Moving to Goa - where to move?

Priyamav

Hi,

I am currently working for a company in Bangalore. They have told me they want to shift the company to Goa by the end of August, as they are getting sick of Bangalore. They are looking at Northern Goa.

I am in Goa for a few days now, exploring mainly the Northern part. A few things I am considering:

- I have a very comfortable life in Bangalore. Big apartment, member of a well-equiped modern gym, live in a good area with all comforts near by, enjoy an active social (and night-) life, enjoy stuff like getting bread from a western-like bakery, etc., etc. I am wondering if I will be able to find the same things in Goa. And what city would come closest to this?

- I am considering Panaji although I wouldn't mind living close to a nice sand beach, maybe more up north somewhere. The company is likely to be relocated to the Mapusa area. I am also wondering how easy it is to find apartments which are not focussed primarily on tourism. Don't feel like being in a tourist apartment building (with late night activity going on in and around) while I am there for a job. I don't need a full-serviced, full-furnished place as I am moving my own stuff from Bangalore.

- How big is the expat community in Goa (not talking about retired or part-time stayers, but people who are here for their business or for work)?

- It seems to me the Goa I am seeing right now is only like this for 4-5 months a year and after that it's empty and rainy. Places shut down, people leave and there's not much of a social scene going on anymore? Is that correct? For instance, night clubs like Tito's or Club Havana, they just shut at some point for a few months, correct? It pretty much comes down to the question: what does one do for fun in Goa in the period May-September?

Hope some of you Goan expats can help me out with these questions and give me some advice. Thanks!

indira

Porvorim is a nice area to stay, (15 minutes drive from porvorim to mapusa)not too far from the north and the south of Goa. Titos is closed for 2 months in july-August, but next to titos you have Mambos,(same owners) which is open thru out the year, nice place to hang around. During monsoons one can hang around Ozone (mariott) and mambos.

goangoangone

- How big is the expat community in Goa (not talking about retired or part-time stayers, but people who are here for their business or for work)?

Nothing wrong with being retired, just means I've been in business longer than you.
Suggest you take a short term (3 months?)'til you know with whom you wish to hang out.

__________________
GoanGoan......here

Priyamav

Sorry, I didn't mean it in a bad way . I guess I just mean people in my age group (I'm 25), who are not there for holidays. There's a large young (25-35) expat community in Bangalore. But I am definitely interested in hanging out with an older (and wiser?) crowd as well!

Thanks for the tip, Indira. I will check out Porvorim tomorrow.

By the way: is it true you get hassled by police if you take a rental bike from the Anjuna-Calangute area down to Panaji? That's where I need to go tomorrow but I remember somebody mentioning this issue.

jivan

well a native here but arambol in north & the whole of south goa were totally enchanting. More into blues as well as nature so that's me.

GoanCanuck

Priyamav, I am going to answer your questions one at a time and if you still have more questions you can send me a PM.

There is no city in Goa which has the kind of amenities Bangalore has to offer. The closest you can get is the Miramar and Dona paula neighbourhoods of Panjim. You can get a furnished 2 bedroom apartment with A/C and swimming pool for about Rs 20,000-25,000/month in these localities. The bakeries in Goa are not very good and you won't get high quality bread. There is a good gym in Miramar.

It is very small. There are about 3000 expats in Goa out of which my estimate is that about 2000 of those are retirees. The rest are mainly engaged in the tourism trade.



Mapusa is a fairly shitty town to live in. There are no decent buildings and no decent restaurants. You could live in Calangute or Candolim and travel to Mapusa every day. Only about 12 km.



The only place you will get apartments in this category is Miramar and Dona Paula.


That is fairly correct. If you stay in Miramar you can walk to the Ozone which is the nightclub at the Marriott and this is open year round as is the casino at this hotel. You can take out a monthly membership at the Marriott and this gives you a discount on all booze and food as well as access to the gym. Most of the expats in Panjim use this hotel.

You should be fine provided you have a licence and a helmet. As far as staying in Porvorim is concerned there are some pros and cons,

Pros
1) Close to Panjim and not too far from Mapusa.
2) Close to Calangute, Baga, Candolim

Cons
1) Serious water shortage
2) Not very good apartments like Panjim or Calangute

jivan

my bet would be go with dona paula, that's also a good place for a middle-road kind of thing. The indian way

Goandentist

Come live in Calangute. Rent is about 8,000 Rs a month for long term rentals in a resort complex with a swimming pool. 3000 Expats living in this part of Goa and the party is on 365 days a year. What else can you ask for ??

