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INDIA SEEK.com
--- Beaches
in India --- Goa
Beaches --- Colva Beach
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Colva Beach

About
6 kms from Margao. Colva beach is the pride of Salcete and the only rival to
Calangute by its scenic splendour. Here, sand, sea and sky blend in enchanting
natural harmony unspoilt by men. Has good accommodation facilities, particularly
at the tourist cottages.
It is the pride of Salcete and the only rival to Calangute in scenic splendor.
Here sea, sand and sky blend in enchanting natural harmony. Colva is one of
the most popular beaches in South Goa.The beach offers good accommodation.
Colva stretches sun-drenched, palm fringed and virtually deserted for kilometers.
20years ago precious little disturbed its soft white sands and warm crystal-clear
turquoise their waters, except the local fishers who pulled their catch in by
hands each morning, and the few of the more intrepid hippies who had forsaken
the obligatory drugs, sex and rock and roll of Calangute for the smoothing tranquility
of this corner of paradise.
It is the main evening and weekend day-trip destination for the people of Margao,
so it becomes packed with cars, motorbikes, scooters and pedestrians. On the
road into Colva from Margao you pass the large Church of Our Lady of Mercy (Nossa
Senhora das Merces, 1630, re-built in the 18th century).

The
statue of Menino Jesus housed here is said to have miraculous properties. Colva
is at heart of the longest unbroken stretch of beach (25 kms) in Goa from Mormagao
peninsular in the north to Cabo de Rama in the south.
A hot-season retreat for Margao's mediocre classes since long before Independence,
Colva is the oldest and largest - of south Goa's resorts. Its leafy outlying
vaddos, or wards, are pleasant enough, dotted with colonial lection of concrete
hotels, souvenir stalls and fly-blown snack bars strewn around a bleak central
roundabout. Colva is pleasant and convenient place to stay, swimming is relatively
safe, while the sand, at least away from the beachfront, is spotless and scattered
with beautiful shells.