PANJIM
Area: Goa
Country: India


Location:
Central Goa, on the N-facing bank of the broad Mandovi River. 18 miles N of Dabolim airport.

Telephone code from UK:
91 832

Website:
http://www.goacom.com (commercial site)

Position:
Centre is beneath a low hill near a river estuary, surrounded by agricultural land and urban sprawl.

Description:
Capital city and commercial centre of Goa; population 85,000. The centre is compact and easy to tour on foot, although main thoroughfares are frantic and noisy. An interesting, small city but not one of the top attractions.

Suitability:
Those wanting a base for sightseeing, for excursions or a short stopover; otherwise a beach hotel would offer more comfortable lodgings.

Accommodation:
City hotels of modest standard.

Shopping:
Market is inferior to Mapusa or Margao. Large range of conventional shops but generally less touristy.

Beach:
Town beach at Miramar 1 mile SW is quite attractive but oil-polluted. Better at Dona Paula resort (see separate section), 6 miles.

Entertainments:
Sightseeing _ many churches and old buildings surviving from the time of Portuguese administration; quiet, picturesque, colonial atmosphere in the quarters of St Thome and Fontainhas. Pleasant riverfront walks. Cinema, theatre.

Eating:
Many traditional restaurants in the city and its immediate environs.

Public-transport:
Town bus service. Bus station (long-distance) is 1 mile E of centre. Many taxis and motor-rickshaws.

Local-excursions:
Town tour. Magnificent Portuguese colonial churches at old Goa. Historic Hindu and Moslem temples throughout the district of Ponda. Dudhsagar waterfalls in the interior. Crocodile Dundee river trip; Sinbad voyage; spice plantation; jeep safaris. 3-day trips to some of India's main sights; these may cost as much as the package holiday itself.