Goa, Goa

Goa is India's smallest state by area, on the Konkan coast of western India, with about 100 kilometres of Arabian Sea coastline and a character quite distinct from anywhere else in the country.

It was a Portuguese colony for roughly 450 years — from 1510 until 1961, far longer than British rule elsewhere in India — and that history remains visible everywhere: in the baroque churches of Old Goa, in Portuguese-Indian mansions with their azulejo tiles and shaded balcãos, in Catholic villages, in the food, and in a susegad approach to life that Goans will happily explain to you.

The state divides naturally into North and South. North Goa — Baga, Calangute, Anjuna, Vagator, Morjim, Arambol — is busier, cheaper, and holds most of the nightlife, markets and backpacker culture. South Goa — Colva, Benaulim, Palolem, Agonda, Cavelossim — is quieter, greener and generally more upmarket, with wider, emptier beaches.

Inland Goa is often overlooked and shouldn't be: spice plantations, the Western Ghats forests, Dudhsagar Falls, and the UNESCO-listed churches and convents of Old Goa.

Goa is where India goes to relax, and it does the job better than anywhere else in the country.

The beaches are the obvious draw — 100 kilometres of them, ranging from the crowded and commercial to genuinely quiet stretches in the far north and south where you can still find space. The coastline is warm, swimmable for much of the year, and lined with shacks serving fresh fish and cold beer at prices that make Southeast Asia look expensive.

But Goa's distinctiveness comes from its Portuguese inheritance. The churches and convents of Old Goa are a UNESCO World Heritage Site — the Basilica of Bom Jesus holds the relics of St. Francis Xavier — and the Latin Quarter of Fontainhas in Panaji is unlike any other neighbourhood in India. The food is a genuine hybrid cuisine, not a fusion gimmick: vindaloo, xacuti, sorpotel and bebinca all come from the collision of Portuguese technique with Konkani ingredients.

It is also the easiest place in India for a first-time visitor. Alcohol is cheap and freely available, dress codes are relaxed, English is widely spoken, the tourist infrastructure is mature, and you can rent a scooter and simply explore.