Fir new year if u want a place nearby crowd Mcleodganj is great but if u need isolated places you can go to any places in old himachal like tosh , malana , rasol ,jibhi etc here you can find good secluded places .
Visit Baga Beach at night
Go for a sunset at Aguada Fort
Do try water sports at candolim as I found the water is much better than Vagator for water activities.
Probably cause social circle have hyped it up. I always keep on telling my friends explore India first, you'll be surprised by how beautiful our country is!
In my view, you shouldn't. Four of my friends went for the trek but the day they reached Uttrakhand, glacier burst happened and we aren't able to contact them till now.