Latest Reviews for South Goa

This has to be the best 2 star hotel in Goa. we read some poor reviews about the food at the hotel but when we were there it was very good. Full english every day (rare in India)if you want egg and chips don't come here. the food at night is 95% Indian very good choice of currys and lots of it. Live entertainment ebvery night. Beach is only just outside the hotel and better than the pool as it's just too hot to sit in the sun without the sea breeze. Bit isolated and the taxis have price fixing so not as cheap as in larger towns. all in all I would recommend this hotel to anyone going to India and wanting to experiance the Goan lifstyle.

So, you are thinking of going to Goa and more importantly The Holiday Inn resort in southern Goa. I hope you will find this report useful, but it is of course just my opinion and based on my recent holiday in January 2007. It’s a fairly comprehensive report, as I often read reports on hotels and areas I wish to visit only to be disappointed that more information wasn’t given, so if I have missed anything, please feel free to email me and I’ll do my best to answer your query. Tour Operator We travelled with Thompsons and flew out from B’ham just before the New Year, the flight to Goa was around 9 hours although it is about 10½ coming back because of a head wind. Before we went there were threats towards tourists who were told to leave Goa due to possible violence (all to do with taking over land or something) Thompsons were pretty useless and didn’t even know anything about it when contacted, but were quick enough to say that we would get nothing back if we cancelled! As it transpired we had no problems and the problem has blown over for now. Goa Airport What you must accept if you go to Goa is that India is a Third World country. The airport is under military control and is a nightmare, if you are unfortunate enough to arrive at the same time as another flight, you could be there for a few hours. The staff are sullen, bolshie and have little time for tourists it would appear, fortunately this is not indicative of the Goan people in general. Your passport is checked about 5 times and you have to complete entry forms which are also checked numerous times. When you finally get through the last check you are into the exit hall where there is a currency changing facility. If you can, I would avoid this and get out of the airport as quick as you can, the exchange rates there are very poor. If you are on a package holiday, your rep will be waiting outside the airport as they aren’t allowed inside. You will also be subjected to a rugby scrum with men trying to grab your bags to take them to your coach a short distance away, we allowed them to do so, but make sure you keep an eye on your bags! We took a bag of £1 coins with us and gave them one which is a substantial sum for them so they were happy. I was told there is an ATM outside the airport, but we didn’t see it so I can’t say if that is right or not. Journey to hotel Our coach was fairly old, but it wasn’t really a problem, if you are of a nervous disposition, don’t sit where you can see what’s ahead of you, the driving is very poor and as the roads are poor and narrow, it can be a hair-raising trip. Normally it would take just under an hour, but as we were the last drop, it took 1½ hours to get to the hotel. When you get off, the driver and his companion expect their tip as well! Hotel On arrival you will be asked to hand over your passport, you will also have a piece of paper that you require for when you leave the country, my advice is to keep that separate at this stage as when we handed our passports over, one came back minus the exit paper. They refused to accept that they had lost it and were quite blunt in telling us so. A few hours later, the form was pushed under our door to our room in a reception envelope!! We were given a cold drink as a welcome, but no flannel which would have been most welcome after such a long journey. First impressions were favourable with a spacious entrance hall area and reception off which were a bar area with views to the pool and sea, a café area, a casino which was basically slot machines and a number of small shops selling jewellery and crafts. The majority of the staff speak very good English and are very helpful, there are plenty of them that’s for sure. Who goes there Predominantly Russians, but also Brits, Germans and other Europeans. The Ruskis even have their own member of staff on reception. Interestingly, the Goans are not so keen on the Ruskis, it appears that apart from their somewhat aggressive and arrogant nature, they don’t leave tips!! Room We had requested that we not be put into a ground floor room, but of course we were and apparently Thompsons never bothered to inform them of this, as we are not complainers, we accepted the room we were given. The room was perfectly acceptable with a massive double bed and a good shower in the bathroom. Patio doors took you out onto a balcony type area with two seats and a table, our view was out to the spa area and although we didn’t get any sun, each morning we were treated to a whole variety of birds from woodpeckers to Kingfishers and birds of prey. The TV had loads of channels and there was something for everyone. Tea and coffee making facilities, a mini bar and hairdryer were included along with a useful easy to use safe. Pool area The pool is a good size and has a maximum depth of 4’3” with a kids pool attached. The temperature was ok once you were in and it was kept clean. There were plenty of sun beds both around the pool and within the gardens and there was no real reason to reserve beds although some tried. You get a towel each which you have to sign in and out. The pool bar opens at 11am and all drinks are served in plastic beakers, unfortunately these have a slight lip just inside which collected dirt and undoubtedly germs so make sure you check your beaker first or drink from the bottle. A reasonable sized bottle of water will cost you about 70p. You can buy snacks at the bar such as toasted sandwiches (about £2.50), but disappointingly, when I asked for a chicken sandwich it turned out to be reconstituted chicken and was pretty awful. I should stick to the cheese and the likes. One annoying feature of the pool was the Crows, there are dozens of them and they are very noisy and often make a mess of the sun beds and indeed yourself if you are unlucky!! Coffee shop and Hotel bar The coffee shop was a favourite of ours and served very nice coffee and some tasty cakes. Its