim (Which would be an ideal place to stay since its very close to all the happening beaches). Lets get freshen up and visit "Baga" and "Calangute" beaches which is the ideal partying place and party till late night which would be our Sixth and Seventh destination. These beaches offers lot of beach side restaurants and a very famous party lane where you can find Tito's pub and many more. The two beaches are very close by and it can be reached by walk through the beach. These beaches are wonderful to party till late night.
 |
| Calangute Beach |
Day 2:
- Lets start day 2 start early by heading to the top of Goa i.e. Goa-Maharashtra border where would be our Eighth destination which is "Querim/Keri beach" - This beach is at the tip of Goa and it is calm and pleasant beaches of Goa. The view from the beach is very attractive and its very clean too. We can spend a pleasant and quality time at this beach. There are multiple entries for the beach and each entry will make you feel different and amazing (Entry near Ajoba temple, Entry near Jetty, Entry near the fly over etc)
 |
| Keri / Querim Beach |
- Next lets head towards "Arambol" beach is also called as Harmal beach which would be our Ninth destination. People might get confused where to park their vehicles, i would suggest you to park near the entrance of Arambol beach rather to go near the market and struggle to park. Arambol beach is one of the good beaches to play in water. There is also a other side to it, towards the corner there are number of shops/shacks and if you pass through it then you will exit to the other side of the beach where you can also see a small hill with less crowd on the beach. There is a small lake which is called as sweet water lake near the hill.
- Lets head to "Morjim beach" after Arambol which would be our Tenth destination. Morjim beach is a little isolated from other beaches as there are no water sports or activities available. This is a kind of white sand beach and the beach is very calm, clean and beautiful. The place is very relaxing and we can have a quality time.
- Once done then lets move to our Eleventh destination which is "Chapora beach" which is diagonally opposite to Morjim beach and behind Vagator beach. We can spot a decent crowd in the beach and its good to play in water and also its a serene beach.
- After Chapora beach lets head to "Chapora Fort" which would be our Twelveth destination, this is also called as "Dil Chahtha Hai" fort as the movie scenes were shot here. The fort is up the hill and you should be ready to trek (Proper footware is recommended and the fort will be open at 10 AM), once you reach the fort you doesn't find anything great inside the fort but you can see the walls of the fort and also the view from the walls is mind blowing. You can see Vagator beach and other beaches from the top and also the sunset is very interesting.
- The Thirteenth destination would be "Vagator beach" which is a cliff beach and its on the way from Chapora fort. This beach offers a lot of water activities and wonderful and scenic beach.
 |
| Vagator Beach |
- Fourteenth destination would be "Ozran beach" (This beach is visible from Vagator beach). To reach the beach you have to get down the hill through stairs and enjoy the place. This beach is less crowded and it offers a lot of beach side stalls and restaurants.
- Let this be our last place for the day and reach back to our rooms and have some good sleep.
Day 3:
- Day 3 begins by visiting our Fifteenth destination i.e. "Candolim church". The church is at the foot of the Candolim hill and the view and location of the church is beautiful.
- Lets move further towards "Museum Of Goa" which would be our Sixteenth destination. Here we can find lot of paintings and different articles which were used in earlier days. This place has lots of information and its worth visiting.
- Now lets move to our Seventeenth destination which would be "Mae De Deus Church". This church is also called as Saligaon church. The church is located close to the highway along with ample parking space.
- Lets continue with our churches tour by visiting the next church which is "St. Cajetan Church" which is our Eighteenth destination. This church was built in 17th century and it is one of the churches in world heritage site. This church is one of the beautiful churches in Goa.
 |
| St. Cajetan Church |
- Lets move to our Nineteenth destination which would be the "St.Jerome Church (Mapusa)". This church was found in 16th century. This church has a parking on the other side of the road and also there is a big play ground on the front side of the church.
 |
| St. Jerome Church |
- We will move onto our Twentieth destination which would be "St. Thomas Church". This church was built in 16th century on the banks of river Mapusa.
 |
| St. Thomas Church |
- Lets head to a small fort near Aldona called "Corjeum Fort" which is the Twenty-first destination. This fort is very small and not maintained well and also the tourist are minimal. The entrance to the fort is through a narrow road which is not visible, so be careful not to miss out the diversion.
 |
| Corjeum Fort |
- Now lets head to "Anjuna Beach" which would be our Twenty second destination, we can enjoy the sunset here and finish our day 3.
 |
| Anjuna Beach |
Day 4:
- Lets start with Twenty Third destination which would be the "Candolim beach". Candolim beach offers lot of water sports, Beach beds, Island tours etc. Its one of the wonderful beaches to play and have fun.
 |
| Candolim Beach |
- If you would like to check out Calangute and Baga beach during day time you can (Around 5 kms from Candolim beach) however it would be very crowded always.
