Calangute to Baga

Let me write about the touristiest part of Goa. Many of you must have already been here. Those who haven’t may find it useful.

Calangute to Baga is one long beach. Its a magnificient beach with soft sand. One end (actually the beginning) is called Calangute and the other is called Baga. Though the Calangute- Baga road must be 4 km long, if you walk on the beach, the distance is much shorter. Calangute had become very popular many years ago which resulted in its overcrowding, so those who wanted a bit of quiet, started moving towards Baga. Baga is at the end of the road and joins up with river Sal. In between this road there are a few small roads going towards right which lead to the small but popular township of Arpora. The small lanes towards the left side lead to the restaurants, hotels, cafes and to the beach. On this stretch lakhs of visitors come each year and for many of them Calangute-Baga is what Goa is all about.

Having spent many holidays in south Goa, the last few years we have now spent only at Calangute-Baga. The popular North Goa beaches of Baga, Calangute, Candolim, Sinquerim and Anjuna are the happening beaches. Arambol at extreme north is more for hippie variety and for those looking for meaning of life. It came into news this January because of the unfortunate rape of the young Russian girl. It’s a very nice drive to Arambol, crossing a couple of huge rivers and some real green areas.It gives you a good idea what Goa must have been before all the concrete structures came up. Anjuna Beach had hit the headlines last year for the murder of young Scarlett. Anjuna is famous for its Wednesday flea market and the rave parties. It is a very popular with bag packers and budget tourists. A nice green cliff divides Baga from Anjuna in the north. The cliff looks picturesque at the end of the beach, and the greenery adds to the beauty of the area. So, one has to take an outer road to reach the beaches of Anjuna and Vagator from Baga.A similar cliff separates Calangute from Candolim in the south. Between these two cliffs lies the area I am writing about today.

The south Goa beaches are resort oriented and have all the big hotels (Leela, Holiday Inn, Radisson, Park Hyatt, Renaissance, Kenilworth and many more). The North beaches are for the budget travelers and for those looking for some fun. While the south is full for deluxe properties, North Goa has only the Taj (Village, Aguada and Hermitage) to boast of as far as 5 star properties go. Since we started staying in the North, we have stayed at Cavala, Captain Lobos beach hideaway ,Ronils & Colonia Santa Maria before settling down at ‘Vila Goesa beach resort.’ It is here that we have stayed during the last five visits. Staying at a 5 star hotel in Goa has not crossed my mind as yet. Not even when the rates had hit rock bottom last winter as an effect of 26/11 terrorist attacks. I hope it remains this way as it is fun staying in these small and homely places.


Vila Goesa is a sweet place. It is lush green; well laid out; has a private path going to the beach; food is decent; rooms are well located and now that I am a regular customer, they give me some importance.
There are indeed some nice places to stay on this stretch. Le Calypso, near Baga spreads from near the road to the beach. It’s more up market and besides the normal rooms in the buildings, has pre-fabricated cottages near the beach, and a nice swimming pool. Near Vila Goesa we found a nice place called Hotel Raman. Its biggest advantage was that it was even closer to the sea. After doing some research and taking the opinion of the family , I concluded that we were pretty happy with Vila Goesa and were not looking for a change.

The Beach

During the busy season, the beaches and the beach beds on this long beach of Calangute-Baga are full of tourists; the shacks play their music and look after the guests and the sea is full of swimmers. There is enough water sports activity happening with zooming water scooters, colourful Para-sailing parachutes & the flipping banana boats. The white foreigners like the sun so they reach the beach in the morning and spend the entire day tanning themselves. They leave before sun-set. In this time thousands of gallons of beer is guzzled and a lot of food is consumed. The locals arrive when sun is about to set. The sun soaked beaches of just a few hours ago get converted into jogging track and football fields. Thousands throng just to see the sun go down into the ocean. It is wonderful walking on the beach at the time of sun-set.
There used to be a time when the locals would not bother the foreigners and other tourists and gave them the exclusive privilege of certain parts of the beach. This I have noticed in beaches of Thailand and Malaysia too. This unfortunately is not so anymore in Goa. Many a times I saw some local ruffians deliberately entering the water just to get close to these foreigners. Most of the times they were successful in disgusting these women into leaving the water and go back to the shack.
Just like we have zeroed onto a hotel, we have in the last few years made the shack called ‘Big Banana’ our very own. Each day we plonk ourselves there at 10 AM and leave at around 3 PM. We start with pineapple, water melon and papaya. We graduate to chilli prawn masala/ prawn garlic and fish along with beer. We conclude with lunch ( some sort of an adapted Chinese food or goan fish curry) and dessert. The owner ,Francis ,is an affable guy and in the last 5 years I have seen no change in the staff. The taste of the food also hasn’t changed one bit.
Kids love this beach. Not only are they familiar with ‘Big Banana’ but also they like the waves on this beach. Take them to a beach like Palolem (extreme south) and they feel that their day is wasted as it takes too long to reach and there are no waves in the sea. They like the idea of not going too far from the hotel. Para sailing and banana boat is now a ritual- we have to do it at least once. Have you ever tried Banana boat ? try it ! Just don’t carry anything precious with you.
All this activity has a price. The shacks celebrate at night with fireworks and karoke. Many get converted into nightclubs. With no effective garbage disposal plan, a walk behind the shacks is a 'stinky' proposition. Many use the beach as open toilets. The bottles , cans and plastic are littered through the stretch. The growing hotels and shacks are bound to take its toll on the beach that we all love so much.

