- Looking for a bike
- Licenses for bikes in India
- Yellow or white license plates?
- How do people drive in Goa?
- Short-term accommodation in Goa
- Long-term accommodation in Goa
So, after first mad day we woke up at Antonio’s place. It was a lovely bed and breakfast with only six rooms, and in the morning his wife prepared a wonderful breakfast for us. Like any meal, it gave us the strength we needed to look for a bike and a place to stay. So we went to the beach.
We didn’t have much time to enjoy the beach, but we managed to meet Amid — he was working at the beach cafe where we had lunch and told us that in a couple of days he would be working at another cafe nearby. With his excellent Russian, which he had perfected “working for 10 years in northern Goa,” and his natural charm, he was a very likable person. And so did we. So much so that one day we had dinner, but I forgot my money. “No problem, bro, bring it tomorrow.” Of course, I brought it, and then he treated me to some weed, but it cost 3,000 to buy, and in the north, as it turned out, you can get it for 1,000. Conclusion: don’t let yourself be charmed too much.
Looking for a bike
But we digress. Meanwhile, it’s time to look for a bike. And we found a couple of places on the way to the beach. The standard rate is 500 rupees per day. In this part of Goa, it’s quite simple to rent for a month — 500 multiplied by 30. But we know a thing or two about sales economics, and we understand that the cost should be different for a monthly rental.
In the end, we found a guy with a reasonable view of the world. We bargained him down to 450 per day and found out the plain truth about monthly rentals.
Guys, Christmas is coming soon, and a bunch of Indians from Maharashtra, Karnataka, and even Kerala will be arriving. I can rent them a bike for at least 1,000 per day. So, I’m sorry, but I have to cover my expenses.
Okay, we thought. We took a Honda Activa for three days and that was that. We drove off into the sunset in search of accommodation. Yes, here we need to digress on the legalization of driving and paperwork.
Licenses for bikes in India
Not needed. Well, that is, of course, to ride a motorcycle (and a normal scooter over 50 cc is considered a motorcycle), you need a category A license. But if they take a deposit, it’s either $100 (and not always) or your license. Accordingly, you show the law enforcement officers a photo of the document. I don’t know how legal this is from a legal standpoint, but in practice, it’s common practice. Actually, the rental company took my license as a deposit, and when I asked, “What will I show the cops?”, they said that a photo was fine.
Another popular option here is printing a driver’s license. You send them your information, they Photoshop it, and print it out if necessary. It costs around 3,000 rupees with printing (the electronic version is around 1,000 rupees). I can provide contacts if necessary. As an experiment, I made myself such a driver’s license for various categories — well, so that I would have something to give as collateral, no big deal. Conclusion: print something like this yourself at any printing house.
Yellow or white license plates?
Yellow license plates are issued to vehicles registered to commercial enterprises. That is, taxis, rental cars, and motorcycles. Only vehicles with such license plates can be legally rented. At the same time, it is prohibited to leave the state in such cars and motorcycles.
Fort Tirakol is the last point of North Goa; beyond it lies a neighboring state, and you cannot go there with yellow license plates.
Moreover, if you take the free ferry to Fort Tiracol, everything is fine, but if you drive over the bridge upstream, you will have to drive through part of the state of Maharashtra.
But I wanted to visit both the ferry and the bridge, so I had to break the rules a little, driving to Red Fort and admiring Shiroda across the river.
Vehicles with white license plates cannot be rented, but this is Goa — in the northern part, it is almost impossible to find rentals with yellow license plates, everyone rents unofficially. If the cops see a tourist on a white license plate, they may well stop and ask what kind of bike it is. In this case, you need to say that a friend gave you a ride to go to the mall/market/clinic. For greater authenticity, it is recommended to save a non-existent number for this friend in your phone.
In the northern part, not only 90% of the offers are bikes with white license plates, but also 80% of the entire rental market. Accordingly, renting there is cheaper: the difference between the south with yellow license plates and the north with white ones can be twice as much. Nowadays, in the north, you can find offers starting at 5,000 rupees per month, but daily rentals are the same as in the south – 500 rupees per day, sometimes 400.
We rent in the south, with yellow license plates, for 10,000 rupees per month. I figured that I didn’t want to waste time dealing with the police, and that a trip to the north and back (after returning the bike) by taxi would eat up all my savings and take up one of my days off. By the way, if you are in Kolva, here is the contact information for the bike owner, Joe, a great guy (WhatsApp and phone): +919890224843. Yes, he gave me a 1,000 rupee discount for the second month, even though I didn’t even ask for it.
As for the monthly rental, as I wrote above, we rented a Honda Activa for 450 rupees per day and moved out of Antonio’s place.
How do people drive in Goa?