biggest feature was Sandra the waitress who made our holiday with her helpful and caring approach. The hotel bar was comfortable with some evening entertainment although service was often slow, one cautionary note, several times I ordered a single Honey Bee Brandy only to be charged for a double and was told that that was what I had been served!! Internet services The Hotel lets itself down big time here, it has just one computer for residents and although it is broadband and quite quick, invariably it was either not working or members of staff were on it. When you could get on, you were charged 6 rupees a minute which is about £5 an hour! If you are taking your laptop, you can hook up to the internet in your room, but quite how expensive it is I really don’t know. We used an internet café in the nearby village of Cavelossim which is easily reachable by taxi (several at the gates to the hotel) and takes about 5 minutes and costs 200 rupees return (under £3). The internet service cost about 20 rupees for 20 mins. Restaurants We only ate at the hotel at the New Years Eve gala which was held within the grounds, it was a sumptuous affair although we were seated so far away from the food, it was not always hot by the time we got back to our seats, but what we had was ok. Many guests go all inclusive, but we had opted for bed and breakfast. Breakfast was from 7am till about 11am and there was plenty of choice, but I felt somewhat let down with many of the fruit juices like the orange being just squash and not juice. The omelettes were very popular and if you were very brave you could have curry for breakfast! There are four restaurants at the hotel, one down by the beach which serves just fish dishes, the Mardi Gras which served Indian dishes, Whispers of the Orient serving Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Indonesian dishes and the Village serving a variety of International dishes. Away from the Hotel, you have a number of restaurants serving some very good food. On the beach, there are a number of shacks that serve food throughout the day and also in the evenings, the food and drinks are half the price of the hotels if not more. Sams shack and Mikes Beach Oasis were the two that we frequented most for lunchtime snacks at to watch the sun go down. (Fantastic sunsets) Outside the front of the hotel were a number of restaurants including Bettys and the Fishermans Wharf. The latter was more of a restaurant like we have back home and the food was very good, but it did not have quite the atmosphere of Bettys. The waiters here really do know how to make you feel welcome, is it sincere, who knows but who cares, it’s effective and certainly helps to make your holiday. The food was very good and the Caesar salad starter was to die for, king prawns in garlic on a bed of lettuce, you really must try it. The fish dishes were very good as were the curries, but forget the oriental dishes, I’m sure they only put them on the menu to accommodate those who think they don’t like curry. I decided to try the Thai chicken one night as Thai food is my favourite, this dish was one of the worst meals I have ever had and bore no resemblance to Thai chicken. Another must try is the Pashwari nuns, absolutely delicious. I did have a prawn curry one evening which left me with food poisoning for 36 hours, but these things happen and it didn’t stop us going back to Bettys. A three course meal with drinks, coffee and a brandy for me cost anything from £9 to £13 all in, excellent value for money. We did go into Cavelossim a couple of times and ate at Mikes place on one occasion, the food was ok, but the service was slow and if you have fish which has a price depending on weight, ensure you ask the cost before they serve it, I didn’t and got ripped off. Other facilities There’s a gym with some very basic equipment, a sauna, whirlpool and steam room (charged unless AI) A tennis court and games area for pool and table tennis which also has a book exchange. In addition there is a Spa for all sorts of treatments but we didn’t try them out. Beach and sea The beach is big and long and ideal for youngsters, you do however need to be careful of the sea which on most days was quite choppy despite the fact that we had wall to wall sunshine giving temperatures in the 30’s during the day and mid 20’s at night time. There are strong currents in the sea and no life guards. Drinks If it’s beer you are after then the main drink is Kingfisher although some places did do Fosters or even Heineken, but I’m afraid its all girlie lagers and I found that after one bottle it lost its palatability, there appeared to be something added to it and I’m told it was glycerine which helps to preserve it in the heat. Hotel prices were more than double those in the beech shacks and restaurants. One very pleasant drink was port wine something of an aperitif. Also Honey bee Brandy about 50p a shot and very pleasant. Wine is available, but as most is imported it wasn’t particularly cheep, £8 to £15 a bottle. Trips The Hotel and your tour operator will offer numerous trips Fishing, see the Tigers, Elephants and a Capital tour to name but a few. We did just one through Bettys, a trip to see the Dolphins and then up the River to see some beautiful birds. We then stopped and had some gorgeous prawns followed by Kingfisher steaks (Kingfisher is a type of fish – very tastey). With as much to drink as you want, and all for just £10 it was an excellent trip and highly recommended. Shops The hotel has a jewellers and a crafty type shop and outside the hotel there are half a dozen shops all selling much the same sort of thing, they will ask you to go in and look, we told them we would do so before we left and were true to our word, they didn’t keep hassling us then and were always polite. Be prepared to haggle and often you will pay half to three quarters of the price asked. Amongst the shops is a small one that has telephone facilities, very cheap and a good line, the hotel charges are very expensive! Money exchange The hotel will change money but their rates are extremely poor, they offered 72 rupees to the pound whereas we got 77 or 78 when we used the ATM in Cavelossim. We also got a good rate when we used our debit and credit cards at restaurants. Cavelossim also has a host of shops, but again they are all pretty similar. Tips Wages in Goa are extremely low and waiters etc rely upon tips to supplement their income. We would usually leave 100 rupees after our meal if we were satisfied with the service. The room boy got 300 rupees which is a weeks wages.

