Villa Azul

Your Guest Relations Manager and his team have a wealth of information about Goa and can recommend everything, from local food spots to curated walks. They’re a great resource for live music gigs and the music festivals that Goa is so well known for. A car and driver can be hired for the day (on extra charge) or shorter periods, as required. Here are some choice activities based in North Goa:

• Panaji’s award-winning restaurant, Mum’s Kitchen , has now opened doors in Maravilha Resort in Assagao. Owners Suzette and Rony have painstakingly collected grandmothers’ recipes passed down through the generations in traditional Goan kitchens and hired local women to cook them. Bestseller dishes include Cauliflower Caldeen, Chorizo Chilli Fry and Pamphlet (pomfret) Kodi with Poi (traditional Goan bread).
• Ping’s Bia Hoi is a Vietnamese beer garden which stocks fresh, local beers like Eight Finger Eddie and Goa’s famous craft gins, Stranger & Sons, Greater Than and Hapusa. A menu of Asian street food like dim sum and baos, salads and mains accompany the drinks. Drop in for Sunday brunch when the atmosphere is buzzing and there’s a live band playing peppy tunes.
• Goans love their music and there are plenty of spots to catch live gigs in North Goa. Cantares in Saligao and The Rice Mill in Morjim are where you’ll find locals listening to jazz, Toro Toro and The Lazy Goose have great bands playing old-school covers, and restaurant Mahe has funky fusion vocalists.
• Vayu Waterman’s Village is an entire complex of watersports and wellness activities located beyond Ashwem Beach. They offer surfing, wakeboarding, kitesurfing, SUP and private boat excursions. After a strenuous lesson, you can head to their Prana Cafe to sip healthy smoothies, eat local seafood and finish up with some vegan chocolate mousse.
• Culture vultures looking to embrace village life should book a curated tour with The Local Beat. This responsible travel company lets you experience Goa through the eyes of a ‘gaunkar’ (villager). You’ll discover picnic spots, tiny little towns with heritage structures, and an abundance of natural beauty ranging from zorrs (natural springs) to lakes, mangroves and islands.
• Goa’s hills and forests are an undiscovered treasure that you can explore with Khoj-Aao! Adventures, who specialise in backyard biodiversity. The company organises interactive wildlife walks and talks, waterfall hikes in Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary and more. Sign up for their backyard nature trail in Assagao, which takes you up a hillock and through a shrub forest and you come back enlightened about indigenous flora, birds, butterflies and more.
• Swan Yoga Retreat is located on a hilltop in Assagao and managed by sanyasis (hermits/monks) who’ve trained at the Bihar School of Yoga. It offers daily drop-in classes for Ashtanga and Vinyasa Flow Yoga and also has a vegetarian restaurant, boutique and library. There’s a spa spread across open clay cottages with ayurvedic therapies, a flotation tank and a herbal steam treatment room.
• The quiet lanes of Siolim are full of surprise gems like Siolim Cooking Classes , located in a traditional Goan-Portuguese house. French founder Lucie Masson starts the session with a trip to the fish market, where you learn to pick the freshest catch and then head to the school premises to make authentic Goan preparations like Prawns Caldine, Chicken Cafreal, Pork Vindaloo and Goan Pulao. The hearty, communal meal that follows is a feast for the senses.