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Panaji

Panaji

Goa

State
Goa
Type
Other

Goa's capital was laid out on a planned grid after the Portuguese moved it up from Old Goa in the 17th century, and the shape still holds: stepped streets, concrete houses with balconies and red-tiled roofs, and a seven-kilometre promenade along the Mandovi estuary. The baroque Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception stands over the main square, Praça da Igreja. With about 114,759 people in the metropolitan area it is the largest urban agglomeration in the state, though the avenues of gulmohar and acacia keep it from feeling that way. Walk it rather than drive it; the grid rewards that.

Panaji is known for

Portuguese-era gridMandovi promenadeBaroque church squareRed-tiled roofs

Panaji guide & itineraries

Festivals around Goa

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Goa CarnivalFebruary

Goa Carnival

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Over 250,000 visitors attend the Goa Carnival parades annually, according to the Goa Tourism Development Corporation.

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Fort Aguada, completed by the Portuguese in 1612, guards the mouth of the Mandovi from the Sinquerim headland — the strongest of Goa's coastal forts and the one that never fell. Its name comes from the freshwater springs ('agua') that replenished passing ships, stored in one of Asia's largest freshwater cisterns. On the upper fort stands a stout 19th-century lighthouse; below, the ramparts drop to Sinquerim beach and the sea.

North Goa (Baga & Calangute)

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Baga and Calangute are the commercial heart of North Goa, a continuous stretch of golden sand on the Arabian Sea and the busiest coast in the state. The day is given over to water sports; after dark the same strip becomes the centre of Goa's nightlife. Food shacks, water sports operators and international music bars run almost without a break along the shore. Calangute is the shopping and family end of it, while the clubs and beach parties start around Baga creek and go late.

Old Goa (Basilica of Bom Jesus)

Old Goa (Basilica of Bom Jesus)

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