Exploring Goa – XX – The Idyllic Palolem

From exploring the extreme North of Goa, Kartik Kannan takes us  right south to Palolem. Palolem is one of Goa’s popular beaches, for those who love sun, sand and sea. It’s a beautiful bay, surrounded by lofty headlands on either sides, resulting in a calm, idyllic sea with a gently sloping bed which allows you to walk up to 100 metres out from the beach. If Kartik were to represent Goan beaches on a Normal curve, and cut the outliers, he would cut them at Arambol in the North and Palolem in the South. Both these beaches to him, offer an instant connect to his search for doing nothing, chatting with fellow backpackers on long term travel, boating on a kayak into a picture perfect sunset, and quiet midnight ocean dips to experience bliss under the moonlight.

The easiest way to get to Palolem is to get to Chaudi Village from Madgoan in Goa, and from there take an auto/bus to Palolem. There are a few direct services to Palolem, directly from Madgoan. Alternatively, Canacona is Palolem’s nearest train station, approximately 5 minutes drive away, but for shorter journeys from other parts of India it is almost always better to arrive by bus due to the remoteness of the train station from Palolem beach. So you would do well to check out all train timings at Canacona(http://www.cleartrip.com/trains/stations/CNO) and then accordingly travel either from the South(Kerala/Mangalore) or from the North.

One of the best ways to get to Cancona is through Konkan railways from Mangalore to Cancona! You pass through rugged mountains, lovely lagoons, spectacular views of the Arabian Sea and through many tunnels. The best seat in the house is the door and the window! Don’t make the mistake of falling for the fear of safe travel in 3A compartment, on this segment!

Cancona station has very little civilization around it, so when you bid goodbye to the railway station, be sure you have an auto waiting below, or else you would need to walk your way to the highway and get an auto(1-2 kms).

The Cancona railway station to Palolem beach is about 5 kilometres and about 80-100 Rs by auto. Images of Paradise are not far away!

Related articles

• Exploring Goa – XIII – Baga Creek (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
• Exploring Goa – XVII – The Photowalk in Kerim Continues (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
• Exploring Goa – XIV – Hippie Days Are Here Again (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
• Exploring Goa – XIX – Continuing the Tiracol Fort Trail (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)