Foodies Delight



Vila Goesa beach resort is in the middle of Calangute and Baga beaches. Two of the very popular shack restaurants are located here. One at each end. On Calangute is ‘Souza Lobo’ and on Baga ‘Brittos.’ They are both moderately priced and serve great food. Both specialize in fresh sea food though both serve north Indian as well as continental dishes too.
Souza Lobo was established as long back as 1932 and has maintained its reputation over generations. If you sit outside, the sea breeze is a boon and my favourite dish here remains the Goan Masala chilli prawns. I tried chicken cafreal (a local dish) and found it pretty good. A live band plays on most nights livening up the place. Kids like this place as there is enough beach to play while we have our drinks.
Brittos is extremely busy at Lunch as well as dinner and often one has to wait for a long time to get a table. The service is quick so turnover is very high. The place is always buzzing and it must be having a seating capacity of 200-250. The meal becomes better if you get a table on the side of the beach.I like the Goan fish curry and Goan prawn curry here. Pork vindaloo and chicken Xacuti (dry) are very popular at Brittos. All kinds of cuisine are available but desserts are very special. Try Alpine mousse, it has flovour of rum. They actually have their own confectionary so it makes perfect sense to have dessert after spicy Goan food.
Tito’s became very famous when lonely planet wrote about it more than a decade back. At that time they just had a café kind of place. Now they have disco ( Titos club), confectionary, money exchange, sports bar and open air restaurant. This is the lane located in the middle of Calangute-Baga road. You can ask anyone about Tito’s. I had loved the sizzlers at their restaurant last year but they had discontinued it this year so we walked out after having a drink. Café Mambo, just ahead of Tito’s is an open air nightclub and is immensely popular on Saturdays and on one of the nights they have the ladies night. It also has special theme nights. Amongst the special theme nights are retro music night & karaoke night . Even Cavala (just short of Britto’s – on the right side of the road) is a very popular hotel. On their special music nights a lot of local people of Goa also come for drinks. It has a nice atmosphere though it does get very crowded. On many of the nights they have a band playing but here too retro music night appears to be most popular.
Right opposite Tito’s is the classy ‘Fiesta.’Perched at a height and decorated with lanterns, it serves Italian and Mediterranean food and its popularity seems to be increasing each year. They have a wonderful collection of wine and they make great margaritas. Its worth visiting the place, especially to celebrate an occasion.
For the very original Goan food, a ten minute drive on Panjim road will take you to Sangolda or Florentines. The locals love these places. There is another on Arpora road called the starlight café. Not many tourists like going to these places though the chicken cafreal, pork Vindaloo and chicken xacuti are unparalleled in these places. The Goan food is spicy so many foreigners avoid it.
There are many bakeries, cafes and other good restaurants on Baga road. Infantaria is a nice café but you can go to Barista or café coffee day if you are looking for a familiar name. At Calangute market you can get anything- from Dosas to Israeli food to Russian food to chaat. Now that Russians are the dominant visitors of Goa, many restaurants have menus in Russian language.Food is certainly something one doesn’t have to worry about while holidaying in this part of Goa.

Saturday Night Bazaar-Arpora


There is enough to do if you want to go to a few other places nearby. The biggest draw at Arpora always was ‘Ingo’s Saturday night Bazaar.’ Ingo, a German had set this up beautifully at Arpora-just a few minutes drive from Baga. It was idea taken from Anjuna’s Wednesday afternoon flea market and modified to make it into an organized affair. Anjunas market was hippie driven; had haphazard stalls; was held in dusty environment in the middle of the day when Goa sun is not a very pleasant experience. Ingo’s bazaar was held in the evening/night and was spread out over a few acres. It was colourful and vibrant. Held every Saturday from November to March, it had stalls selling anything and everything. Handicrafts, music, clothes, magic items, chappals, jewellery – you name it. You even had astrologers, tarot card readers. In the centre of this huge place was a big square where rock shows, comedy shows, magic shows and fashion shows were held. These fashion shows and music shows not only by professionals but by tourists and foreigners as well. All kinds of food were available. Food was actually being made and served by foreign nationals and the locals. Sushi corner, German bakery, German hot dogs, pastas, roasted chicken, ice creams and desserts, Thai, Chinese, North Indian, Goanese……….the list can go on. Beer, wine and whisky has enough takers during the course of the evening as they have stalls for these all over the place.. Ingo has now been banned from coming to Goa for unlawful activities. He fought the case for several years but now the court decision has gone against him and now he is in exile. The bazaar still continues, being run by the actual owner of the land from whom Ingo had leased it. It is now called the Saturday night bazaar……….Ingo’s name has been deleted.

The Roads of Goa
The road leading to Arpora is narrow, just as most roads in Goa are. They were never expected to cater for heavy vehicular traffic that exists today. Visiting night bazaar used to be a nightmare due to traffic jams. This time we found the parking and traffic management much better organized. The Calangute-Baga road is very narrow. There is no scope for widening it, so one will have to live with it. Walking on the roadside is tough here as cars and taxis zoom through, honking away to glory. As this is the most popular stretch during the Xmas and New Year time, people found themselves stranded on the road for hours during New Years Eve. Imagine traveling 2000 miles from Delhi for New Years and being stuck in the cab for the full night! Now, I am told the traffic policemen are present in full force and they make this road a one way street. This must be quite a relief to revelers even though the traffic barely moves even now during that festive week.