India · Goa, Kerala & the north
Three completely different holidays under one name. A beach fortnight in Goa, a slow trip through Kerala's backwaters and hills, or the Golden Triangle in the north. They need different months and they suit different people.
The short version
Goa is a straightforward beach holiday with good hotels, Portuguese architecture and cheap eating — it's the one that works as a fortnight of doing very little. Kerala is a touring trip: backwaters, tea hills and Ayurveda, done over ten days with a driver. The Golden Triangle — Delhi, Agra, Jaipur — is a fast, intense, extraordinary week that is not restful and not meant to be. Book one expecting another and you'll be disappointed.
Goa
North Goa — Baga, Calangute, Anjuna — is busy, cheap, lively and where the markets and the nightlife are. South Goa — Palolem, Agonda, Cavelossim — is quieter, greener, with the smart resorts and long empty stretches of sand. They're an hour apart and sold at similar prices. Most British families who've had a bad Goa holiday booked north expecting south.
Kerala
Nine hundred kilometres of interlinked canals and lagoons behind the coast, cruised on a converted rice barge. It's genuinely lovely — and one night aboard is plenty, because the boats moor at dusk and there's nowhere to go. The better Kerala trip runs Kochi for the colonial quarter, one night on the water, then up to Munnar's tea hills where it's fifteen degrees cooler, and finishes on a beach at Marari or Varkala.
Pick your India
Goa and Kochi take near-direct flights; the Golden Triangle runs from Delhi. All three can be combined with an internal flight of two or three hours.
Busy · 45 min from GOI
The lively half. Markets, beach shacks, nightlife and the cheapest prices in the state. Great value, and not quiet.
Quiet · 45 min from GOI
Long, wide, empty beaches and the better resorts. Where we send couples and families who want to actually relax.
Touring · via COK
The backwaters, the tea hills and the spice coast, done over ten days with a car and driver. India at its gentlest.
North · from DEL
Delhi, Agra and Jaipur in a loop. Intense, fascinating and exhausting — the trip people are most changed by and least rested after.
Our speciality
The combination that makes the Golden Triangle work. Do the intense week first, then fly south and spend the second week horizontal in Goa or on a Kerala beach. You come home rested and you've seen the Taj.
The internal flight is short and cheap. We book it with the holiday, and we build the driving in the north with a car and driver rather than leaving you to it — it's not a country to self-drive on a first visit.
When to go
November to March is the season across all three regions — warm, dry and comfortable. The south-west monsoon arrives in Kerala in early June and reaches Goa shortly after; April and May are punishingly hot in the north before it breaks.
November to February is the window, and Christmas and New Year in Goa is the single busiest and most expensive fortnight of the year. Late October and March are the value months — warm, dry, and noticeably cheaper.
Worth leaving the resort for
Portuguese cathedrals in the jungle, UNESCO-listed, with St Francis Xavier still on display. Half a day, and nothing like the beach.
Wednesdays only, and a Goan institution since the seventies. Haggle hard and go before eleven.
One night on a rice barge from Alleppey. Book a smaller boat — the big ones cluster and lose the point.
Sixteen hundred metres up and fifteen degrees cooler. Green, cool and a genuine relief after the coast.
South Goa's crescent bay. Kayak out at dawn, and eat at a shack with your feet in the sand.
Inland from both Goa and Kochi. Cardamom, pepper and vanilla growing wild, with lunch on a banana leaf.
Kerala is where it's genuinely practised. A proper course runs a week minimum — anything shorter is a spa treatment.
A 310m waterfall on the Goa–Karnataka border, best just after the monsoon. Jeep and a short walk.
The practical bits
Before you book
North Goa and south Goa are different holidays. An hour apart, similar prices, opposite atmospheres. This is the single most common mistake we correct.
One night on a houseboat, not three. The backwaters are lovely and the boats moor at dusk. A night is magical; three is a long time on a stationary barge.
The Golden Triangle isn't a rest. It's superb and it's relentless. Pair it with a beach week afterwards or you'll come home needing a holiday.
Sort the eVisa early. Applied for online, not issued on arrival, and the processing time varies. We'll tell you when to start.
Avoid the monsoon, and Christmas in Goa. June to September is out. And the Christmas–New Year fortnight in Goa is the busiest and priciest of the year by a distance.
Next step
Send your dates, party and rough budget and we'll come back with the right India for what you're after — beach, backwaters or the north — with drivers, internal flights and the payment plan written out in full.
Drives on the left. Trains are excellent between the Golden Triangle cities; a car and driver is easier elsewhere.
Flights, accommodation and transfers as one package. Every one can be reshaped — different dates, different board, a different airport, or a stopover on the way.
Guide prices, per person, based on two sharing, including return flights, accommodation and transfers. They indicate what a holiday of this type has typically cost and are not an offer or a quotation. Your price depends on dates, party, board basis, departure airport and availability, and is confirmed in writing before any payment is taken.
Ready-built itineraries with flights, transfers and internal hops booked as one package, ATOL protected. Every one can be reshaped around your dates.
12 nights · Apr–Oct · from £1,749pp
13 nights · Nov–Mar · from £1,649pp
13 nights · Nov–Mar · from £2,099pp
13 nights · Dec–Mar · from £1,599pp
14 nights · Apr–Oct · from £1,849pp
15 nights · Apr–Oct · from £2,199pp
14 nights · Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov · from £2,999pp
12 nights · Nov–Mar · from £1,849pp
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