I’m being sent to Bangalore for a week in early February (tough work, but someone has to do it) and I’ll have about a week to myself at the end. I plan to visit the ancient city of Hampi for a couple of days, then travel up to Goa by train and chill out there for about a week.
I’ve never been to Goa before and honestly don’t know where to start — where to go, where to stay, etc. Should I base myself in one place and travel around? Should I go for North Goa (busy), South Goa (more unspoilt), or both? I’ll be travelling alone and want to do a mix of partying and chilling out: a bit of local culture and cuisine.
This isn’t very helpful but Stu Patterson and the Faith crew have spent a lot of time there of late, so might be worth sending him a message on instagram.
Stuart Patterson was playing in patnem las yr. just south of Palolem. A weekly residency, Sundays i think. Quite a cool venue too, but other than that not much party wise. Government have clamped right down on loud music and drugs. At least that was the case in Palolem last year. It is still a stunning beach with awesome food, a nice place to chill for a few days. Suggest a few days in Palolem and head north for a few days, ive heard Arambol far north is still decent.
I stayed in Patnem with the family in 2020. Loved it. There are excellent restaurants on the beach. Faith were hosting a night at a bar there by pure chance but generally very chilled. Preferred it to Palolem, which is bigger and more touristy, but easy to travel between the two. There’s a cool place to watch the sunset at the north of Palolem beach.
We then travelled by train to Hampi, which is mind-blowing. Loads to see and worth a few days. Hire someone to take you round in a tuktuk. Go down to the river where they do their laundry and wash elephants. Definitely climb the steps up the hill for sunset if you’re not averse to heights.