While Mumbai is chaotic and polluted, driving in Goa is quite calm and even intelligent. There is no chaos on the roads, but the color and uniqueness of Southeast Asian traffic are present. I remember that in Bali, the roads were somehow more nerve-wracking.
Of course, it is worth remembering the general rule for this region: the main road is a subjective concept. Also, pay closer attention to vehicles with yellow license plates (either tourists or taxi drivers) and cars with Maharashtra license plates (starting with MH) — they often drive in the Indian style.
The roads themselves are mostly well paved, sometimes a little bumpy. Road markings are sometimes visible, on speed bumps a little more often, but still not always, so keep this in mind when driving in the dark. Here is a short video of a trip in heavy traffic (somewhere between Kalangut and Candolim).
Short-term accommodation in Goa
We headed to the far north, to Arambol, to check out all the parties and listen to live music—I have an old friend from Yekaterinburg who lives there and plays in two bands. On the way, we agreed to look at a house for long-term rent, and in the north we planned to find something on the spot for 2-3 days.
Speaking of Antonio and his Joao Xavier Palace. The rooms have everything you need—a hot shower, a refrigerator, and a gorgeous balcony. It’s a 15-minute walk to the beach, which is uncrowded and beautiful – white sand, palm trees… Again, Amid will welcome you at the cafe and sell you weed at triple the price. But this is a hotel, there is no kitchen to cook for yourself, and there is only one room, and for us, the bedroom is not a place to work. But for a period of searching for more permanent accommodation, or if you have come for a short time with the sole purpose of relaxing, these are my recommendations. 1500 rupees per day. Here is the location, and here is the phone number (also WhatsApp): +919822168817.
We didn’t want to look for something long-term in the north either, as we were set on living in the quieter southern part with clean beaches and riding our bikes anywhere we wanted to go. So we just found a cafe where a concert was going to take place and asked about rooms at several nearby hotels. In the end, we chose the Mini Dunes hotel (their website or hotel`s page on Booking.com) with bamboo huts without air conditioning. They usually cost 1,800 per night, but they gave us a discount and gave us a bungalow for 1,500. As we later found out, they have another hotel with similar bungalows, but right on the beach, for 2,000.
There are plenty of similar offers in general, ranging from 1,500 to 2,000, and you can almost always find something on the spot without booking in advance.
We ended up staying in Arambol for almost a week, visiting various events, from concerts to night markets. We had to call the owner of the bike and extend the rental remotely, but luckily he was a reasonable guy.
Long-term accommodation in Goa
On our way back from the north, we returned to the house we liked — the one we saw on our way to Arambol. While we were relaxing, we realized that it suited us in every way and was even cheaper than similar offers, so we were ready to pay more for it.
But while we were staying at Antonio’s guesthouse, we traveled around the south on a bike in search of long-term rental accommodation. We found several acceptable options, but for one reason or another, we didn’t like any of them. However, we did check the prices and can tell you the approximate price range.
Apartments in complexes, furnished and resembling something Mediterranean, with a swimming pool and security, cost from 40,000 rupees per month. If you have good karma and time to study offers on various Telegram channels, you can find something like this for 35 or even 30 thousand. The cost also depends on the lease term; some ads explicitly state a minimum of 6 months or even a year.
The so-called “Indian style” in decent condition usually starts at 20,000 rupees. This can be either a one-bedroom or two-bedroom apartment; I did not notice any noticeable correlation here. The furniture will be very simple, the stove will be a freestanding one- or two-burner gas stove with a cylinder underneath, or, less commonly, an electric stove.
Of course, there are many options for subletting, and if you see your neighbors not as an inconvenience but as potentially fun company, then this is also a great option. It is quite possible to find a room in a house for 10,000 rupees, even with a private bathroom.
Utilities and internet are usually charged separately, but quite often you can find all-inclusive options, even with internet. We currently have a terabyte plan with no speed restrictions, which costs 1,200 rupees per month. The speed isn’t great, you can’t watch streaming video in good quality, but it’s enough for work. If necessary, you can share your phone’s internet connection, which is even faster. Electricity costs vary depending on your usage. The previous tenants said that it was 300 rupees for three months, and then they received a bill for 3,000. However, since the rent is below market average, we didn’t even bother and prepared ourselves for the 3,000 rupee bill. Last month it was 1,600. Who knows how they calculate it, we don’t use air conditioning, we’ve gotten used to the heat, and the windows on all four sides provide excellent ventilation. We rarely cook, and when we do, we use gas.
Overall, living in Goa is inexpensive. I can even understand why some people rent out their apartments and don’t work at all — they have enough. If you don’t live extravagantly, you can easily live here on 50,000 rupees per person per month. I’ll talk about the cost of food in cafes and groceries in stores, as well as cultural leisure activities, next time.
Text and photos: © Nikolay Lebedev