chattai beach huts

berryolive

Just got back to England after spending two amazing weeks in Southern Goa. We stayed in Palolem, which although is undeniably touristic, was brilliant fun and still incredibly beautiful. Being my first trip to India, before i left i was eager to book somewhere to stay for the first couple of nights. Chattai Beach Huts came up all over the internet as soon as i typed in Palolem. The website looked amazing, so i booked 5 nights. On arrival in Palolem i realised there was absolutely no need to book accomadation in advance. There are literally hundreds of beach huts of all different standards to choose from.
Chattai was hugely disappointing!! they are clearly a very new establishement. There is no palm tree coverage so its really hot, and quite ugly. The location is not great, quite dirty and unnattractive and a walk from the beach. The prices are well above the average and the quality is poor. The website pictures are very selective and far from the reality. The room was hot, dark and the bed was on the floor. The room was full of mosquitos on arrival.
Basically we didn't even stay a night and had to run off as they tried to charge us 50% of what we had booked. I just want to warn people easily fooled, liked me, by a pretty website! Palolem is beautiful and beach huts are great fun but it's really so much better to just walk along the beach and and choose a beach hut you fancy when you get there. Most are really cheap and clean and right on the beach.
We loved the Big Fish Little Village right at the southern end of the beach. Right on the beach, bathrooms attached or not attached. Clean and pretty, 450rupees a night and really lovely owners. Or for a bit more luxury head down to the less busy, really beautiful Patnem beach (15 minite walk from palolem) and stay in Parvati bamboo huts, more solid and clean than the usual beach huts. Pretty interiors, drapes and materials, big mirror, good fan, comfortable beds and very clean bathrooms. 700rupees a night and miles more luxurious than nasty Chattai!! Oh or if you want a really luxurious but still authentic base head to Home on Patnem, 1200 a night but worth it, best food, location and rooms for miles but gets booked up quickly!

Hope this is helpful.

fernandw

Thanks berry,
Yes the website does look impressive. You might have just missed the peak season. The other option is to check with the locals who are even willing to let you use one of their rooms for a small price. Given that you are going to be out most of the time this can be an economical option, for those wanting to stay long term. I may check out the Big Fish Little Village.
Thanks
Will

shahronakm

Thanks berry for the feedback on Chattai Huts. It was really needed. As no one before on IM had first hand exp. of the same.
Thanks for your tips on Palolem.

Ronak.

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kaalia

Thank You Berry. I have a reservation at Chattai for March but have given up on that after reading your review. Yours probably is the fiorst review on chattai in the internet. Have been trawling the net since days for this and no one has ever posted their experience at chattai.

shahronakm

Yes. Atleast I have not seen any other reviews on chatai huts. Actually it's owned by one of the actors on the Indian T.V. I forgot the name.

Ronak.

kaalia

yup ronak...Ashish Nayar owns them. He is coming up with a bigger ayurvedic spa kind of thing adjacent to chattai.

Anyways never imagined the pcitures on the website would be so misleading.

shahronakm

Thanks for giving the name.

Many times the pics. on the website are misleading, this is where reviews from persons who have gone there come in to the picture. It's so helpful in deciding.

Ronak.

Ashish Agrawal

Thanks for the vital info

rangalo

Same experince here, we wre walking towards chattai and the way to there was really dirty, we just got a glimps from chattai before decided to walk back, we stayed at bridge and tunnel instead,

after we discovered some really nice huts up north, dreamcatcher seamed really nice

aholic_2907

hey try sharing some pics of ur palolem experience. id love to see. i really miss palolem.would hugley appreciate. thanks.

lonelyaztec

The beach huts in Goa were disappoiting, but the pictures of the websites were great.

i was in Goa for the new year. It was the best new year evening ever, but the beach huts where i stayed was bad.

They ripped us off. They charged Rs. 1500 for something that is not even worth Rs. 200.

I stayed at San Francisco beach hut - avoid it.

The rooms have not proper flooring, covering etc. No hot water. No towel, not proper bed sheets and it was cold in the night. No complimentary soap - even though we were paying Rs. 1500. And, as these are beach shacks, you can hear people speaking outside.

And, during the new year eve, we partied till abt 2 am, but, after that we went back to our hut and tried to sleep. We could not as the music outside was blasting really loud and it felt like we were in the middle of it.

Avoid beach huts.

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GoanCanuck

Any particular reason why you paid such an extortionate amount?

cyberhippie

In Palolem at New Year it's hard to avoid GC, if you want a beach hut!!
New Year 2005-6 saw thousands turn up. There wasn't any room for the cars. The police stopped them outside of Palolem. Sounded horrible, glad I wasn't there!

aholic_2907

yehh ..beach huts arent meant for the new yrss sleep. cmon!

and yeah the price was steep owing to the peak season of the new year...and dont expect any soap hehe!!

rangalo

Here is some Palolem pics

http://pihlblads.blogspot.com/2007/0...-februari.html