Emily writes · South Goa, India · 19–27 August 2026
Before going to Goa, we had been warned that it could be incredibly crowded. Instead, when we arrived, it was almost empty. That was probably helped by the fact that we were there right in the middle of monsoon season.
We stayed in Canacona, just near Palolem Beach, which turned out to be a really nice base. Despite it being monsoon season, it actually didn’t rain all day like we had expected. Most of the rain came in the evening or at night.
On our first evening, we went for a romantic dinner on the beach and sat admiring the view before the sun set.
Most days started slowly. We would have a chilled morning at the apartment before heading out for coffee and breakfast or lunch. Our favourite place was The Mill Cafe, which we ended up going back to several times. They had very delicious breakfast toasts.
Every now and then, we would walk down to Palolem Beach. The sea was far too rough to swim in, but we could still wade through the shallow water and enjoy the views. The beach was almost completely empty most of the time, apart from cows casually wandering along the sand like they owned the place.
The local dogs made me very nervous at first, but during the day they were friendly enough. However, after dark, they became aggressive, hung out in packs and seemed to chase female dogs. So we normally spent the evening in the flat relaxing together or eating delicious takeaway food.
A lot of our week in Goa ended up revolving around food. We had loads of delicious thalis, dosas, curries and plenty of things we had never tried before. Indian food is honestly some of my favourite food in the world. Bryson became completely obsessed with any sort of mushroom dish and somehow ended up basically vegetarian for the entire weekend.
The guy working at Cafe Kashish was very helpful and talkative. He would recommend his favourite dishes and specialities for us to try, which led to some of our favourite meals of the trip.
Our apartment also had a great pool, so we spent a lot of time swimming and relaxing there. When we weren’t doing that, we somehow became completely addicted to Super Mario Maker, and Bryson made some genuinely impressive creations, although I did have a few complaints about the difficulty level.
One of the biggest highlights of India, however, was definitely the people. The drivers, restaurant staff and almost everyone we met were incredibly friendly and welcoming.
Goa ended up being much quieter and more relaxed than we had expected, but that suited us perfectly. Between the food, the pool, the beach, the cows and our slow mornings, it felt like the proper break that we needed after our action-packed last few months.
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