there are few places in that bring me the peace of mind that palolem does. one other place is coorg, which i’ve written about before and is where i would go when i needed nature. when i needed the beach i would sometimes go to gokarna, but my favorite spot was and continues to be palolem, goa.

now, first things first: “goa” is a state full of many different towns and beaches, and they are each unique in their own ways, so when people recommend going to “goa” that encompasses a lot of different experiences.

i have stayed three times on baga, and while it is not my favorite i recognize that its central location allows for travel both north and south if you want to visit multiple beaches. i also stayed on morjim once and enjoyed it but it was slightly too early in the season and not very much was open and we had a big groups so it was kind of chaotic so i need to go back before i can pass judgment. i have spent snippets of time on anjuna, calangute, candolim, and dona paula, but my tried-and-true, the beach of my heart is palolem.

as one of the southern-most beaches in goa, palolem was very easily accessible for us from bangalore. my first visit there was with my fellow interns in december 2005, and while it was a quick trip i knew immediately that it was a special place and i would need to return.

my next visit was in april 2010 with pranay, uncle paul, and my gaggle of interns. we arrived early one morning, dumped all the rest at a cafe for breakfast, and pranay and i walked the length of the beach in search of accommodation for the lot of us. we wound up on the other side of the hill at the southern end and found a great spot that allowed us a lot of privacy and sea-facing windows. that was a fun trip because no one had an agenda and we were all there to relax and have fun.

i went back in april 2011 with prakash and we happened to be there the night india played sri lanka in the cricket world cup finals. we found a small cafe that was showing the game and watched it with all the guys who worked there and lost our minds when india won. the rest of the trip was great of course [including the man at the guest house remembering me from the year before], but the standout memory will always be watching that match.

after that it was a long stretch before i got back to palolem and i missed it desperately, so when sarah and i were planning our 2024 trip i knew it needed to be a stop on our tour. it worked best to go there from bombay, which allowed for the added bonus of priyanka and deboo joining us for part of the stay. so many people had told me that palolem wasn’t the same, that it had lost its charm, that it’s more crowded, and i wanted to see it for myself. and you know what? it is a little more crowded, and it’s different from what it was when i first went almost 20 years ago, but for me it will always be charming and i can always find my peace there when i need it.

and then when we were planning this year’s trip we didn’t exactly have time for a goa visit, but we also didn’t not have time. we cut short our time in bangalore and bombay by a bit and squeezed out 2.5 days in palolem and i’m so glad we did — it gave us a small break between the two cities, and we made the most out of that brief visit. 2.5 days of swimming and beach naps and goan sausage naan was exactly what we both needed.

each visit to palolem has been different, but the throughline has always been the same — it gives me the chance to spend some time by the sea and is always the exact recharge i need. i’m not sure when i’ll get back or right now even when my next trip to india will be, but i know if i have the chance i’ll probably find myself in palolem for a few days.

xx