When I was planning my first Goa trip, I was a little bamboozled by the plethora of resorts, hotels and packages on offer. The name of Bambolim Beach Resort was suggested to me by Travelguru.com. Prima facie, the resort appeared to be an ideal place to stay for a vacation in Goa. Situated right on the beach, authentic Goan, Punjabi & continental cuisine, well ‘appointed’ (I still don’t know what that means!) sea view rooms, a sea view swimming pool, affordable tariffs and only 7 kms from Panaji, after all what more do you want from a resort in Goa! Needless to say, I fell for it.
When we reached Goa (a different story altogether, involving Jet airways, which I shall discuss shortly under a different heading), a guy from the resort was there at Dabolim airport to pick us up. The drive from the airport to Bambolim through the highway was breathtaking…..until we were just 3 or 4 kms away. Suddenly the car veered off the highway and we found ourselves inside a frighteningly desolate jungle with only a narrow broken muddy road in front. What followed was a jumpy and bumpy ride through dense and dripping overgrowth that left us thoroughly shaken. After all we were not expecting an African Safari in Goa. Anyway, we managed to reach Bambolim resort with ourselves and our luggage in one piece. We probably hadn’t even stepped inside the lobby when someone thrust a glass of (I think pineapple) juice in our hands. We had to carry the glass all the way to our rooms awkwardly sipping the concoction from time to time. By the time we reached our rooms, it was finished. A welcome drink indeed, but mistimed! I would have really preferred if the drink were to be served to us once we had settled in our rooms.
The ‘Cottage’ saga: Our travel agent Travelguru.com had booked a deluxe sea facing double room for us, but to our dismay, we were ushered into a ‘cottage’ (311), some distance away from the main building. The room had a gloomy look to it. It was a damp, poorly maintained room having some very old and worn out furniture, torn curtains which did not fully obscure the windows, an 18th century TV set which had only 15 odd channels and a spooky painting of a dark lady in saree with prominent bulging eyes. The bathroom was claustrophobic, with rusted out cloth hangers and a ventilator that bared all. To our horror, we found out that the door leading to the balcony had many pieces of parchment missing and the latch was accessible from outside as well! Needless to say, we made our displeasure known to one Mr. Savio at the reception who appeared to be helpful and helpless at the same time (an art indeed!). However, after some deliberations with somebody on the telephone, he promised us to shift us to a deluxe sea view double room in the main building the next morning, a promise he managed to keep. The new room (2202) was much better in all respects. I later found out the actual reason for shifting us to the cottage initially. The main building of Bambolim resort is centrally air conditioned which is switched on only if the occupancy of the rooms in the main building is more than 50%. In the off season, they try to accommodate tourists in the cottages. We were shifted to the main building the next day because we had a large group from a BPO checking in the resort that day and the central AC and 24 hr. hot water was switched on.
Advice: Insist on staying in the main building (south wing) – the rooms here are quite well maintained, good bathroom, proper furniture, electronic safe, fridge etc., and an excellent view. Do not venture to stay in the cottages – it is a waste of money, unless you have oodles of them, are on a honeymoon (when nothing really matters to you!) or if you have a monolithic tolerance for substandard service.
Food: We had opted for the CP plan (Bed+Breakfast), and we thanked our stars for it. We had only one dinner at Bambolim and it was enough to put us off Goan food for the rest of our stay in Goa. We had ordered chicken xacutti which was served to us after a good 30 minutes (there was nobody around for dinner other than us), the chicken was rubbery chewing gum like and the smell was less than pleasant. We had thought of ordering prawns, but the xacutti made us change our minds. The Manchurian rice was better. But the best part was the breakfast next day – sumptuous!
Advice: Go for the CP plan if you choose to stay in Bambolim. One, because they serve good breakfast and two, you will find a good number of decent restaurants in Panjim and also on the beaches. This resort might be serving good food in the tourist season (Nov – Feb), but during the off season, I suspect their best cooks take a break!
Touring Goa: A half day tour covering Mangeshi Temple, Old Goa church and sunset cruise on Mandovi river is included in the package. But that’s nothing. You have to hire a car at astronomical prices to tour the beaches – one day for north Goa and another day for south Goa. A trip to Panjim and back costs Rs 400. The cabs have a field day because the Bambolim resort is isolated with no public transport.
Advice: As soon as you set foot on Bambolim resort, go through the list of guests checking in that day. Chances are quite high that you will find other puzzled fellows who too would like to share a cab with you for touring Goa. At least we (three couples and a Greek) did the same thing and enjoyed ourselves to the hilt.
Finally the pros and cons
Nice seaside location but isolated with no public transport. Have to depend on tourist taxis which charge exorbitantly. Cannot enjoy nightlife in off season.
Breakfast is good but lunch & dinner quite ordinary. Room service is slow to respond on occasions.
Staff generally helpful and well mannered, your concerns are taken care of, but the problem is that you find yourself bothered by too many concerns once you are in Bambolim resort.
Maintenance is pathetic in the cottages, but reasonably okay in the main building.
Swimming pool is clean but the surrounding area is muddy and slimy.
Too many stray dogs wander around, merrily frolicking and doing unmentionable things in full public view.
False sense of proximity to Panjim.
Discounts are available in the off season.
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