If you continue driving towards Panaji from Palolem, the next beach is Agonda. It’s long and lonely, fringed with palms and casuarinas and dominated by a large hill to the south. It’s not safe to swim out too far on this beach. There are very few facilities available here and you are needed to carry all the essentials. Agonda is a three-kilometer long beautiful cove of white sand, safely secluded in the palms. There are no tourists, no souvenir stalls, no restaurants, nothing. Normally tourist looking for isolated and remote place choose this beach as their hideaway. Eco-friendly beach hut resort is surrounded by lush gardens and coconut palms with scenic views of the Arabian sea. Agonda Beach, a gorgeous three kilometer stretch of relatively pristine beach, is the fairly unspoilt jewel in the crown that is south Goa. A quiet fishing village for most of the year, Agonda beach transforms itself into a fairly high-end, family oriented, yoga-loving Goa beach resort for five months over the November through March season.
On dawn walks along this beautiful Goa beach one may encounter cows strolling along enjoying their morning walk, fishermen hauling in their often plentiful catches, tourists jogging, yogis practicing their asanas and others going for long swims in the calm early morning Arabian sea. Just five kilometres south of the idyllic Kola beach and ten kilometres north of the busy Palolem beach, Agonda beach is perfectly located in that it is a quiet haven when you need it to be, but also a short drive to the activity of the hub of south Goa, Palolem beach.
There are restaurants to suit every palate in Agonda beach, from delicious, easy on the pocket thalis at Fatima’s Thali shop, to mouth-watering organic vegetarian food at Blue Planet (just outside Agonda in the jungle on the road to Palolem beach), to beautifully cooked fresh seafood at Dunhill, to authentic Italian food, far beyond the regular pizzas and pastas, at La Dolce Vita.
Accommodation in Agonda beach is also varied, from luxury villas on the beach, to rooms in guesthouses, to very basic beach huts, to rooms in fishermen’s houses.
With none of the notorious Goa nightlife as such (drinking at the many beach-shacks notwithstanding) and a plethora of yoga classes, courses and teacher-trainings to choose from, Agonda beach has developed a reputation for being the Goa beach to get away from it all on, whether it’s a refuge from the over-indulgence of nights on other beaches, or a refuge from a stressful year at work. Agonda beach is the ultimate in laid-back Goa beach holiday destinations.
