Immediately south of the airport, the Mormugao peninsula's sun parched central plateau tumbles to a flat-bottomed valley lined with coconut trees and redbrick huts. The sandy beach at the end of the cove would be even more picturesque were it not for the monstrous multi-storey edifice perched above it. Until Oberoi erected a huge five star hotel here, Bogmalo was just another small fishing village, hemmed in by a pair of palm fringed headlands at the northern end of Colva bay.

A Former Fishing Village, Today's Tourist Hangout
The village is still present at Bogmalo, complete with a tiny-whitewashed Chapel and gangs of hogs nosing through the rubbish, but its environs have been transformed. Pricey café-bars blaring Western music have crept up the beach, while the clearing below the hotel is prowled by assiduous Kashmiri handicraft vendors.

Even so, compared with Calangute Or Colva, Bogmalo is still a small-scale resort. As long as one hasn't come to Goa to get away from it all or party all night, then one'll find Bogmalo congenial enough. The beach is clean and not too crowded, the water reasonably safe for swimming, and there are plenty of places to eat, drink and shop. If, on the other hand, one is looking for somewhere not yet, on the package tourist map, one'll be better off further south, at the far end of Colva Beach or beyond.