Goa

Arambol, near the northern border with Maharashtra, grew from a fishing village into Goa's bohemian outpost, and it keeps a looser, slightly ramshackle feel. The long main beach is lined with shacks and yoga shalas; walk north over the rocks and you reach a smaller cove and a freshwater lake fed by springs, backed by jungle. Sunset draws a crowd of drummers, jugglers and market stalls on the sand most evenings in season.

TipFor something calmer nearby, Mandrem and Ashwem, just to the south, have wide beaches with far fewer people.

The red laterite walls of Chapora Fort crown a headland above the Chapora River, looking down on Vagator beach and the fishing harbour. The Portuguese built the present fort in the early seventeenth century on the site of an older stronghold, and it changed hands more than once in wars with the Marathas. Little survives inside beyond the ramparts and a few tunnel openings, but the views over the river mouth and the coast to the south are the reason to climb up.

TipCome in the late afternoon and stay for sunset; the path is short but steep and has little shade.

The Wednesday market at Anjuna began in the hippie era, when travellers sold their belongings to fund the next leg of the journey. Today it's a sprawling bazaar of hundreds of stalls on a field above the beach, selling textiles, jewellery, spices, souvenirs and trinkets from all over India, with traders from Kashmir, Karnataka and Rajasthan alongside Goan stallholders. It's crowded and commercial, but still fun to wander, with music and cafés at the edges.

TipThe market runs in the dry season, roughly November to April. Go in the morning before the heat, bargain politely, and carry small notes.

Fort Aguada, completed in 1612 on the headland at the mouth of the Mandovi River, guarded Portuguese shipping against Dutch and Maratha attack. Its name comes from the freshwater springs inside the walls, which supplied passing ships; a huge cistern stored the water. The upper fort holds a lighthouse dating from the 1860s, among the oldest of its kind in Asia, and the walls look out over the Sinquerim and Candolim beaches. Part of the lower fort served for many years as a jail and has been converted into a museum about Goa's freedom struggle.

Goa's compact capital, Panaji (also called Panjim), sits on the south bank of the Mandovi estuary, and its most attractive corner is Fontainhas, the old Latin Quarter. Narrow lanes climb the foot of Altinho hill between houses painted ochre, blue, green and red, with tiled roofs, carved balconies and azulejo house numbers. Small galleries, guesthouses and cafés occupy restored homes, and the chapel of St Sebastian holds a crucifix brought from the Inquisition palace in Old Goa. A few minutes' walk away, the zigzag white staircase of the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception is Panaji's best-known landmark.

TipExplore early in the morning or late afternoon, when the light on the façades is soft and the lanes are cool. Remember these are people's homes.

A short ferry ride across the Mandovi from Old Goa, Divar is a low, green island of rice paddies, mangroves and sleepy villages that feels a world away from the coast. Quiet roads loop past old Portuguese-era houses and the hilltop Church of Our Lady of Compassion, whose churchyard gives views over the river and the towers of Old Goa. The neighbouring island of Chorão holds the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, a mangrove reserve good for kingfishers, herons and egrets.

TipThe ferries carry cars, scooters and foot passengers, and a hired scooter or bicycle is the easiest way to explore once across.

Old Goa was once one of the richest cities in Asia, the seat of Portuguese power in the East, before epidemics and a silting river drove the capital downstream to Panaji. What survives is a cluster of grand churches and convents in a park-like setting, listed together by UNESCO as the Churches and Convents of Goa. The Basilica of Bom Jesus, completed in 1605 for the Jesuits, is the most visited: a façade of bare red laterite outside, and a gilded baroque interior that holds the silver casket with the remains of St Francis Xavier, the missionary who reached Goa in 1542. His tomb, a gift from a Medici grand duke, was carved by Florentine craftsmen.

TipThis is an active church and pilgrimage site. Cover shoulders and knees, keep quiet during services, and expect large crowds around the saint's feast on 3 December.

