It is off season at Goa during the summers, and you get good deals right now. if you want to go during the New Year eve or suchlike, be prepared to pay through the roof for a roof over your head in Goa.
Now is the time to travel to Goa, and you will get deals galore.

Travelguru has some deals for a few good hotels in Goa.

You can stay at a Five Star Hotel In goa for JUST Rs 2786. Yes, unbelievable but true.Get a 3 Nights / 4 Days Package inclusive of Breakfast, Free use of in house DVDs, Free Use of Steam and Sauna once during the stay, Airport Transfer and welcome drink.. At which Hotel?
At The LEELA HOTEL. What more can you ask for. Rs 2786 for 3 nights at a 5 star Hotel, that too the best Five Star Hotel, the Leela Hotel? (Rate is per person per night)

That is not all, the Lemon Tree Amarante Beach Resort, which is a 4 star resort also has an offer for 3 Nights / 4 days inclusive, Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, 10% discount on food and Beverages, Airport Transfers, Complimentary Wine and the Rooms for just Rs 2583 per person per night.

ANother Resort, the Royal Orchid Galaxy Beach Resort, which is also a 4 star resort also has an offer for 2 Nights / 3 days inclusive, Breakfast, Airport Transfers, Wine in the room and One half day sight seeing by Coach for just Rs 1160 per per son per night.

I say what are you waiting for? Just go….. I am thinking of going to the Leela.

And one more advice, call up the hotel direct and try to negotiate a better deal. Whats the harm?

NOTE: I don’t get anything for this article. This is not a sponsored post.

The moment you land in Goa, panaji will catch your eye. It is a town set in a medieval setting and it basically flows from the alrinho hill to the Mandovi River. You can make a visit to a long list of places in panaji.

The first and foremost, according to me should be a visit to the fort aguada (meaning ‘water’ in Portuguese), which is home to the first light house in Asia. Today it is converted into a jail. Then you can take a cruise in the Santa Monica.

Then you can take a stroll at the anjuna beach, sipping a coconut drink or just slurping over a can of beer or fenny at the most popular ‘hippy’ hang outs of goa. There is a flea market at the beach towards the southern end and almost a km long stretch of white sand towards the northern end. You can get here via buses from panjim and mapusa. The accommodation here is mostly in the form of small private houses and some resorts.

Don’t forget to savor a moment at the Dona Paula beach where two of goa’s most famous rivers meet into the Arabian Sea. The Dona Paula bay area also provides certain motor sporting facilities such as water scooting. You can get here by a bus or a motorcycle-taxi from panaji or take a ferry from the maramagao port.

Other places of interest at goa are St.Augenstine’s tower. This 46 m high tower happens to be the only remains of a church that once stood atop a hill in Old goa. The chapel of our lady of the mount is also an interesting place to see. Other churches and famous catholic landmarks of Goa are The church of St.Monica, The Church Of our lady of the Rosary, The Churches of St. Francis Of Assisi and St. Francis Xavier. Perhaps, the most famous of the cathedrals of goa is the SE cathedral or St. Catherine’s Cathedral, draping in the Portuguese architecture and grandiose. And if you think you have had too much of the frenzy, and you just want to relax in the middle-class Indian set up, then head towards condolim beach, a quiet beach, towards the southern end of calangute beach.
Now, this brings us to calangute beach, which is predominantly the most hyped, frenzied and commercialized part of goa, and is a meager 45 min drive from the capital. The motto of survival here is … “bargain hard, shop harder”.
Calangute has everything a tourist wants, bars, cafes, restaurants, shops, hawkers, loud music, parties and tito’s, a place of fun and merry making. Calangute house goa’s best hotels, guest houses and stay homes, so one has no problems is finding accommodation a this place. And if you have any steam left, visit the Archeological museum and portrait gallery at Old Goa. The museum has many items on exhibition including shikaras, architectural and archeological pieces, stones and reminiscent of the Portuguese rule.

Almost every hotel and resort stated below offers water sporting facilities like the “banana-boat race”, paragliding, Para sailing, water scooting and motor boat cruises.
Here is a list of top hotels in Goa.
5 star hotels in goa-
The leela palace,
Aguada hermitage
Taj exotica
4 start hotels-
Taj holiday village
Dona Sylvia
Sun village
Club mahindra
3 star hotels and beach resorts –
Nnu resorts
Whispering palms resorts,
Heritage village club
Colonia santa maria
Resorte de goa

Domestic and international flights come into Goa from all major cities across the globe. When in panaji, you can hire a motorcycle taxi, local bus or a cab, according to your adventure levels and budget.