Conclusion If you have got this far, congratulations, so what did I really think. Well, the Hotel is shown by Thompsons as a 4 star, but to my mind it is a 3 star with some 4 star features. ItÂ’s a bit tired in places and needs more organisation in certain areas. The Goans we met were delightful and some of the food was great. I would consider going back, but if it was a choice between Goa and Thailand, IÂ’m afraid Thailand would win each time.

You arrive at this hotel from Gatwick at 6.30am in the morning. You cannot get into your room until after midday. This means you have been traveling for about 20 hours (more if you live some distance from airport). This hotel does not offer a courtesy room for you to have a shower or change of clothes. Reception staff utterly useless, during our stay they received a message for us on a Tuesday and wrote it down on a piece of paper adding the words 'URGENT', they gave us the message on Saturday. We asked about local buses, shops or if they had a local map, no help at all. Dinner is on lawn, we watched them lay everything out in the afternoons, then went round the grounds spraying insecticide which landed on the plates, knives and forks and serving dishes on the tables. Breakfast is what you normally get in the Costa's of Spain, fatty streaky bacon, small hotdog sausages, boiled or fried eggs cerial and watered down fruit juice. Money exchange rate at hotel worst in Goa, cheaper to take taxi to town and use the bank. Best local place for dinner: Sinatras Chillie about 12 min walk or 3min in taxi. Best taxi service as mentioned in other rviews Simon at beach end of hotel. He is reliable and will give you local information. Lloyds shack has now gone Russian to accomodate the large number of east europeans now at this hotel.

Just returned from our first time to Goa - what can we say.....wonderful!!!!! We stayed for 2 weeks at the Bogmalo Beach Hotel. The Hotel is very clean and the staff are extremely helpful and can't do enough for you. We found the food in the Hotel expensive in comparison to the food available in the beach shacks. But guess expensive is not the correct term to use as we had room service and didn't pay anything like what we would have paid at home for a meal of fish and chips! To be honest we were a little aprehensive about eating at the beach shacks before we went but never had a bad meal, We ate regularly at Joets, Johns Seagull and the Full Moon. I you go to the Full Moon say a big hello to John and Mesh!

Shopping as another experience not to be missed.....we had jewellery made at a fraction of the cost of what we would pay here in the UK from the hotel, Bash in the main square and Jewel Corner (behind Sea Quisine) and clothes....well.......we bought 4 suits, 9 shirts, 4 pair of shorts and 2 leather jackets all for under £400.00 made to measure - from Raj at Manolis. Delboy at the Lovely Jubbly shop on the beach behind Sea Quisine is a lovely chap and Natasha down at thefar end of the beach near Joets is worth a visit for pashmina's etc.

The only downside to our stay was when we went on an excursion to the Elephants it was called the 'Jungle Book Excursion'and would appear that it is run by all the tour operators i.e. First Choice, Thomas Cook etc as we were on the trip with people from our hotel who booked through them. Out of our party 4 people went down with the 'Deli belly' and more were ill on returning to the hotel. The trip is an overnight stay in a hut in the jungle, and whilst we were not expecting luxury we were not prepared for what we got! If we went again we would 'do' the Elephants on a day trip rather than an overnight stay. We also went for an overnighter on the Rice Boat.....now that was wonderful! The crew were very attentive and the food was fabulous, we would certainly do this trip again and would highly reccommend it.

