Hotels in Goa

Goa is India's smallest state and its most distinctive, shaped by 450 years of Portuguese rule that ended only in 1961. Whitewashed churches, Latin street names and pork vindaloo sit alongside Hindu temples and Konkani fishing villages along a 100-kilometre stretch of the Arabian Sea.

The state divides broadly in two. North Goa — Anjuna, Vagator, Arambol, Baga — carries the markets, beach shacks and the residue of the 1970s hippie trail. South Goa around Palolem, Agonda and Colva is quieter, greener and more resort-oriented. Inland, Old Goa's basilicas hold UNESCO status and the Western Ghats rise into spice plantations and the Dudhsagar waterfall.

The season runs from November to March, when the skies are dry and the shacks are open. During the June-to-September monsoon much of the coast shuts down, though the countryside turns spectacularly green.