Travelling to Goa has been my Mecca- every new year. However, due to the omicron scare, we decided to prepone the trip and head mid-December itself.
Goa is love no matter the number of times I visited this state- the beaches the sand, the activities, the people. If I would ever retire Goa would be my home. I would simply sit on the beach over any other activity in this world. So in 2021, I visited Goa twice - January and December.
This time we decided to do this trip differently since we had only 2 nights and 3 days for the trip and I did not want to be in crowded places. I had once visited Palolem for a mere 2 hours six years ago and was obsessed to visit the small town again. Between the 4 of us, we decided to make it a road trip from Bangalore - Goa.
We chose to leave Bangalore at 1 am and reach Palolem around 10 am. With a car full of snacks and beverages we relied on Google for the road map and how we failed. Google showed us the shortest distance and instead of travelling on the highway -it took us through small villages, forest reserves and even though the trip took an additional 2 hours, I would not trade it. The roads were full of windmills when we passed Chitradurga, to lakes as we moved ahead bordered by long trees. The moment we reached Gokarna- we could see the beach from the mountains we were at and I must say- the view was to die for.
The first day we decided to stay in a local hotel by the beach so we could save money and do sightseeing. We chose the Palolem Beach Resort a mere 100 meters from the beach and were given lovely wooden cottages. We all wanted to scroll through the city and decided to take a walk to the beach. It was then we stumbled upon the Art Cafe Resort and I fell in love. The place has a charm with art hanging on every wall and a beach sit-out. They also have a jhoola for the dramatic effect.
The place is value for money and also teaches painting for Rs.500/- hour. The place has live music to add to the effect. Once we were filled up we decide to reserve a local boat and visit the nearby island. The cost of the private boat is Rs. 3500/- for an hour.
Deciding to head at 5 pm to catch the sunset we were mesmerised by the view and visited Butterfly Island and Honeymoon Island. We also saw Turtle Island which looked like a huge turtle and monkey island where there are only monkey inhabitants as per the locales. The best of this small boat ride was seeing dolphins. The sight was a beauty to behold.
The beach in the evening was full of tables and music in every shack. Deciding to have dinner by the beach we enjoyed a peaceful dinner with music. The sound of crashing waves at the shores was a melody in itself.
We chose to retire early after a eventful day as we were heading to The Lalit Golf Spa & Resort for our next stay.
The Lalit Golf Resort & Spa is a luxury resort 15 minutes away from Palolem. Located on the Raj Baga beach in Canacona, it is surrounded by the Sahyadri mountain range, is located close to the Talpone river and offers a view of the Arabian sea. The place looks like a Portuguese palace with yellow and white building. We were at awe from the moment we entered the gate. The resort has Baroque-Portuguese style architecture and landscaped gardens, including an international standard double-T-9-hole links golf course.
The resort has 263 suites, and villas (yea, literally) for guests to choose from. We had booked a suite room which was on the ground floor facing the pool. Here is a room tour for you guys.
After freshening up we decided to head to the pool and i decided to try aqua zorbing in the pool and failed miserably. This will a good story to tell in the future. The pool facilitates a bar in between and we decided to soak in the sun with some drinks and pizza. Having our fill we quickly changed and headed to the private beach available with a restaurant in the resort. There are water activities available at extra cost and we tried the jet ski.
P.S- You do not need to pay as it will be billed in the resort.
We decided to simply enjoy the water and laze around at the beach in the evening. I had booked a spa at 8pm which operates till 10 and their services will make you wonder why you didn't visit earlier. Once the spa was done we sat on our porch and ordered room service with light music and closed the day.
The next day we woke up and explored the golf course along with the sports complex - where you have TT, Bull Riding, Table Hockey, Bunjee Jumping etc. We enjoyed thoroughly throughout the first half and then checked out of the resort. This was no doubt one of the best resort we stayed in.
We left Goa at 12.20 pm and made a mistake of asking Google for direction (eyeroll) and again we were directed through Gokarna. While travelling through the cliffs the views were so pretty that we decided to stay and have lunch at one of the cliff side hotel. What a beautiful view it was. After a while we headed back to the road and passes a beautiful town called Kumta. This detouring from google was a blessing in disguise. The Kumta Beach was vacant and lovely blue waters and we couldn't resist to just stay.
If you have never visited Kumta you have missed something in life. The beach is surrounded by rocks and forest. The place will scream village life from the moment you enter. We found a beautiful beach side resort called silver sand and decided to play some beach volleyball. After having dinner had an epic night on the beach, gazing the stars. We were lucky and were also able to see bio luminous in the sea.
The next day we continued our drive back to Bangalore with lots of memories to cherish and a vow to always go wrong with Google Maps!