Overall Goa and in particular Bogmallo Beach is a destination that we will certainly be visiting again infact we are already looking into the costs for 2008!

Our second trip to Goa & the first for our friends. The Haathi Mahal is a super hotel, with very friendly & for the most part efficient staff. We had a large room overlooking the pool & at first were disappointed that we had no balcony but the mossies were very active so, probably for the best! Our friends couldn't use their balcony as it was covered with scaffolding - the whole place is being repainted. The rooms in general need a little bit of refurbishing, paintwork is tired, new bathroom suites etc & definitely new towels! Towel allocation seemed to be a bit of a lottery each day, although if you asked it was soon rectified. Breakfast by far the best meal of the day. We were half board & could use our meal ticket for lunch or dinner but sadly not at the snack bar (we prefer a lighter meal at lunch time but salad or sandwiches were not available in the restaurant)The really annoying thing there is that the menus do not have the tax added, which is 12.5% on food & a huge 20% on drinks & although we're only talking pennies it does make a difference & we preferred to walk down the road where prices were as stated. Time share - not really hard sell if you aren't interested then just say so, if you can stand the spiel then you will get some reward - we had taxi vouchers each. Out & about-lots of nice places in Cavelossim but if you don't visit anywhere else you just have to go to the Jazz Bar & say hi to Chris & the boys. Live msic 3 times a week, gr8 food, gr8 service-we called in most evenings & some lunchtimes too & nothing was ever too much trouble. Jack's place by the river was very good as was the Goan Village. Mike's Place we didn't rate at all. Beach shacks really good especially Silver Waves & the beach party was a really good night. Cavelossim is soon going to be spoiled with the amount of building work going on so grab a holiday there as soon as you can.

We flew from Manchester with MyTravel and upon chacking in was offered upgrades at £100 per person, previous to this we had contacted MyTravel to up grade but was told none was available,we declined the offer but it didnt matter as the plane was half empty anyway and we could spread out so saved our selfs £1000 for pre booking or £400 at checking in.

We arrived at Dabolim airport and was quite surprized to be walking down the tarmac whilst a Harrier Jet was takeing off,it took a considerable amount of time to get through passport control, our documents must of been viewed half a dozen times or more. We waited ages for our cases to come off the carousel only to find out that the bag boys had already got them,apparantly this is quite normal. Once outside the airpport its a fight to keep hold of your case from the porters who want a £1 coin (the goans love £1 coins or chunks as they call them) to take it to the coach, we are a family of 4 and had a case each. The coach itself was very old and the air conditioning consisted of the windows open. The ride to the hotel was one I can honestly say I will remember for a very long time I have never experianced anything like it before, there seems to be no highway code or general rules of the road in Goa.

Gaffinos is a family run hotel which is situatated in the middle of the resort, although its very basic it was adequate for our needs, the shower had constant hot water,the rooms were cleaned daily and the towels and beds changed, the beds were quite comfy and the ceiling fan was adequate - there was only 2 rooms with air con. Jeevan, Will and all the staff were absolutly fantastic nothing was to much trouble for them. The food in the hotel was superb cooked by Myra Gaffino, try the red snapper and the tiger prawns.

Theres no pool at Gaffinos but guests can use all the facilities at the Mobor Beach Hotel.
The beach is a short walk away from the back of the Mobor down to GG's Beach Shack where Rose,Sub,Andrew,Dominic and Chris will give you a warm and friendly welcome. They also have a proper porter-lou there which is very clean with a good supply of soap and toilet roll. We did'nt actually go to any of the beach partys as it was towards the end of the season and quite a lot of shacks were closeing up. The beach itself is like paradise and the sea is very warm but becareful as it has a very strong currant, the sunbeds were free but you do get bothered quite a lot from the sellers, a firm no thankyou does the trick, after the first week they tended to leave you alone.

Dont't book any trips through the holiday rep - its a right rip off. We used the Hotels resident taxi man George who was very friendly and a mind of information on our trips out pointing out various places of interest. We visted Anjuna market,the spice plantaion and Dudshager waterfalls, we also booked at Jack's place to go on a mini cruise which was very nice but we found out later Betty's is better.

The weather was lovely and hot all the time we was in Goa not a drop of rain, the only downside was the mosquitos who feasted on us everynight and nothing we bought in the UK or Goa worked.

