If you are one to dare to explore the dark side of the moon, Goa should be the first place you visit. The state is a treasure trove of some elaborate and immersive travel experiences. Step away from Goa’s sandy shores and you’ll find memorable experiences that are hard to put a price tag on – whether it’s in the arms of nature, or on the dance floor.
Offbeat Experiences in Goa
Here are some offbeat experiences in Goa that I recommend:
Fado Night at Cidade de Goa (1st Tuesday of every month)
Cidade de Goa is a gorgeous and peaceful luxury property – and perhaps one of the oldest – that sits along the Dona Paula highway. Over the years, Cidade de Goa has built for itself a reputation as a purveyor of Goa’s disappearing heritage and culture. One such celebration is the Fado Night, a monthly tribute to an age-old Goan-Portuguese music tradition. It is celebrated on the first Tuesday of every month in the resort’s restaurant, Alfama.
Architecturally, the restaurant is a quaint little slice taken from the very city of Lisbon itself and can be a beautiful experience on its own. However, it’s Fado Night that adds the cherry on top. Fado refers to the old, soulful, and narrative Portuguese songs that were sung by the loved ones of Portuguese navigators. The night is replete with haunting storytelling, warm music by Sonia Sirsat and talented musicians, and a 4-course meal to suit the theme. The Portuguese cuisine along with the Fado performances by notable fadistas is an experience that will make you come back for more.
Heritage Home Concert by Sounds From Goa
Goan music has never received the limelight it deserves at the more popular and trending local dining haunts. The Goa Heritage Home Concerts was a post-pandemic initiative taken up by two locals – Schubert Fernandes and Omar De Loiola Pereira. They launched Sounds of Goa in November 2020 which served as a virtual platform for the more local Goan music and musicians.
Eventually, the Goa Heritage Home Concerts was launched to serve as a physical manifestation of the same idea, taking their initiative to a more immersive level. The idea behind it is to offer people “an intimate peep into the music, dance, cuisine and Indo-Portuguese Heritage that makes Goa such a loved destination”. The vivacity, warmth, and dedication that drapes this night are simply incomparable and anyone looking to know a Goa beyond clubs and parties should definitely dive into this one.
A tasting menu at Cavatina
The Cavatina is the brainchild of chef Avinash Martins. It’s located in Benaulim and offers a unique, decadent Goan fusion food menu that will hold you spellbound. The chef indulges in extravagant and aesthetic plating which is accompanied by a riveting storytelling session that takes you back into a Goa from a different time.
The dishes are centered around the traditional Saraswat and Portuguese cuisine but are reinvented for a more modern palate. Think hay smoked mackerel, tambdi bhaji (red amaranth) in filo pastry, and my personal favorite, Crab Xec Xec Bisque. This fun lineup of small plates is an amalgamation of flavour, texture, presentation, and imagination, that will have you bursting at the seams. Cavatina is your gorgeous Sunday afternoon brunch destination and a contemporary tribute to the heritage of Goa.
Tasting menu at The Goan Kitchen
A large chunk of Goan cooking doesn’t make it to the popular restaurants in Goa. For instance, you might know what a Xacuti is but might have never heard of Khatkhatem. Moreover, most Goan food is best enjoyed in the traditional cookware and dinnerware, which was primarily made in clay. Fish curries prepared in a kundlem have a richer aroma, the water from the gurgulet is much cooler and the best sannas are made in a confro.
At The Goan Kitchen, you can partake in an authentic Goan dining and behind-the-scenes experience. You can witness how bebinca is made, and see how an adavo is used for grating and how food is served using an authentic dhoilo. You get to truly experience authentic traditional Goan dining in a local home, relishing every bit of the state’s irreplaceable cuisine the way it is supposed to be. These experiences need to be pre-booked, as The Goan Kitchen takes just one booking a day, and it can last up to 3 hours.
E-bike tour by B: live
If you’ve seen Alia zoom down the Parra Coconut Road in Dear Zindagi, you know you have wished that you could do it too. Goa is mainly made up of villages with narrow, winding roads lined with towering coconut trees and surrounded by rolling green fields. That means, not only can you zoom down these roads as the starlet did, but you can also let your cycle take you where you want to go.
B: live is an offbeat experiential tour company that provides guided tours on their bicycles. They provide the option of choosing either an e-bike or even a regular cycle. E-bikes help you take your exploration to a new level, such as scaling the Three Kings Hill in Cuelim to witness a majestic sunset over the fields and against the sea’s horizon. They offer curated, guided tours through the islands of Chorao and Divar, through Old Goa, Panjim City, and other places that you may not have heard of, but should definitely visit.
I hope this post inspires you to put your chilled beer down, step outside that beach shack, and get under the skin of Goa’s cultural fabric! If you know of something you think I should add to this list, comment below – I’d love to experience it and write about it.