India - Xmas and New Years

Made booking with Aana Holidays.

230 euros per room. Money transferred.

Simon's recommendations:
DEFINITELY get yourself to Palolem, right down in the south of Goa - it's absolutely beautiful and, depending on how much you want to rough it, stay in Cozy Nook beach huts.

Also good to hire a moped, as you can see a bit more, and find yourselves some deserted beaches and what have you.

You could also go to Panaji (also called Panjim), to see a real Goan town going about its daily life; plenty of shops to mill about in, you can hire pushbikes and cycle to Old Goa (see some huge impressive churches and mad bendy trees...), go on a riverboat trip on the Mandovi River. We stayed in the newly-renovated Fidalgo Hotel - it's lovely.

In the north, i'd avoid Candolim and Calangute - unless you want scumbag tourists everywhere you go! Try Baga, and definitely Anjuna (where the world-famous market is) - Jules and I spent lots of time and money there. Haha!

Arambol's pretty nice too, a few more hippie types milling about, and some amazing seafood, bars and clifftop views.

Location: Next to Fort Aguada, at Sinquerim Beach
Lonely Planet - map p.180, listing p.181

Things to do:
Akbar's Mausoleum (10km northwest of Agra Fort)
map p35 in lonely planet Delhi book
Itimad-ud-Daulah (6km north of Taj Mahal)

Eating:
Peshwari restaurant at hotel is recommended

For nighttime viewing:
rooftop restaurant
Mehtab Bagh