Dusk settles slowly and luxuriously over Anjuna. It enhances the quiet of the village, highlighting the sounds of insects and birds. Elsewhere in Anjuna, the village is abuzz, living up to its reputation as one of Goa’s most popular spots. At The Orchard Manor, peace reigns.  

The year-old villa is one of the many new ones dotting the state, offering luxurious lodging and a chance at that inherent susegaad life.  Goa, three years post pandemic, remains a favourite with travellers. It has resulted in a major upheaval in the hospitality industry. As restaurants and bars started mushrooming everywhere, there’s been a subsequent increase in stay options, too. Travellers can now choose everything from fully functional villas, river or sea-facing boutique spaces to quieter BnB’s and of course homestays in century-old houses. There’s something for everyone.  

Amid the clutter here are some lodgings that offer a glimpse of the quiet and green Goa everyone loves.  

Parijaat 

Kavita and Manoj Nair’s homestay happened “by accident”.  

“We come from a hardcore corporate background. Ten years ago, when discussing our future, we decided we would like to settle in Goa and so, bought some land and built a house,” says Kavita. In 2020, they moved. 

Located by the river in Anjuna, Parijaat consists of the main house and a cottage with two rooms. The family — Manoj, Kavita, their daughter Devaki and dog, Atticus — occupy the main house. Kavita didn’t want to leave the other two rooms vacant and so, Magpie Robin and Drongo opened to guests last year.  

The space is designed by Shonan Purie Trehan of Mumbai-based Labwerk. The main house has a three-sided courtyard and is inspired by Goan and Keralite architecture. “It feels much older than it actually is. Every room has a collection of items from our travels,” says Kavita.  

Parijaat only offers breakfast, which is typically a lavish spread in the al fresco dining section. There is outdoor seating, an infinity pool, and the verandahs have nooks and crannies for some quiet time. The garden is lush with over 50 fruiting trees and there’s an old but functional well. Kavita’s pottery studio is also open to people interested in classes or buying curios.  

“This is for travellers looking for an experiential stay, nestled in the lap of nature. It is almost as if you are enjoying Goa for what it is.” 

Details: @parijaatgoa on Instagram  

Caju Grove  

Mumbai-based childhood friends, management consultant Anuja Phadke and architect Sneha Mahashabde, wanted a future that didn’t involve city life, but a touch of nature.  

They found it in 2018, in a village called Lonere in Maharashtra where they created an experiential-style homestay called Kokum Tree. Earlier this year, they opened their second property, in Guirim. “It was a childhood dream of sorts…to live in Goa,” says Phadke. 

They realised this dream after chancing upon the secluded 100-year-old house. Caju Grove opened as a “family hostel” in February, with five rooms, including two big family rooms and a small room with a bathtub open to the sky. 

The big yellow house has some Goan architecture —tiled roof, oyster shell windows, spacious balconies and red oxide flooring. “We’ve tried to maintain its old world charm,” she says. There are ‘chill out zones’ in the game room and across the two spacious balconies. The house has a small pantry, but food is cooked by two villagers and the friends themselves (they live nearby).  

The once bare garden has been given a green touch with coconut, cashew and banana trees; they are also practising permaculture. In future, they plan to host events and workshops, and curate offbeat experiences.  

Details: https://www.cajugrove.in/ 

Circle  

Keith Menon and Smriti Ahuja are avid travellers, who have toured India with their friend Chandrashekhar Parab. “We’ve stayed in bad places, good places and everything in between,” says Ahuja. It is these experiences that gave them the idea of doing a hospitality-based project together.  

Last year, the couple moved to Goa, and while house hunting, found a dilapidated “crazy old space” on two acres of hill slope. They worked on it and in November 2022, Circle opened to guests.  

Circle consists of a 100-year-old Goan home — Old Quarters — with seven bedrooms, one of which is a six-bed mixed dorm. Some rooms have private dipping pools, others have private gardens. Beyond the house are two spacious cottage-style studios, the New Quarters. “Being nature lovers, we are very conscious of resources,” says Ahuja. “The idea was to use the framework of everything old to create something new.”  

In addition, there is a bar, a small Continental restaurant, an open-air library, a herbal tea counter with seasonal teas, a self-sustaining fish pond, a volleyball/badminton court and a wooded area under an old banyan tree for dinners, yoga or just hanging out. “We’ve already had two proposals there,” says Ahuja.  

Details: https://circlegoa.com/ 

Amger Villa 

Designers and brothers Arun and Alok Lalwani grew up thinking of Goa as home. “Every year, dad would take us to Goa on holiday. We’ve grown up on the beach and spent a lot of our childhood here,” says Arun.  

When looking for a holiday home for themselves, they found a 130-year-old house in Parra and were charmed. “It is cut off from the hustle and bustle and surrounded by paddy fields. It had a huge mango tree and two wells and an attached shrine,” says Arun. “It needed attention, but we loved the vibe and the space.” 

The project started out as a holiday home but, as they got closer to completion, they realised there was a market for short-term rentals and changed their focus.  

Amger is a four-bedroom house with  a personal touch. For instance, the room on the ground floor was designed keeping their parents in mind and hence, has a small, private sit- out and bench in the shower. The house was designed by a team from The Workshop Architects, the brothers and wildlife conservationist Pooja Lalwani, who retained much of the original structure. There’s a pool touching paddy fields with a natural gazebo, a wooden machaan and an al fresco dining area.  

With two wells, they are self-sufficient with water. They decompose waste, recycle pool water and have built a garden with 100 fruit-bearing trees. “Our logo shows a little leaf and a bird to indicate it’s a home for humans and nature also.”  

Details: www.amger.in 

The Orchard Manor  

Once upon a time, student Ozzy Serrao fell in love with the lights at the nightclub he frequented in England. They were 90-years-old and came from a decommissioned cruise liner. When they went on sale, Serrao bought them.  

Decades later, those lights are a central feature in Serrao’s Goa home, The Orchard Manor. The three-storey, six-suite villa is a museum of the former Merchant Navy captain’s hobby as a collector. “I would go out to port, see good stuff and buy it. I knew I would use it at some point,” he says.  

Artefacts include Chinese Martaban jars, Dutch colonial blanket chests, a rare 1956 pen on paper Souza sketch and a 150- year- old Blithner grand piano.  

The villa has an open layout with rooms leading to a verandah that looks out on to the lush garden and an infinity pool. There’s even a bird-watching corner. The outdoors has a bar for lounging and a gazebo for starlit dinners.  

Each room has something unique — access to the pool, a view of the koi pond, outdoor bath, attached library and an attached terrace. In-house activities range from tarot card sessions, single malt tasting sessions with Pernod Ricard, to cocktail classes and grazing tables.  

Serrao built the house over two years with the help of his friend and furniture designer, Paul Rodrigues. “I wanted to own land. I had these collections and no space to showcase them. As the structure came up, I decided to go all out,” he says.  

Details: @theorchardmanor on Instagram