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Priyamav

Thanks people! Thanks for all your replies. Extremely appreciated.
I would say 20,000-25,000 is a tad out of my budget. I wouldn't mind living more up north, but the package-tourism of Calangute does not really invite me to live here. See, 5 out of the 7 days of my week I will be working. Getting woken up by drunken tourists at 3 in the morning is not really what I had in mind. As a temporary option, I would not mind it (especially as it looks like I am heading to Goa august-september, totally out of tourist season).

Another Q: do these appartment buildings offer better rates for people who stay year-round or in off-season? I am sure most rents get hiked up during december and january...Could you Goan expats and retirees (retired expats
tell me where you live and what it's like?

Another thing: broadband internet. I know there are a few providers. Goa BSNL, Tata Indicom, Sify. How is the coverage of these networks across Goa? BSNL told me they are present in bigger cities (Panjim, Margao, Mapusa, Calangute) but not really outside of them. The owners of the company in Bangalore want to shift to outdoor life, having a big office/home in a green area, away from tourist areas. They were not so much looking at mapusa as much as more east of that. Their only concern is internet. They need a reliable internet network. The speed they use in Bangalore right now is 256k so it is not extremely necessary that it is as fast as a western network. However it needs to be up and running continually and it needs to reach actual speeds that come with 256/512 networks.

Any of you know about what broadband technology is available? I've read something about 'wireless' internet through dish-technology. Is it at all possible to get remote areas connected to broadband internet?

Thanks again for your help!

GoanCanuck

You won't get broadband connectivity east of Mapusa. As a matter of fact there is no city east of Mapusa in Goa. Bicholim which is east of Mapusa is a small filthy mining town. More of a village. Even in Mapusa the situation is not very good. Actually frankly speaking until 2005 there was no mass residential broadband service available in Goa.

The BSNL service is available in more places as compared to the Tata Indicom broadband. I have not heard of anyone having SIFY broadband at home anywhere in Goa. Maybe Ambert knows more on this.

It depends mainly on which area the apartment is located in. For example the same quality apartment is cheaper in Colva as compared to Calangute. In Mapusa you can get an unfurnished 2 bedroom apartment for Rs 5000 with no AC and no amenities. You could put your own AC but the building will not have its own stand by generator in case of a power outage.

Another thing you will have to do is buy a car because in the monsoon you can forget about riding a 2-wheeler to work. In Goa it can rain heavily non-stop for 24 hours continuously.

If you want to stay in Panjim I can enquire from a close friend of mine who rents out 2 apartments that he owns. I think in Mapusa also I could find something although it will be a modest apartment. There are no upscale apartments in Mapusa.

Priyamav

I am definitely not looking into living in Mapusa. I was there the other day and it was horrible. The owners of the company were looking to live outdoors, in the east-of-Mapusa area, not really in a town but really just outdoors! But they can forget about internet so it doesn't seem they will do that, except if the live there and have the office elsewhere.

I haven't been to Panjim yet. Will have to go there soon. These apartments in Panjim you speak of, Gocanuk, any idea what the rates would be?

And Goandentist, the appartments of 8,000 you speak off, what is the name of this complex so that perhaps I could see where something like that would be located?

So dishnet wireless technology has definitely not reached Goa yet, huh?

Goandentist

Apartments in Panjim can range from Rs 3000 - Rs 10,000 per months. You can gets lots of places for rent at 8000/- a month in Calangute. You will need to contact a local real estate agent to get one.

Regards

GoanCanuck

Priyamav, have you managed to find a place yet? If you are in Goa still maybe I can give you a few leads.

Priyamav

Back in Bangalore now. But would very much appreciate any leads you may have by the time I know for certain when we're going to move that way. The company will set me up in a hotel for the first month, so I will have time to look around then.

GoanCanuck

Tell me the exact month in which you need the apartment because although there are a couple of places now which are available they may not be available 6 months from now. Are you certain that your comnpany will move to mapusa or somw here near mapusa?