The Essential Goa Bucket List, Ranked

Goa is small enough to cross in a morning and varied enough to feel like three destinations. Portuguese churches sit an hour from Konkani fishing villages; the party coast in the north has nothing to do with the quiet bays in the south. This is the ranked shortlist, ordered by how much each one would be missed.

The quick facts

• India's smallest state by area, on the Arabian Sea coast, with Panaji as its capital
• Dry season runs roughly November to March; the monsoon months are green, cheap and wet
• North Goa is busier and louder; South Goa is quieter and more resort-led

1. The churches of Old Goa

The Basilica of Bom Jesus and the vast Se Cathedral are the heart of a UNESCO World Heritage site, the remains of a colonial capital that once rivalled Lisbon in importance. The basilica holds the relics of St Francis Xavier and still draws pilgrims from across the world. Go early, dress modestly, and give it a proper hour.

2. A slow day at Palolem

The crescent bay in the far south, backed by palms and headlands, is the beach most people picture when they imagine Goa. It is calm enough for easy swimming and lively enough to have somewhere to eat every fifty paces. Nearby Agonda is the quieter alternative if Palolem feels busy.

3. Fontainhas, the Latin Quarter of Panaji

A grid of narrow lanes in ochre, indigo and lime, with tiled roofs, wooden shutters and small chapels. It is one of the few places in India that looks convincingly Iberian, and it is best explored on foot in the last hour of daylight.

4. A Goan fish curry rice lunch

Coconut, tamarind, kokum and red chilli: the state dish is a genuine regional cuisine rather than a beach cliche. Order it with rava-fried fish, and try prawn balchao, pork vindaloo or chicken cafreal on other days. Finish, at least once, with a slice of bebinca.

5. Fort Aguada

A seventeenth-century Portuguese fort on the headland above Candolim, built to guard the mouth of the Mandovi, with a squat lighthouse and long views down the coast. It is the most rewarding of the coastal forts, and Chapora and Reis Magos are easy additions.

6. Anjuna flea market

The Wednesday market on the cliffs at Anjuna is a Goa institution dating back to the state's hippy era. It is thoroughly commercial now, but the setting and the scale still justify a morning. Haggling is expected rather than rude.

7. Dudhsagar Falls

A four-tiered waterfall on the Mandovi in the Western Ghats, at its most dramatic just after the monsoon. Access is controlled and usually arranged through organised jeep trips, and conditions change with the season, so check what is currently running before planning around it.

8. Sunset from the northern headlands

Vagator and the ridge below Chapora Fort give you the Arabian Sea from above rather than at eye level, which is a different and better thing entirely.

Tip: Rent transport for the days you plan to move around rather than for your whole stay, and treat Old Goa and the south as separate excursions. Distances look short on a map but the roads are slow.