India Guide
Goa
Candolim
Compared with Calangute, 3km north along the beach, CANDOLIM is a surprisingly relaxed resort, attracting mainly middle-aged package tourists from the UK and Scandinavia. Over the past few years, however, its ribbon development of hotels and restaurants has sprouted a string of holiday complexes, and during peak season its few vestiges of authentically Goan culture are drowned in a deluge of Kashmiri handicraft stalls, lurid terrace cafés and shopping arcades. On the plus side, Candolim has lots of pleasant places to stay, many tucked away down quiet sandy lanes, so it's a good first stop if you've just arrived in Goa and plann to head further north.
Immediately south, Fort Aguada crowns the rocky flattened headland at the end of the beach. Built in 1612 to protect the northern shores of the Mandovi estuary from Dutch and Maratha raiders, the bastion encloses several natural springs, the first source of drinking water available to ships arriving in Goa after the long sea voyage from Lisbon. The ruins of the fort can be reached by road; follow the main drag south from Candolim as it bears left, past the turning for the TajHoliday Village, and keep going for 1km until you see a right turn, which runs uphill to a small car park.
From the base of Fort Aguada on the northern flank of the headland, a rampart of red-brown laterite juts into the bay at the bottom of picturesque Sinquerim Beach (in effect the southernmost reach of Calangute Beach). This was among the first places in Goa to be singled out for upmarket tourism. The Taj Group's Fort Aguada resorts, among the most expensive hotels in India, lord over the sands from the slopes below the battlements.