India Guide
Goa
Palolem
Nowhere else in peninsular India conforms so closely to the archetypal image of a paradise beach as PALOLEM, 35km south of Margao. Lined with a swaying curtain of coconut palms, the bay forms a perfect curve of golden sand, arcing north from a giant pile of boulders to the spur of Sahyadri Ghat, which tapers into the sea draped in thick forest. For those foreigners who found their way here before the mid-1990s, however, Palolem is most definitely a paradise lost these days.
With the rest of Goa largely carved up by package tourism, Palolem is the first-choice destination of most independent travellers, and the numbers can feel overwhelming in peak season, when literally thousands of people spill across the beach. Behind them, an unbroken line of shacks and Thai-style bamboo- and palm-leaf huts provide food and shelter that grows more sophisticated (and less Goan) with each season – not least because many of the businesses here are now run by expatriates. Thanks to a local law forbidding the construction of permanent buildings close to the beach (enforced by periodic bulldozing of the entire resort), development has been restrained, but it's still a far cry from the idyll of only a few years ago.
Palolem in full swing is the kind of place you'll either love at first sight or want to get away from as quickly as possible. If you're in the latter category, try smaller, less-frequented Patnem beach, a short walk south, where the shack scene is more subdued and the sand emptier. Further south still, Rajbag, around half an hour's walk from Palolem, used to be one of Goa's last deserted beaches until a vast, seven-star luxury resort was recently built slap behind it.