South Goa 25+ beaches: list, comparison, what to expect!
There are hundreds of beaches in South Goa one after another. I visited some 19 of them during my recent trip, I had 10 days so I could visit them on different days at different times. But if you are on a short visit you will not have time to visit all of them. So this post is designed to help you give a quick summary and help you decide which of these are worth visiting and which ones can be skipped.
Set 01: Beaches around Goa airport
There are a few beaches around the airport, which are worth visiting. If you have few hours to your flight or got some time before your hotel check in opens you can take a taxi and visit some of these.
1. Durg Beach: Durg beach gets its name because of a temple nearby. Viewable from observation deck in Japanese garden and accessible by getting down some 200-250 steps from Japanese Garden, the Durg beach has lots of rocks on which you can stand while waves splash past you. Will be good exercise getting down and climbing back up. May not be suitable for elderly people.
2. Baina Beach: is a simple beach- you can view from overhead flyover highway or take a detour get under the flyover and get into the beach. There is a temple nearby, few islands are also visible at a distance. Nothing exceptional, can be skipped if pressed for time.
3. Bogmallo Beach: Standard beach, has a resort nearby and many shops
4. Heart Lake & Beach: Involves half km of bad roads and another 1 of trekking (because I didn’t want to drive too much on bad roads) and we reached to a wonderful lake (wasn’t at its best but still good). If you have the time you can trek further along the coast. Detailed post available here
5. Hollant Beach: Nice little beach, we could see fishermen launching their boats
Set 02: Beaches south of Airport close to Madgaon
There are a dozen beaches one after another- All of them have same look & feel- just a standard beach. Many of them have some restaurants by the beach. You don’t have to visit every single one of them- visit any 2-3 of these and you’ve seen all. If you can walk 5-6 kms you can start from one and walk by the sea and cover multiple beaches. I visited few of them and skipped the rest.
- Velsao beach may offer some good view of flights landing.
- Gonsua Beach: walking distance north of Sunset beach (3 kms by road), there is a rectangular shaped normal lake before reaching the beach
- Sunset beach we were not lucky to see any sunset. Approach road is bit narrow.
- Benaulim Beach I could watch fishermen recovering their net in the morning. It was a good watch.
Trinity Beach had a Hawaii restaurant where we had lunch on one of the days.
- Zumbari Beach is also nearby, less crowd (Taj Resort is closeby)- visited during Jan 2023
- Carmona Beach we got good sunset photos. But you may get this same view any other beach if sky is clear. Because of cloud we got no sunset views during rest of the days.
Rest of the beaches I didn’t visit as I couldn’t see anything unique there.
Set 03: Beaches far south from Madgaon
These are bit far away, so you need to decide if it is worth the time, distance and effort. A few of them are really nice and worth a diversion if you are heading further south.
1. Varca Beach: Beach where Club Mahindra resort is located. They try to keep it as private beach but public can also access. Except a small stream of water entering the sea, the beach looks standard. But might be worth stopping by/visiting as crowd is less due to distance and tricky access.
2. Betul Beach: Was a good experience, could see boats, backwater entering sea, Betul fort on the other side etc.
3. Canaguinim Beach: Followed google map to the viewpoint on the cliff above the beach. About half a km bad roads (rocky terrain) but got good view of the beach and could fly the drone. Worth a visit when in the area.
4. Cola Beach: The roads were bad and there was no signal. Tried for a short distance but didn’t feel confident driving all the way all alone, so decided not to visit and return. If you are adventurous you can try, else skip.
5. Agonda Beach: Pretty far from Madgao, no point going all the way just for this, I diverted because it was on the way to Kakolem beach. Agonda beach was a disappointment- the access was complicated as the area between beach and the road were all private properties. No easy access or view of the beach. We have to first find a paid parking spot and then find a way to reach the beach. After checking around finally found a spot where I could park and access the beach. Nothing exceptional here, so avoid.
6. Kakolem Beach: This beach is inside a private property. The view is amazing. I have a separate post on Kakolem beach.
7. Cabo Da Rama Fort & Beach: Fort opens only at 9 AM, hence couldn’t visit. Looks like nice location.
8. Palolem Backwaters & Beach: Was a waste visiting this place as there was no water in the morning time. Maybe hightide will bring in some water.
Palolem Beach is another typical touristy beach with crowd, shopping etc- can be avoided
9. Butterfly Beach: had to park car and trek for 2 kms to reach here- was totally worth it. Nice cliffs, clean water, great spot. Have detailed post live here on Butterfly Beach
10. Galgibaga Beach: Visited Jan 2023- nice long beach, less crowd due to distance. Galgibaga is a designated turtle conservation spot.
11. Rajbag Beach: Access to beach is via Lalit Golf Resort-didn't face any issue. Nothing exceptional here- locals do your body massage in the beach, areal view is nice due to backwater and landscape.
12. Colomb Beach: Lots of rocks, worth a visit. No crowd.
Hope you will find this information useful for your next trip to Goa
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