Need Plan B during monsoom

Curlygirl

My boyfriend and I are first time travellers to India and are arriving on the 1st July. We are there for 1 mth and continuing for another 2mths through South East Asia before arriving back in Australia. We are really wanting the first leg of our trip to be extremely relaxing, ideally laying on a beach, chilling in a hammock so we can unwind from our hard slog in the UK/Ireland.
We are arriving in Mumbai and want to head to Goa a couple of days later. Although this is monsoon season will we get no sunshine at all?

I would like a plan B if Goa becomes too wet. Is there anywhere further north or south that will give us a little bit of sunshine at this time of year. Other than that does anyone know of some really beautiful beaches that have a relaxed, chilled vibe but still within distant of a nightlife?
One last question, we are quite keen to take the catamaran from the Wharf ferry at Mumbai to Panjim, Goa and wanted to know if anyone knew of some decent accommodation around the Ferry Wharf at Mumbai. We will arrive in the wee hrs of the morning from London so we want clean, decent and hopefully quiet accommodation.
Any suggestions are much appreciated.

indiawise

I have a problem suggesting Diu as the best option, if its a beach holiday that u r looking for, cause i live in diu and have a hotel there. However the fact is that Goa can and usually does, get very wet in July. Unlike Goa and other western coast beaches, Diu is a low rainfall zone. It rains but stops and the sun comes out and it can actually be a lovely time to be chilling out on this island. Yup s'times there are these rain spells that last a few days.
Night life is pretty much non-existant in Diu. And more so since the last few years. Thats one major PLUS for Goa from what i hear. I reckon there r quite a few Goa experts on this forum who'll advise u on that. Diu has no night life unless u r lucky to run into other travellers. And since its off season u probvably will run into very few...

I spent 14 days of july 1992(or was it 1993) in Goa. And it poured for 8 days and drizzled for 5 and stopped on the 14th day. No exageration. The sea was so rough that we couldn't swim, any case it was cloudy. Once we had figured out that there was no question of being dry or seeing much of sun my girlfriend and myself did enjoy ourselves as Goa was very beautiful in its own way during this time. Green and the red earth and we had a good time riding around on a rented scooter. Being in love helped too....

freemanx

i havent been to india jet, so this is just what i read.
but as i also will be in india during monsoon i did a bit of reading and found that tamil nadu doesnt get too much rain in july.
and mamallapuram about 60 km south of chennai (madras) seems to be quite nice. good beach, shore temple, arjunas penance and lots of cheap accomodation.
chennai is 24 hours from mumbai by train (about 1000r for 3ac).

bijapuri

a little known secret is that the southern Deccan in summer is pleasant. it's 1-3 ft above sea level, which allows tyhe temps to cool at night, and when it rains, yoiu actually will need a flannel shirt or something. Hoit is the day, natch . . .

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freemanx

what is the southern deccan?

edit:
did a google and found this:

http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/...ia/deccan.html

-m2-

Much as I'm a fan of Goa, I wouldn't recommend it for a trip in July if you are looking for the regular Goan attractions of nice weather, swimmable beaches and a lively traveller's scene. Although there may be other charms, and many have had a wonderful time during the heights of monsoon, I don't think it is what you're looking for.

I think Indiawise's suggestion of Diu sounds like your best bet and you could continue on north from there to get into the cooler hill country for the rest of your stay.

regarding the catamaran jetty: it is handy to the Colaba area in which a lot of the modestly priced accomodations in Mumbai are located, some of which are listed in the hotels section.

...and welcome to Indiamike!

m2

Curlygirl

Thanks guys for all your advice.

I like the sound of Dui. Can you travel from Mumbai to Dui by bus, train or even boat/catamaran? Any idea on costs and length of journey?

Cheers

Alan D

There's a daily flight except Saturday from Mumbai to Diu which takes about an hour and lands next door to Nagoa Beach and indiawise's hotel! I think the price is about $100 but I'm sure indiawise can supply all the details if you're interested.

The bus journey is a pretty long one and some of it is not on the best of roads and some of the rail lines in Gujarat are being converted at the moment. If you can afford it the flight option would be the best.

We've spent a couple of very enjoyable stays on the island.

As indiawise has said the night life is practically non-existant but Diu is certainly relaxing - the pace of life is very slow. Motor scooters can be hired if you want to drive on the island's uncrowded roads and Diu town is only a few miles away.

The rest of north India will be pretty hot - depends how you cope with 40C+ temperatures but having a month you could also spend some time in the hill areas north of Delhi, if you can make the effort to leave Diu that is.