Goa is the smallest state, area wise in India. This coastal state lies along the western coast and in surrounded by maharashtra and Karnataka on the northern and southern sides respectively and by the Arabian sea towards the western coast. Western coast of India is accredited to be a bio-diversity cynosure. Some of the most famous cities of goa are panaji (or panjim), which is also the state capital, vasco d gama happens to be the largest city and the antiquated city of maragao. Goa was one of the longest held Portuguese colonies and therefore you can experience a strong hold of Portuguese art, culture and language on the goan face. Goa was liberated in 1961 and has since been under the government of India.

‘Goa’, the name literally has supposedly many origins. Some claim that it is derived from the Portuguese language, yet some others claim it is derived from certain hindi and Sanskrit words like ‘gopakapattanam’ and Gomantak. The locals here prefer to call goa as Gomantak in their native tongue.

Goa has a coastline which stretches to almost 65 miles or roughly 110 kms, and most of this tiny state lies on the coastal region of India, popularly known as ‘konkan’. This region (konkan) is basically the western coastline of India, separated from the deccan plateau by the western ghats. The highest point in goa is sonsogor, which lies 1600 m above sea level. Goa boasts of more than a hundred natural springs, having medicinal properties. The main rivers of goa are the Zuari, Mandovi and Betul. Zuari river also has the one of the world’s best and most convenient to operate natural harbors- the Mormugao harbor.

The climate here is mostly warm and humid, with slightly cool temperature during the months of December and January. The hottest month(s) are May and June with temperatures soaring well above 35” with high humidity.

Goa is mostly covered in forest and is discussed as being a well off bio-diversity destination in the world. The national geographic magazine has even compared it to the Amazon and the Congo basins for the diverse vegetation and numerous animal species it houses. Goa is home to ‘gaur’ the endangered Indian bull, which also happens to be the state animal of goa. The bondla wildlife sanctuary, Netravali wildlife sanctuary and mahavir sanctuary are homes to other wild animals like foxes, wild boars and snakes. Snakes are in abundance in goa though! Goa also experiences fresh groups of migratory birds and fish. Most common birds found here are the kingfishers, different varieties of parrots and the ruby throated yellow bulbul (also the state bird). Sea food is an intrinsic part of the goan way of life and hence, crabs, lobsters, shrimps and other edible varieties of fish are also caught off the goa coastline and in the rivers, therefore, it is a wonderful fishing spot as well.

There are more than 2 million tourists who flow into goa every year, no doubt the beaches including the Miramar beach, candolim beach, baga beach and vegator beach are one of the most revered, relished and sought after the world over! Besides, you can pay a visit to temples like shri mahalasha, durga devi and Gomentashwar temple. And last but not the least, you can take a look around the churches, dating back to the Portuguese time.

Terrorist are targeting Goa, One of India’s best tourist destinations, which attracts thousands of Tourists Indian and Foreigners. The alert was sounded after a foiled terror attack plan.

An alert has been sounded in Goa and police have intensified checking to track possible terror plots in the tourist hot spot, Chief Minister Digamber Kamat said on Thursday.

The move follows the arrest of a suspected militant in Karnataka who had allegedly confessed about his plans to strike in Karnataka and Goa. The militant had reportedly said that he could not translate his terror plans into action as he failed to receive a consignment of 50 kgs of RDX explosive from Pakistan.

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Kenilworth Hotels operates the luxurious resort, The Kenilworth Beach Resort and Spa in Goa. It is repoeted that Kenilworth a five-star deluxe luxury hotel will be investing about 5.5 crores to add 16 luxury villas to its property. The villas should be ready by october if completed in schedule.

The The Kenilworth Beach Resort and Spa is located in Utorda near Majorda which is 20 minutes from Dabolim Airport and 15 minutes from the Margao Railway Station.

This is a 5 star property with an impressive business feature with some of its super specialist services and is equipped with the best of facilities.
The Kenilworth Beach Resort, Goa offers an expansive area of 14000 square feet near the pool and The 2500 Sq. Ft. Banquet Hall of the hotel will suit any business conference or the likes.

As with many five star resorts, The Kenilworth Beach Resort, Goa offers the array of facilities as:

Outdoor Jacuzzi
Steam, Sauna and Massage
Fitness Centre
Children’s Pool
Beach Volleyball
Swimming Pool with separate area for deep diving
Badminton
Internet Access
Video Games
Card Room
Library
Pool

All in All a good place to stay for your holidays.

TOI Reports that it might not be viable to operate two Airports in Goa, one the existing Dhabolim and the proposed one at Mopa.

The State Authorities had recently asked the ICAO to examine if the two could be used together. ICAO has submitted the report that it won’t be financially viable.