Arossim Beach Holidays

Arossim Beach is close to the village of Cansaulim in South Goa. It’s a small slice of unspoilt beauty that nestles in a landscape of rice paddies and palm groves. The picture-perfect white sands, rustic beach shacks and low-key vibe make this a real R&R hang-out.

Arossim Beach is a wide and peaceful stretch of soft, sun-bleached sands, where you’ll hear little sound beyond the breeze in the coconut palms. These provide a shady place for picnics, or there are a couple of shacks here serving up drinks and snacks. This is just one of a string of perfect beaches – you can beach-hop using the motor rickshaws that run along the coast.

Relaxing as it is, there’s more to Arossim Beach than sand and sea. Right next door in Cansaulim there’s a 16th-century church with UNESCO’s stamp on it – the whitewashed St Thomas’s is an intriguing mix of Portuguese, Turkish Baroque and Italian architecture. For further-afield sights, there are motorbike rental places in the village, or cycle hire from the hotels.

It’s only 20 minutes’ cab ride to South Goa’s capital, Margao. This hustle-bustle of a place fuses Indian heritage with Portuguese colonian charm, best seen in the old villas here. A must-see is the 16th-century Church of the Holy Spirit, with its pristine white façade and glittering gold interior. Drive on another 20 minutes to Chandor, where the fabulous mansion of Menezes Braganza is filled with chandeliers, antiques, paintings – and the diamond-encrusted toenail of St Francis Xavier.