About Goa:

Until 1961 Goa had been a Portuguese colony for over 450 years. This has given Goa a unique atmosphere and a fascinating blend of Indian and European culture. Architecture is a mixture of Portuguese grandiose and Indian practicality. Churches stand alongside Hindu temples and unlike many parts of India religious intolerance is a thing of the past, Christmas, Carnival and Diwali are celebrated by adherents of both faiths.

The local cuisine is distinctly Goan with ample fish and seafood served in aromatic spices unlike anywhere else in the world. In recent years there has been an increase in western style restaurants, there is The Mermaid (Swedish) and The Bistro (English/Polish) which serve fantastic fillet steaks and king prawn cocktails to name just a couple of dishes. In the village of Calangute, a 10 minute taxi ride from Candolim you can now pickup a Subway sandwich or Domino's pizza.

Your money will go a long way in Goa, even on the beach a bottle of beer orCoke is usually around £0.50, in the evening three course meal for two including drinks would cost around £12. Take a trip to a five star restaurant in Panjii and the cost for the same meal would be around £5-£10, the same bottle of Coke would be £0.15.

Getting around in Goa is also cheap, there is an abudance of taxi's and you can even have you own driver for the day who would take you to various attractions for between £10-£20 for a 4 seater taxi and driver.

For local travel buses cost pennies or you can hire mopeds for £2 - £3 per day, a taxi to Calangute would be £1 - £2.