Goa beaches

A unique beach in the North Goa, it is both rocky and sandy, beach and much sought after by foreign tourists. It has a sweet water tank right on the shore. Along the Goa border is Arambol  with its fresh water lagoon. Due to its isolation, not many tourists have been able to reach this beach. The 16-km-long sea beach along with the Goa border is Arambol with its fresh water lagoon. The main beach has adequate bodysurfing and there are several attractive bays a short walk to the north. Beyond an idyllic, rocky-bottomed cove, the trail emerges to a board strip of soft white sand hemmed in on both sides by steep cliffs. Behind it, a small  freshwater lake extends along the bottom of the valley into a thick jungle. Fed by boiling hot springs, the lake is lined with sulphurous mud, which, smeared over the body, dries to form a surreal, butter-coloured shell. The resident hippies swear it's good for you and spend much of the day tiptoeing naked around the shallow like refugees from some obscure tribal initiation ceremony - much to the amusement of Arambol's Indian visitors.   Some years ago, when the screws were tightened at Anjuna in an attempt to control what local people regarded as the more outrageous activities (nudism and drug use) of a certain section of the traveling community, the die-hards cast around for a more sympathetic' beach. Arambol, north of Chapora, was one of those which they choose. Initially, only those willing to put up with very primitive conditions came here. Things are a little more comfortable these days, but development has, so far, been minimal.
 The village remains tranquil and friendly - just a few hundred locals, mostly fishing people, and a couple of hundred Western residents in the November to February high season. The coastline lacks the palm-fringed exotic clinches of the southern Goa beaches but it has plenty of character and is pretty in its own kind of way. 
 At one time, Arambol was the most backward village economically, with farming and horticulture as its backbone, but today, it has captured a place on the international map of tourism. Believe it or not, the local barbers have disappeared from this village, but one finds a barber who has come all the way from Kerala or Andhra Pradesh to settle down in this village. Kashmiris have set up their shops, Punjabis run restaurants and fast-food joints, Maharashtrians operate regular tours, while half-a-dozen hotels are under construction by entrepreneurs from Bangalore, Mumbai and New Delhi, realising that the sea beach has assumed great importance in the global village.