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recommended |
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| state: Goa |
location: 4 km west of Margao |
| info date: Jan 2002 |
size: village / medium size beach
resort |
| season: Oct - Mar |
transport: bus, rickshaw from Margao |
| hotels: many |
good for: everyone, beach heads |
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Colva is the busier and more resort-oriented counterpart
to Benaulim, which is just 3 km down the beach to the south.
It can sometimes feel like a curious point in the fabric of
space time where Goa intersects Blackpool, mostly due to its
extreme popularity with older people on package holidays.
If the sight of a beach full of sun bronzed youthful bodies
is not a mandatory part of your seaside enjoyment, Colva is
definitely worth a few days stay, even if only because it
lacks the Ibiza like atmosphere of some the north Goan resorts.
While Benaulim manages to retain a village atmosphere, Colva
is definitely a small resort town, with plenty of large (by
Goan standards) concrete resort hotels, plus a number of shops
and restaurants centred around the main area where the road
from Margao ends in a large concrete circle, with a car park
off to one side. The Goa tourism people evidently had a generous
budget for 'creative use of concrete' in Colva, and let their
imaginations run riot when they decorated the edge of the
beach with a red and white painted bridge over a small and
rather dank saltwater pond, and beyond that two sets of pseudo
classical decorative pillars set in a curve, topped with concrete
lintels. Local fishermen often use them to hang out their
nets, and the visual combination of the pillars, the overhanging
coconut palms and a crisp blue sky are somehow compelling
for a photographer, although I've never quite got what I wanted
out of them.
The beach at Colva is pleasantly edged with overhanging
palms, the unbroken sand stretching off for miles in both
directions. Close to Colva there are a few dozen beach shacks
and the beach in front of these can get quite crowded, especially
on weekends. But walk a couple of hundred metres in either
direction and there's plenty of space on beach to relax, with
only an occasional visit from a fruit or trinket seller.
Turning left from the car park area will take you along
the pleasant - and usually quiet - stretch of beach to Benaulim,
a couple of kilometers away. If you fancy a long walk, turn
right and head north along the largely deserted beach toward
Majorda and eventually Vasco de Gama. As an alternative to
walking, rickety bicycles can be hired in Colva to do this,
but it's best done when the tide is heading out and there
is plenty of firm sand or you may end up with more exercise
than you bargained for.
Local fishermen pull their small wooden outrigger boats
onto the beach in front of the car park area, with a few more
parked away to the right in front of a small fish sorting
and loading area. You can often see them at work if schools
of fish have been seen inshore; the boat taking the net out
to form a semi circle around the fish, with the two ends gradually
pulled inshore, trapping the fish in the middle. According
to the fishermen, these days the catches are becoming smaller
and less frequent, and when asked for an explanation they
will point gloomily out to sea to the large group of mechanised
fishing boats that often park off Colva's beach. With their
fish finding sonar, electronic navigation and powerful engines,
these boats are steadily reducing the number of fish that
get close enough to shore for the older wooden boats.
Colva beach is well served with shacks although they are
generally a little more upmarket than those in nearby Benaulim.
In the late afternoon and early evening they are a good place
to relax and drink a cocktail or cheap Goan beer and get a
ringside view of the (generally glorious) sunset over the
sea. Some provide live music in the evenings in a bid to attract
custom, but the din can become a bit surreal when two neighbouring
shacks are in competition.
Colva is extremely popular with Indian tourists during the
school holidays over Christmas and New Year, and the beach
and car park area gets busy as Indian families take an early
evening stroll and take their pick from the multitude of wheeled
snack stalls, selling Bombay Puri, Bhel Puri and Pau Baji,
that pack the car park. The small nearby clothing market also
has a good evening trade in T shirts, lungis and other beach
paraphernalia. Its a pleasant time to be out, and the area
has the typically Indian 'packed but relaxed' atmosphere that
is so often missing in Goa. |
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guest house
/ hotel: |
Colva is well served with hotels and
guest houses, although they tend to be larger and of a better
standard - and therefore more expensive - than those in nearby
Benaulim. As with most of Goa, price and availability will
vary wildly depending on the time you visit. Christmas and
New Year are the peak and finding a room can be hard, especially
at a budget price.
Further away from the beach tends to be cheaper, and there
are a fair number of places down the Majorda road (from the
car park, with the beach at your back, walk down the road
to Margao 50m or so and turn left) that are a little cheaper
than those around the main area. Skylark
cottages is close to the corner on the right has reasonable
rooms for around 200 Rs (Tel:0832-788052 or 788167).
