North Goa Holidays

Multi-skilled

North Goa’s got more variety than a Christmas selection box, with everything from roomy beaches to historic sites in its repertoire. You’ll find European-style churches and a Portuguese fortress in slow-paced Candolim, and buzzy nightlife and around-the-world dining in neighbouring Calangute. Arpora, meanwhile, is a more timid character, but gets a throng of visitors to its famous Saturday Night Market.

Bumper beach

The seafront scenery’s the most extravagant feather in North Goa’s cap. You’d need a set of binoculars to see from one end of the beach to the other, and it’s polka-dotted with every-colour sunloungers and thatched-roof beach bars. Watersports are a worthy runner-up to lounging on the sand, with jet-skiing and parasailing among the most popular picks.

Shopping and sipping

Calangute and Baga have forged a reputation with younger crowds in India as the place to be for retail therapy and burning the midnight oil. Bustling marketplaces carry more clout than the hotchpotch of permanent shops, and rummagers are rewarded with good quality textiles, ornaments and clothes. And when evening comes calling, the pinky-red sunset’s replaced by a tint of neon from the gaggle of bars and clubs.