Hotels in Goa

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Budget Accommodations

Although accommodations in Goa don’t come cheap, they are still a steal by Western standards.  If you intend on staying over a longer period of time than planned – happens all the time – private houses are your best bet.  Families will rent out a room or even part of their home to visitors, and these arrangements can sometime include meals too. Many of these large homes are Portuguese style mansions, so you might actually have an opportunity to really live it up on a reasonably modest budget.   

With its liberal atmosphere and Western-influenced culture, this tiny Indian state has lured a number of permanent expats over the years.  Many of them run their own tiny hotels or guest houses and remain quite popular with Western tourists.  Most of these homes and guest houses, however, are located in the interior and far from the beaches.   

Luxury Accommodations

South Goa has more five star hotels than the northern region.  Most of these resorts have their own secluded stretches of beaches where Goa’s truest pleasures are to be found.  Besides the popular Indian chains, many of which have a presence here, there are several classy, innovatively themed hotels from Ayurvedic retreats to Euro chic settings.  Newer trends include hip “eco resorts” – basic cottages made of bamboo and other natural materials that include yoga workshops, Ayurveda, and culinary classes in their list of amenities – that are extremely popular and need to be booked in advance.  Tens of thousands of visitors descend on Goa over the New Year, and most hotels are packed during the two week long fiesta.  Hotels will not only charge extra tariffs during the holiday season, but they’ll also add a “party tariff” to your bill even if you never leave your room the entire time.  In fact if you don’t fancy raucous hedonistic partying, you should probably avoid Goa altogether during this time.