- Now lets visit "Sinquerium beach / Sinquerium Fort" which is our Twenty Fourth destination. This beach is pretty clean as the famous Taj resort shares the boundary of the beach. This beach also offers lot of water activities. The other side of the beach lies the "Aguada Fort".
- Next lets visit the famous "Aguada Fort" which is the Twenty Fifth destination. This fort is also called Dil Chahtha Hai fort. There is also a Central Jail near the fort. Also there are couple of beaches on the sides of the fort. The fort is very well maintained and the view from the fort is mind boggling. There is also a light house near the fort. There is ample parking space available.
- Next lets visit "Reis Magos Fort" and Church which is our Twenty Sixth destination. This is a Portuguese Fort and its on the banks of river Mandovi. This fort is renovated and very well maintained. The view from the top of the fort is marvelous. We can see Miramar beach on the other side of the river. We can find a very limited tourists here however its one of the must visit places in Goa.
- Further we find the "Coco beach" which would be our Twenty Seventh destination. In Coco beach we can find lot of fishing boats and fishermen. There are boat rides available from Coco beach where we can find dolphins and visit islands etc.
- Next lets head to Mandovi bridge and reach the other side of the Mandovi river. If anyone is interested in Casino then then can enjoy in "Casino Pride" else head to "Miramar Beach" which is the Twenty Eight destination, Also the Caranzalem beach is on the same stretch of Miramar beach. This beach area is pretty huge and it shares its boundary with multiple star hotels. This beach also offers a short boat ride to show some of the attractions around the beach.
- Our Twenty Ninth destination would be "Dona Paula" beach which also offers few of the water activities and it has a very good view point. The beach has a shopping lane as well. Lot of movies has shot at this place.
- Next lets head to a famous church in the center of the city which is "Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church" which is our Thirtieth destination. This church was built in 16th century with Portuguese Baroque style. This is one of the must visit churches of Goa. By this lets end our day 4.
Day 5:
- Lets start our day 5 by visiting "Monkey Beach" which is famous for snorkeling. This beach is near the Vaso-Da-Gama railway station which is our Thirty First destination. This beach is at the stretch of Baina beach (which was also called as red light area in the past).
- Next lets head towards the south of Goa and start visiting the beaches on the stretch which would be "Velsao Beach" which would be the Thirty Second destination. This is a wonderful scenic sandy beach with peaceful surroundings.
- We can find lot of clean and peaceful beaches on the same stretch towards Colva. If interested to spend some time then we can visit those beaches which are "Arossim, Utorda, Majorda, Sunset beach, Betalbatim". The crowd would be less in these beaches.
- "Colva Beach" in south Goa is a popular beach which can be our Thirty Third destination. This beach would be crowded always and water sports was taking place in this beach however it has been stopped recently. We can find a place to shop, eat, drink around the beach.
- Next lets pass through the line of beaches which would include Sernabatim, Benaulim and many other beaches and reach our final destination for tonight which would be "Agonda" which is our Thirty Fourth destination.
- There are couple of ways to reach Agonda, you can either take the Goa-Karwar highway and as soon as you get down the hill you have to take a right (If its dark then you have to be careful so that you wont miss the curve) else you can continue with the coastal road which connects Agonda.
- Agonda is like a very small town where you have multiple restaurants, shopping places, resorts, Church etc. The beach is very clean. From Agonda beach you can visit hidden beaches like Honeymoon beach and Butterfly beach, you can also spot multiple dolphins here. Its preferred to start the boat ride early in the morning around 6 AM.
Day 6:
- Once done with the boat trip we can relax for sometime and start our journey of beaches and visit a beach named "Cola Beach" which is our Thirty Fifth destination. The road is very narrow and the beach is too inside from the main road. You have to do some off-road to reach the destination. The parking area is very small however once you get down and reach the beach you find it very different. You feel like you have reached some island with very limited crowd. There are few restaurants and stay area on the shore so you do not have to worry about the food.
- Next would be "Cabo De Rama" which is a cliff beach along with a fort. This is our Thirty Sixth destination. The view of the sea line is very beautiful and the open ground adds on to the beauty to the cliff beach. The crowd is comparatively less as the beach is quite inside however its worth visiting.
- If interested you can visit the Palolem beach which would be the other side of Agonda beach, there are few water activities available like rowing, boat ride etc. The beach would be very crowded most of the time.
By this we can end our Goa trip and return back to our regular life.
Pictures to be uploaded.....................