Close to the beach (at the very end of the last side road
to your right off the car park, if you come into Colva from
Margao), but surprisingly reasonably priced, the Hotel
Colmar has bright, spacious rooms in several small
blocks set among palm trees, with prices starting at around
200 Rs (more in peak season) with attached bath. Its a good
spot if you're touring by bike, as there is plenty of off
road parking space. |
restaurant
/ dhaba: |
Colva has dozens of restaurants, most
of which serve good food, with fish and seafood dishes the
natural specialty, often cooked to spicy Goan recipes. My
favourite restaurant in Colva is the Sea
Pearl, slightly away from the main area 200 m down
the Majorda road (from the car park, with the beach at your
back, walk down the road to Margao 50m or so and turn left).
It serves great variations on the usual fish and local Goan
dishes and a really good steak and chips. But the outstanding
item on the menu is shredded beef and coriander soup - almost
good enough in itself to justify a stay in Colva. They also
do a decent English breakfast with spicy Goan sausages.
On the south side of the main car park area, the Silver
Sands does a good lobster if you feel like splashing
out, its pleasant outdoor restaurant set in a courtyard. 50
yards up the road to Margao is the Good
Man restaurant (Tel:0832-788041), a popular place with
a lively atmosphere, friendly staff and a wide range of nicely
prepared seafood dishes.
Walking out onto the beach, the shacks along to your left
are slightly more upmarket than those to your right - perhaps
because they generally have wooden floors as opposed to bare
sand. The food is usually OK, if somewhat variable in quality
and not exactly inspiring. They serve Goan and Indian dishes,
plus beef steak, seafood and often quixotic interpretations
of pasta dishes.
If you're hankering for the roadside snacks common in the
rest of India, head for the car park where dozens of wheeled
snack stalls sell Bombay Puri, Bhel Puri (roasted chana,
puffed rice, chopped veg and spices) and Pau Baji (a paste-like
sticky, spicy mixture of chana and veg in a bread roll). The
small covered market area next to the car park has a stall
that sells decent chai, samosas and various other snacks.
At the part of the market nearest to the beach, Matthew's
restaurant sells the best full fry up in Colva. |
local interest: |
The beach mainly. You can sometimes
see dolphins some way offshore, and the local fishermen run
dolphin viewing trips in their wooden boats. The warren of
quiet, palm shaded lanes that run between Colva and Benaulim
and other surrounding villages make for a pleasant walk or
bike ride, or hire a motorbike for longer sight seeing trips.
The are some nice odds and ends of Portuguese architecture
in the area, especially the striking and graceful white painted
churches. |
| transport: |
Bus - There
are regular local services to and from Margao; the stops for
the local bus to Benaulim and Colva are at the south east
side of the Municipal Gardens. The buses come around every
15 minutes or so, but have no real schedule, and tend to hang
around until they are full before departing.
Train - Margao has a rail station,
after which its bus, taxi or rickshaw.
Bicycle - bike hire places abound
and many guest houses have one or two bikes to rent. It can
be a pleasant way to see the back lanes and explore other
beaches. Make sure to check the bike is in decent nick before
heading off, as standards vary wildly.
Rickshaw - If you (like me) think
there are better things in life than sitting in a screaming
hot stationary bus, don't bugger around - just get a rickshaw
to Colva for around 50 Rs.
Scooter or Enfield motorcycle -
As with everywhere in Goa, the best way to get to Colva is
by motorcycle - its just nice countryside to ride through,
although Goan drivers offer the Keralans stiff competition
for the "worst driving in India" award. If you're
coming from the North, you can take a pleasant detour by turning
right off the NH17 just after the big roundabout just over
the Zuvari river (or Zuari) close to Vasco de Gama and following
the small, twisting coast road down through Bogmalo and Majorda
to Colva. Otherwise just head 3 or 4 km seaward from Margao
and ask for Colva.
Two wheels is probably the ideal way to explore the Goan
landscape without being tied to a schedule and there are several
places locally to rent Enfields or scooters, including at
the Colmar Hotel. |
| related: |
On this site: Goa
photo gallery External site: John
the Map has produced an outstanding set of maps on Goa,
including a detailed map of the state and a selection of individual
maps for the most popular destinations showing hotels, restaurants
and places of interest. |
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