Across the main lawn from the basilica, the Sé Cathedral is one of the largest churches in Asia, built over the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries and dedicated to St Catherine, on whose feast day the Portuguese took Goa in 1510. Its plain Tuscan exterior hides a vast, whitewashed nave and a richly gilded main altar. One of its two towers collapsed in the 1700s; the surviving one holds the Golden Bell, famed for its deep tone. Next door, the Church and Convent of St Francis of Assisi has painted panels and a carved interior, and the convent houses an archaeological museum with portraits of Portuguese governors.

TipAllow half a day for Old Goa and add the ruined tower of St Augustine on the hill behind, a striking fragment of what was once a huge church.

In the sixteenth century, as the Portuguese suppressed Hinduism in their coastal territories, many communities carried their deities inland to the Ponda area, then outside colonial control. The result is a group of temples in green hills, and the Shri Manguesh temple at Priol is the best known, dedicated to a form of Shiva. Its whitewashed complex has a distinctive multi-storey lamp tower, a domed roofline that shows Portuguese and Islamic influences, and a large water tank. The nearby Shri Shantadurga temple at Kavlem is also worth a stop.

TipDress modestly and remove shoes before entering; photography inside the shrines is usually not allowed.

The hills around Ponda are dotted with spice farms, several of which welcome visitors for guided walks under the canopy of areca palms, cashew and jackfruit trees. Guides show how pepper vines climb host trees, how cardamom, vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon are grown, and how cashew apples become feni, Goa's potent spirit. Most tours finish with a Goan buffet lunch served on banana leaves. Sahakari Spice Farm is one of the best established, with others nearby.

TipCombine a farm visit with the Ponda temples or the drive to Dudhsagar, which lies further east on the same road.

On the Mandovi River at the Karnataka border, Dudhsagar ("sea of milk") drops more than 300 metres in tiers down a forested cliff, one of the highest waterfalls in India. It sits inside the Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary, and a railway line crosses the face of the falls on a viaduct, which makes for a famous view when a train passes. Visitors usually reach the base by shared jeep along a rough forest track from Collem (Kulem), then walk the last stretch to a pool beneath the falls.

TipThe jeep trips stop during the monsoon, when the falls are at their fullest but the track is unsafe; they generally resume in October. Booking arrangements change from year to year, so check with Goa Tourism before you go, and arrive early to beat the queues.

Colva is the most popular beach in south Goa, part of a near-continuous stretch of fine sand that runs for some 25 kilometres from Velsao to Mobor. The village end is busy with Indian holidaymakers, snack stalls and boat operators, while a short walk north or south brings you to quieter sections near Sernabatim and Benaulim. The nearby town of Margao (Madgaon), south Goa's commercial centre, has a lively covered market and some fine old mansions in the surrounding villages, notably at Chandor.

TipSwim only between the lifeguard flags; currents along this open coast can be strong.

A remote headland in the south-west, Cabo de Rama is named after the Hindu god Rama, said by legend to have stayed here during his exile. The fort predates the Portuguese, who took it in the eighteenth century, and today its crumbling laterite walls enclose a small whitewashed church, rusting cannons and grassy clifftops with sweeping views of the coast. Steep paths lead down to secluded beaches below.

Agonda's long, curving beach, backed by palms and low-key beach huts, is one of the calmest in Goa. There are no big hotels and little nightlife, so the mood is slow and quiet, and the southern end is a nesting site for olive ridley turtles, protected by the forest department. It's an easy base for exploring the southern forts, coves and the Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary inland.

TipIf you see turtle nesting areas marked off on the sand, keep away, avoid lights on the beach at night, and never touch hatchlings.

Palolem is the picture-postcard beach of the south: a sheltered bay framed by headlands and lined with coconut palms, coloured wooden huts and restaurants. The water is usually calm, good for swimming and kayaking, and fishermen offer boat trips to spot dolphins or to reach Butterfly Beach and Honeymoon Beach, small coves that are hard to get to by land. Nearby Patnem is a quieter alternative.

TipMany huts are seasonal structures built from October and dismantled before the monsoon, so book ahead for Christmas and New Year, when prices peak.