The Goan people are lovely and make you feel very welcome we made some very good friends and look forward to seeing them all again in 2008

What a place to meet repeat guests, this is definitly a Jewel in the Crown, you will not be disapointed if you book here. Evening entertainment is excellent with local groups, Acrobats, Magic shows and Miss Julie solo vocalist. Excellent people on the taxi rank and the tailor in the shack outside will fix a suit for £60.
Phone home from the shacks for less than a BT local call!! Eating out go to the Pentagon.

We had a lovely holiday at the Heritage Village Hotel.

The staff were excellent, very friendly, very helpful, couldn't do enough for you. The food was excellent and plenty of it. Although there was lots of spicy food as you would imagine, there was still plenty of other food to eat i.e. salads, pastas, fish and even steak and kidney pie on a couple of occasions! The Mango restaurant was absolutely lovely and the staff were too, and if you want to try the local food, do try a little restaurant called Yummy's which is a five minute walk down the road. Excellent sea food and lovely people. It looks nothing from the outside, but the food is delicious. The Ayurvedic Centre is a must if you want some pampering, massages and facials etc., and it's less than half the price we pay at home. It was very hot when we were there and getting hotter by the minute, it was in the 100's most days and the pool is so warm it doesn't cool you down, but the air conditioning and fans in the rooms are lovely and you do need that. The beach is a five minute walk away and you are pestered a bit by the locals selling their wares, but once you buy something from them they leave you alone, of course you can't buy from them all!

I would recommend this hotel to everyone. Excellent staff, lovely hotel.

What can I say???? Have just returned from 2 weeks in Bogmola, had the most brilliant time! Apart from the hustle at the Airport we only had a 10 min transfer to the resort(which is worth its weight in gold after a long flight) Firstly, the hotel (on the beachfront) was excellent, absolutely spotless and staff very friendly and helpful. The gardens are lovely and well looked after. The pool was very clean and towels were provided. We were staying on a B and B basis the breakfast being buffet style (as much as you can eat) eggs,beans, sausages, tomatoes, cornflakes, toast and much more. When we did eat during the day at the hotel the food was great! The best restaurant we found closeby was Joets at the far end of the beach, definately recommended..

We like to take a few bits out for the children and the manager of the hotel is named Rita, she organised a taxi for us to visit the local orphanage run by nuns and doing a great job, and although they appreciate anything you donate at the moment the number of children they have means a new building is under construction, so rupees is also very much appreciated to help with the costs. After we used this particular taxi driver we booked him for wherever we wanted to go and so cheap and helpful he was, nothing was too much trouble.

Not really an awful lot to do in Bogmola, just chill out and relax, but I would recommend the Night market at Arporra, but aim to arrive for around 5pm as it gets very busy ( and very hot and humid), there are some great bargains to be had! A bus ride into Vasco was an experience, plenty of shops and the local main railway station. The hotel is right on the beautiful sandy beach - the resort has its own private patch which has a security guard ensuring your belongings are safe. Personally I cant see the locals being a problem as they are friendly but not intrusive at all! Outside the hotel is a small square with some tourist shops and restaurants. You will also encounter the cows at some point which the locals feed cardboard boxes to, we found bananas went down much better!! Also if you have any jewellery which need repairing, take it with you, I had 2 bracelets mended, one of which of english jewellers told me could not be fixed! Great job done = great price too.

We have visited India before (Kerala) and enjoyed it tremendously, Bogmola is a little more touristy but somewhere we would recommend for its beach, peace and quiet, food and the friendly people. After visiting Calangute we were glad to get back to our quiet, clean resort. Highly recommended !!!!

well it was my forth time to cavelossim and this time i stayed at the mobor beach resort well what can i say but FAULTY TOWERS. i was very disapointed in this hotel(bag packers hostel)

it was dirty the rooms very basic no fridge the bed linen was only changed twice in the two weeks i stayed and then once a torn bedspread was used on my bed. the towels although changed everyday were well what can i say, very well worn(ripe if you like) with holes in. in the morning we had toast for breakfast if we required anything else had to pay extra approxamatley 70rupees per extra item you had i.e. beans 70rupees egg 70rupees etc etc. this could be a lovely hotel with the ridgt management or come to think of it any management would be good, did not once see anyone of management status in all the time we were there.

i will go back to cavelossim but NEVER back to this hotel. the website says a shopping mall well one tailors shop in my mind does not make a shopping mall.well thats all im going to say about this place i could go on and on but why bother THEY didnt.