We almost didn't go. The group chat had been half-alive for two months — the usual "let's do Goa this time" followed by "yeah for sure" followed by nothing. Then someone actually booked flights and the whole thing snapped into motion in 48 hours.
Four of us. Three nights. No concrete plan except a shared understanding that we wanted beaches, food, and to not think about work.
Here's what actually happened.
Who: 4 people (mixed group, first Goa trip for two of us)
When: Early April — hot, but pre-monsoon, so beaches were still open
Base: Airbnb in Anjuna — ₹4,200/night split four ways
Getting there: Bangalore to Goa Mopa (GOX), SpiceJet, ~₹3,800 round trip booked 3 weeks out
Total spend: ~₹11,000 per person including flights, stay, food, and taxis
Day 1 — Arrival, Anjuna, and the discovery that we were all very tired
Our flight landed at Mopa at noon. The airport is modern and well-connected, but it's about an hour from Anjuna depending on traffic. We took a pre-paid taxi from the booth outside arrivals — ₹1,200 to Anjuna, non-negotiable, perfectly reasonable.
The Airbnb was on a quiet lane off the main Anjuna–Mapusa road. A proper Goan villa: terracotta tiles, a courtyard, ceiling fans that actually worked. The owner, a retired Goan fisherman who now rents out his family home half the year, showed us around and pointed out that the fridge was stocked with Kingfishers.
We were in by 2pm and out cold by 4pm.
Nobody planned to nap. It just happened — four people sprawled across two rooms, blinds half-drawn. We woke up at 7pm to the sound of someone's phone alarm and the realization that we'd lost our entire afternoon.
In hindsight: budget the first day for recovery. Don't plan anything that requires energy.
By night we walked 15 minutes to Curlies — the old-school beach shack on Anjuna beach that's been there longer than most of us have been alive. Prawn curry, rice, two rounds of Kingfisher. The beach was dark and mostly empty. We sat there for two hours not talking very much, which was exactly right.
Day 2 — Vagator, Chapora, and the best chai of the trip
We were up at 7am without an alarm. Goa does that — something about the air and the light and the fact that there's nothing pressing. We walked to the small bakery near the lane entrance that a neighbour had mentioned. Fresh bread, butter, and a glass of chai for ₹60 each. We stood on the road and ate it. It was, genuinely, the best chai of the trip.
The plan for the day was Vagator and Chapora Fort.
Vagator is Anjuna's quieter northern cousin. Big Vagator beach is a wide red-cliffed arc, less crowded than most Goa beaches in April. We arrived by 9am before the sun got serious and had the northern end almost to ourselves. The water was warm and the waves were exactly the right size — strong enough to feel something, not strong enough to get anyone in trouble.
Chapora Fort is a 20-minute walk up from the beach. You've seen it in photos even if you don't recognise the name — the crumbling laterite walls with the sea on three sides and a perfect 270-degree view of the coastline. It's ruined enough to feel real and maintained enough to be safe. There's nothing to buy and nothing to do except stand there and look at the ocean.
We spent 45 minutes at the fort. It was one of the better 45 minutes of the trip.
Lunch was at Thalassa, a Greek restaurant above Small Vagator that's famous enough to have a queue by 1pm. We arrived at noon and got a table on the terrace. The food is legitimately excellent — hummus, grilled fish, sangria. It's also legitimately expensive for Goa. Budget ₹700–900 per head.
Book Thalassa online or arrive before noon on weekdays. On weekends it's a genuine wait. The terrace tables face west — good for lunch, magic for sunset if you can get a dinner reservation.
Day 3 — Saturday Market, Baga, and a long evening
The Anjuna Flea Market runs on Wednesdays and we'd missed it, but the Arpora Night Market (locally called the Saturday Night Market) runs, predictably, on Saturday nights. We happened to be there on a Saturday.
The market is a 10-minute drive from Anjuna. It's a sprawling night market with food stalls, live music, handicrafts, clothing, and jewellery spread across a large open ground lit by string lights and lanterns. It sounds like a tourist trap and it partly is, but it's also genuinely fun at night with a cold beer in hand.
We bought almost nothing. We ate a lot: kebabs, local sausage with bread, fresh coconut water, a disappointing chocolate crepe. We walked around for two hours and came out slightly poorer and very happy.
The afternoon before had been Baga beach — the loudest, most crowded, most commercial beach in North Goa. We went because it's on every list and you should see it at least once. It's also, genuinely, not for us.
The thing about Goa is that it's whatever you make it. The same geography hosts ayurvedic retreats and 4am beach raves. Pick your version and commit to it.
Day 4 — Panaji, the Latin Quarter, and a slow departure
Our flight was at 7pm, which meant we had a full day before we had to leave. We chose to spend it in Panaji rather than another beach.
Panaji is Goa's capital city, and Fontainhas — the Latin Quarter — is one of the more unexpected neighbourhoods in India. Portuguese-era houses in mustard yellow and cobalt blue and terracotta red, narrow lanes, Catholic churches, bakeries selling bebinca and dodol. It feels like a small town in southern Europe that got washed up on the Konkan coast.
We walked for two hours. Ate at a small Goan-Portuguese place called Viva Panjim — stuffed crab, fish curry, the kind of lunch that makes you want to cancel your flight. Then walked some more, bought a bag of Goa's famous cashews from a state cooperative store near the secretariat (significantly cheaper and better quality than the tourist shops), and got in a cab for the airport.
What we'd do differently
Skip Baga entirely. We knew what it was going to be and we went anyway. Time better spent somewhere quieter.
Stay closer to Vagator. Anjuna was fine but Vagator is a better base for the beaches we actually liked. The short drive adds up.
Book the return cab in advance. Finding a cab from Anjuna to Mopa on a Saturday evening took 30 minutes and a lot of back-and-forth. Pre-book from the same driver who picked you up.
One beach, one morning, with nothing else planned. Our best two hours of the trip were sitting on Big Vagator at 9am with nowhere to be. We kept filling our days. We should have let more of them be empty.
Goa in April is hot and still and slightly past its peak-tourist season. The water is warm, the beaches aren't overcrowded, and the food is everything people say it is. We'd go back — probably in the same configuration, probably to the same places, probably with less of a plan.
Which, honestly, is exactly how it should be.