This is my fourth review in Mouthshut, and I must admit that its a great platform to share & collect information.
It is for quite sometime that I had been planning a trip to Goa, however right oppurtunity was barring me from taking the joyfull trip. Now, during the Diwali holidays of 2006; me & my wife decided to go to GOA. I always wanted to travel via Konkan Railway. I boarded a biweekly train that runs from Bangalore to Goa. Actually that train runs 2 days from Chennai via Bangalore, and for the rest 2 days it originates from Bangalore (Yesvantpur Junc) itself. I borded an AC-3 tier coach, which was very clean and looked like a fresh coach. The train leaves bangalore around 10p.m in the night; thus me & my wife had dinner and went to sleep. Next morning when I woke up, realized that the train has reached Hubli (the hubli station is very clean and you would get all biscuits, juice & other eatables). It is suggested to pack yourself with food and juice and water, as this train doesn not have a pantry. Thus if you miss an oppurtunity to stuff yourselves with junk food, you could be starving till Goa.
As soon as we were approaching the end of Karnataka border and nearing close to Goa border, the scenic beauty started enhancing. After sometime it started enthralling one and all present inside the train. This train does never attains a great speed while running. It just chugs along the track in a lazy manner. Though sometimes during the night you may feel irritated by that, but I can bet you.... that as soon as sorrounding get beautifull you won’t complain of this slow speed. The train slowly leaves the barren land of Karnataka and enters the Western Ghat region. The train chugs along the valleys of Western Ghats, which has numerous deep valleys, springs, waterfalls all along its path. It also passes through ’Doodhsagar Falls’ which appears very very beautifull and waters seems white like milk. You would also be excited to know that, the train passes through around 15 tunnels in its path after entering western ghat region.
Now, since this is my first trip to Goa, I was never sure as where to get down, which would be best beach to go. Then after lot of if and buts, we decided to board down at Madgaon (Margoa). This is the southern part of Goa. I know its a very confusing thing, and moreover Goa is not a very small place so that you can keep travelling from south to north Goa. Here are few tips based on my experince :-
If you plan to stay at South Goa, then do get down at Madgaon (as it saves good 11/2 hors of yours).
Beaches in south Goa - Colva, Bambolin.
South Goa is a bit cheaper and quite compared to North.
if you plan to stay at Panaji, then get down either at Madgoan or Vasco....its more or less same.
If you plan to go to North Goa, then get down at Vasco, from there you may have to take Bus, Taxi.
North Goa is more costlier than south, but it is much more happening and full of life.
The local bus service in the entire Goa is very good and effective. You don need to wait too long for a bus. It is cheap also.
for any other information, you can write to me.....