Hi All, Welcome back to my travelogues publishing after a long break. This time we planned to explore the fascinating beachy destination of India..... GOA, yep you read it right. It's time for Goa, let's start our trip. As always we started from our Bangalore but this time by bus. I would be more happy if I drive but due to time constraint and to enjoy my friends' company decided to take the bus journey to Goa.
Starting from Bangalore
We started around 8pm from EcoSpace and our friends joined from Marathahalli. The bus journey was not that enjoyable as expected, got a lot delayed and somehow reached Goa by 12pm. Usually buses will reach by 10am, but depends on the destination it changes.
Yeeehaaa, We reached Goa but all were tired because of the lengthy bus journey. It was planned to get down at Mapusa, which is the nearest bus stop to our resort. Our stay was booked at the Cochicos Resort, every one was eager to reach the resort to take some rest. We took a cab from Mapusa, no ola and uber guys be ready for some bargain else you may shell out more. The location of the resort was cool but not easily visible from the main road, is near to the Vagator beach.
We reached the resort around 1pm, quickly freshen up and had our lunch there itself. The resort staff are very friendly and they helped us to arrange the rent scooters. The resort is beautiful, have a swimming pool, restaurant, pool bar, landscaped garden, and good amount of open space. Kids really enjoyed the pool and the greeny soft lawns. The rooms are big enough for a family, cleanliness and arrangements were also good. We booked it through booking.com and friend did it thru makemytrip.com, he got a better deal for similar room. So do a research on all site rather than checking only on a few 😉.
Let's start our ride to explore Goa.... Scooters are the best option to explore Goa in my view, rather than on a car.
We took the scooter to nearest pump fuelled it up and geared towards our first spot, Chapora fort. One of the most beautiful place to enjoy the sunset with your loved ones in Goa. From our resort it took around 30 mins to reach the fort, you need to climb a little to reach the fort. Didn't see any ticket counters or fees charging there, getting a parking spot is difficult, but we were lucky. It was getting crowded but not too many, kids climbed up with full energy without disturbing us. We reached on the top and guys the view was awesome, the beach was calm and beautiful, tides were coming and going like a cool breeze, everyone's face was filled with happiness, love and glowing by the rays of the sun. That was an awesome moment, loved it!!!
We came down and on the way had some snacks, water etc.. please carry water bottles since you will be sweating more. Then we started towards Anjuna beach.
Around 7pm we reached Anjuna beach, we didn't spend much time in flee market since shopping was not planned. Spend a little time on the beach, played with the tides, bought some toys and we head to the famous Curlie's shack.
A busy place, be ready to have some beer and place your order. It takes minimum 30 mins to get your order placed and based on your items it may take more so please sit back, relax and enjoy the drink.
We enjoyed our evening by spending almost 2 hours there by having drinks, starters and burgers. For Veggies it will not be that great 😋.
Dropped our family back to resort for dinner and we both planned to just explore the vagator area by visit some shops and the monkey tree resto bar.
And finally we concluded our Day 1 in Goa, we enjoyed the evening and good night.
Day 2 in Goa
We all got ready and geared up for exploring the remaining places in Goa. We made a route map for Day 2, starting a breakfast from the Jaws restaurant and bakery. It was yummy, everyone enjoyed the breakfast and thought of having a sip of feni but we chose tea over feni 😋 since we have to ride our own. Our plan was to explore Baga beach, Snow Park, Panaji and Paradise boat cruise.
Filled up the tank of scooter and ride towards Baga beach, It was a very sunny day and reached Baga beach in 20-30 minutes. The beach was crowded but we were able to identify a shack for spending some time in the beach. We changed and enjoyed with the kids in beach and got sun burns :) also,quite expected. Ladies preferred to stay in the shade and sipping some juice and coconut water. After spending an hour in Baga beach, we planned to have lunch and get back to resort. But the lunch was the most terrific experience we had in our Goan trip, we were very hungry and ordered some goan fish meals to try. Not to say how terrible it was none of us was able to enjoy it, somehow we had some spoons because of hunger and left there.
Our next destination was snow park to hid from the hot sun and chill out in snow. The entry fee was 450/- INR which is inclusive for the winter clothes, boots, etc... It is a small snow park with a few sledges, 1 ride, small rock climbing and a mini bar. Found many enjoying the hot drinks on the icy tables which as really tempting. We spend 30 - 45 mins in the snow park, took some pics and headed towards the resort.
After a small nap we headed towards Paradise boat cruise, parked the bike and collected the ticket for the cruise in Mandovi river. The cruise ticket ranges in different cost from 250 onwards. It was a nice experience, we planned to enjoy the sunset from the top most deck that allows a lovely panoramic view of the city of Panjim and the surrounding areas. The package included DJ and live music with some snacks. All including the kids were excited with DJ music and the beauty After the cruise we came out and explored the Panjim and then returned back to resort. Everyone was tired after the exploration and was eager to get to bed.
Last day in Goa, check-out
Early morning we woke up went for some adventure in the Vagator beach, we enjoyed the water scooter ride. My son loved it he likes Jet Ski rides and we tried twice. Post that did some shopping in the road side shops.
We hired a car for the last day's touring since the bikes need to be returned and post sight seeing we decided to catch our flight from Goa International Airport. Everyone got ready and took some pics in the Cochicos resort landscapes and by the time the cab came.
Our last day itinerary included
1. Coco beach for spotting Dolphins, then the panoramic view of Aguada fort and the Central Jail of Goa.
Since we need to cover many places we decided for the boating in the Coco beach so we can see the dolphins, panoramic view of the ancient Aguada fort and Augada Central Jail. The boating was really worth in deep waterbodies, spotted more than five dolphins. While coming back we enjoyed the scenic view of the Aguada fort.
2. Dona Paula View Point
Dona Paula beach is famous for the water sports, and have a good amount of restaurants. It was a sunny day and lack of time, we didn't spend much time there.
This was one of the most important place which we should not miss while visiting Goa. The church is constructed late back in 15th century, it has been crafted with precious stones and magnificent architecture work. It is considered as one of the best examples of the Portuguese colonial architecture. There we spend more than an hour which made us to skip the next location as per the driver's advice.
4. Mangeshi Temple
This was our last place in the list to visit post lunch, we had our lunch at around 3:30pm. After that we realized need to walk around a kilometer to reach the temple and the total visit will take more than couple of hours with kids. So we decided to skip and proceed to the airport to avoid the infamous traffic towards the airport.
Fly back to Bangalore
Finally we completed our 3 day trip and flew back to Bangalore :). Thanks to Indigo airlines to takes us back on time as per the schedule. Reached home by around 10pm.