hi folks are u planning to visit goa?
keep few things in mind:
1. goa is beaches and only beaches. so if u want to visit all of the beaches try to get a hotel in north goa.. panjim or like. as the most happening beaches are in north goa. the south goa is about 40 km far and beaches are beautiful but usually less ppl.
2.staying in a beach resort means staying close to a beach but will have trouble if want to see all the beaches as the beach resorts are situated far out on the beach away from the major roads so u r left at the mercy of cab drivers of the hotel who charge u 3-4 times the usual fare. also u can not go on foot as the distance is 3-5 kms and the tarrain is uneven.
3. The Beach Hotel:
a. airport reception: we had to look out for the guy from the hotel as he was away from the others in a corner and holding the name plate other way. he led us to a minibus of shoddy quality with poor a/c and made us wait for 30 min there as he was waiting for one more flight. the second group arrived but two seats were still vacant so he waited for another flight and moved only after the bus was completely full.
b. the check in was fast and was quickly led to my room.
c. the room : The Beach in 2007 is i think improved from past... (unlike the reviews from 2006) (i will try to give a non partial review) .. though the rooms still stink of mildew. but are clean. good upholstery, whilte sheets, good towels, good toileteries, a fridge with 2 bottles of mineral water, bathroom was good.(my room's bathtub plug was missing but was promptly repaired on request). only minor flaws were: no bathroom slippers not provided even when requested repeatedly, could do with 1-2 more towels, no chair on the patio, electric kettle was only provided when asked for.
d. the housekeeping was good. but will only listen to when one or two remiders were placed.
e. the room service was terrible.
f, the pool was dirty, no pool towels were provided by the pool attendants. make sure u have one in ur possesion when u step in to the pool. there is a pool side bar available but we had to struggle hard to get a chilled beer at 11 am at as the bartender was absent.
g. the beach side was fabulous
h. the health club is good we had a nice time in the gym
i. the disco is okay but the bartenders require a little training
j. the food was horrible. flies were hovering over salad. avoid anything which is uncooked. the meat was horrible. indian dishes especially dal(lentil) was good but havin a strange odour. try to come early to dinner otherwise the good dishes will be gone and will not be replaced.
k. the staff is courteous and inefficient. they will plainly say no if anything is not there and will not try to help u out.
l. DO not go to the free sight seeing tour: one that involves visit to mangeshi tample, old goa, church and mandovi river cruise.. it is very tiring and utter wastage of time (except the church).
m. check out: most bitter experience. i had to wait for 1 hour before a minibus was arranged. again they waited for full seats to be occupied without caring that i might lose my flight. they will say there are scheduled departures of taxis to airport at 1:30-2:30 and so on but my bus of 3:30 did not leave till 4:10 and my flight was leaving at 5:10.
after paying the bills, i repeatedly asked for a glass of drinkin water from the reception but was not provided.
the overall experience i will rate around 3 out of 10.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC