How to Plan the Cheapest Goa Trip Ever?

A Trip to Goa: Yes, It Can Be Your Cheapest Trip Ever. Goa is the only place that lies in the heart of every Indian. When we think of GOA, the first thing comes to our mind is GIRLS IN BIKINI and BEER and SUNBATH. Well, goa has a lot more. Like you even I have a wish to travel the world. But my desire has become my way of living. My life is a travel journey, and I now have a lot to share from my experiences. You can call me just another travel blogger, but every experience is different. 🙂  If you wish to know how I started this travel blog, you can read more about me.

Inexpensive Traveling

My keen interest in traveling took me to my favorite place for the second time. Hence, I again visited Goa in August 2017 after my first visit in 2014. From Querim to Polem, the end of north Goa, and the end of south Goa respectively, I had to travel 138 km long. (That's more than two complete rounds of the big cities in India like Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore.) But trust me, it's damn cheaper than these expensive cities. GOA has pleasant weather at all times of the year. As soon as I reached Goa, I and Michael, my boyfriend went on to rent a scooter. The scooter rent cost us just Rs 2000 for five days, well here’s the good news: you can always bargain with them. We refilled our scooty with the petrol twice for Rs 200 each; I think that’s near to the maximum petrol a scooty takes in because even petrol is cheap in Goa, i.e., Rs 54 per liter. There was no barrier to traveling now, and with this, we could ride all day long.

Inexpensive Alcohol, Day 1 Got Amazing

On our first day in Goa, soon after renting the scooty we went to the Cavelossim beach, the most peaceful beach in south Goa I tried to find. It was amazing for a start. 😉 Just opposite Cavelossim beach, there is a big wine shop from where I grabbed my evening drink. Just Rs 40 for a Goan beer, Rs 120 for port wine, Rs 29 for a pint of Tuborg and Budweiser, that’s what I really mean when I say Goa is inexpensive. Since I don’t drink much, these are the only drinks I could gather, but of course, there is a lot more for you. We then went back to our resort to enjoy the evening. We had our stay at Mayfair Hideaway Spa Resort at the Betul beach. I won’t recommend you to go for Mayfair if you want to travel with a limited budget because it’s a bit costly (depending on the season). It was our last moment booking so I couldn’t stick to my budget regarding the stay. But I have a long list of recommendations based on my connections and research. One of my favorite way of living a place is Couchsurfing. When you visit a place, live it locally. Sharing your stay with the native will give you a next level experience. It's very common; you know that we call it HOMESTAYS. One of the best places to find your ideal homestay is Airbnb, and of course, you can see my list of recommendations . Other than homestays you can also find inexpensive hotels in both north and south Goa. So you can either go for a homestay or a budget hotel.

ALSO READ: TEN WAYS TO CUT YOUR EXPENSES AND SAVE MONEY FOR TRAVEL

Inexpensive Food

Goa is cheap for food, for seafood especially. You will get a variety of sea meals like crab, squid, prawn, fish and more. The above are the ones I tried. If you are a vegetarian, don't worry. You will get cheap veggie food too.

ALSO READ: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE ON BUDGET TRAVELING WHEN YOU HAVE NO MONEY

The next day starting off our scooty, Michael and I decided to ride 60 km to visit North Goa. Our first stop was the Dona Paula viewpoint which gives the beautiful sea view. Since we were unfed for long, we started looking for tasty sea meals as both Michael and me are seafood lovers. Well, that’s another reason we were in Goa. 😀 Just 750 meters away from the viewpoint we found The Goan Room. We tried Goan fish thali for just Rs 150, it had a variety of fishes, along with prawn, crab, and squid. And trust me! That was more than enough for two and beyond delicious. Michael and I mostly ate at the shacks near the beaches which cost us Rs 200 - 300 per meal. So, I would strongly recommend SHACKS for budget food as well as tasty authentic cuisine.

Souvenirs

Since now we were more energetic we went on to explore the north. Our next stop was the Miramar beach, and soon after Miramar, we went to Candolim, one of the most famous beaches in Goa. Candolim beach has strong waves, pleasant environment and too much of crowd. Surprisingly you will find Panipuri there. 😛 There is also a huge market area close to the beach from where you can grab some souvenirs to take back home. I bought my all time favorite Postcard and fridge magnets. Michael did not buy anything, and now he regrets. Please don’t be like Michael 😛

Beautiful Churches

North Goa is also known for beautiful churches. One of the famous and the most beautiful church is the one we see in every other Bollywood movie shot at Goa, Immaculate Conception Church. Well! There are strict rules to go inside, and one of them is to avoid short clothes for both boys and girls. So it's better that you take out a day especially to visit the churches of Goa and keep your beach attire away. The church was our last stop for the day as it was already raining and now we had to travel back 65 km to Mayfair.

Inexpensive Shopping - The Destination Wedding Spot

The next day it was Michael’s birthday, and I wanted to carry his favorite gateau along, so, I stopped at the Margao market while riding back to the resort. Margao is a famous shopping spot in South Goa. It is well known for fresh seafood, port wines, cashews and local Goan stuff. You can definitely fill in your shopping bags with these. And there, I was at a patisserie for the delicious red velvet cake and blueberry pastries. South Goa is also known for cakes and wedding attire, and so people call it destination wedding spot. Well! Here I would like to share a bit about my first visit to Goa in 2014 because I was there for a destination wedding. That time I toured Goa for 12 days but couldn’t explore more as I was occupied entirely with my friend’s family. It was her sister’s wedding. Melissa was too excited to get married and Mary, my friend, was just at the back of her throughout the entire process. I once went to the gown shop with Mary, and Melissa. I was surprised to see that Melissa and her three bridesmaids got their dress, accessories, and jewelry made from a south Goan shop for just Rs 30,000 (that’s usually the cost of just the brides wedding gown). So, now you know where do you have to go for your wedding shopping. 😉 Well! Coming back to my August 2017 trip, after getting some sweetness packed we rode back to Mayfair. That was my only North Goa experience reason being we prefer peace over chaos, silence over party noise and living close to nature than living in the crowd.

Let’s Explore More of South Goa

The third day we had our list of stops. We first went to the Margao market to buy some cashews; even cashews are cheap here. We then went to the most famous beach in south Goa, Colva. Colva is a beautiful place surrounded by the Goan market and a harmonious beach. We had lunch at the shack and went on to look for starfishes, and we found many. 😛 Our next stop was Benaulim beach, pretty isolated but fantastic. Unfortunately, we spent a lot of time at Colva that we couldn’t see Benaulim in daylight, but I could feel the waves coming closer to me, and we sat there for some time just as we like, being close to nature. That was for the day, and we went back to Mayfair to make the birthday evening special with some wine and sharing our tales.

The Hilly Goa

The fourth day. Today, we had to return our scooty as we had a flight to catch the next morning, so we decided to go down to Kakolem beach. The journey from Mayfair to Kakolem was quite amazing as we started witnessing the Goan hills. It felt like we are riding scooty in a hill station, of course in pleasant weather. When we reached Kakolem, it was sad to hear that “it’s a private beach” but we still enjoyed the mountains while riding back upwards to Mobor. 🙂 Like Cavelossim, Mobor beach is also very peaceful. I could hardly see anybody else at the beach other than Michael and me. Damn! It was a romantic moment. 😉 Since Mobor has no shacks we decided to go to the restaurant nearby, the fisherman's wharf. It’s an open amazing seafood restaurant, and you should try prawns there. It cost us Rs 500 for Thai prawn curry with rice, and it tasted heavenly.

It was our last day in Goa, and so we decided to revisit our most favorite beach, Cavelossim. We went back there to say goodbye to the heavenly waves of Goa and returned our scooty to the renter. The next morning we had our flight back to Delhi, and we were home. There are many more places to visit in Goa which I might have missed, and those are on my checklist for the next visit. Keep exploring more of a country with me. If you need my help and guidance to plan your trip, you can get in touch with me here or send me an email at worldthrougherica@gmail.com. I usually respond within 24 hrs. 🙂

For a quick glimpse on my Goa trip, ENJOY MY SUMMARIZED GOA MOMENTS. 😀