For most of the people heading towards Goa, it is one long beach. But once they are there they realize this folly of them. Goa is a state though a small one and there is a large number of famous beaches, many towns and a good network of roads.

It is a state of seven rivers and their estuaries, there are hills with lush green vegetation, and most of the tourists are needed to cover large distances to move from one place to other. Goa has a total coastline of 125 km and that makes people believe that it is a long big beach however illusionary it is.

Beaches of Goa are much ahead of other beaches in India in terms of popularity and the facilities that are available here. Thebeaches here have been accepted as a matter of life, there are exotic cuisine backing the pleasure of have on sun and sand, and water sports facilities that include from water scooters to water gliding. To add on you can shake your legs for some time with a glass of feni and beer, engaged in shopping on the beachside, or have midnight bonfire on the beach.

There are some more aspects of Goa beaches that attract tourists every year. Whatsoever times you have visited these beaches they tend to change their look and get new designs every new season. These beaches refurbish themselves every new season and enhance the excitement of visitors who are never tired of appreciating Goa. Out of 125 km of coastline the beaches of Goa cover not less than 83 km and there is one for you also waiting to be explored. Go and find it! Beaches By The Miles

Between science and myth stands a glorious reality - 40 lovely beaches, most of them pollution free, though not all of them as safe as swimmers would wish. The most developed beach segment is the Calangute - Baga - Anjuna belt in the Bardesh subdivision north of Panaji.

The north Goa beaches in Pernem subdivision are delightfully primitive and untouched Keri beach (with Tiracol and an ancient Portuguese fort on the other bank); Arambol (also known as Harmal); Mandrem (a toddy tappers' and palm distillers' hamlet with two little beaches: Lemos and Asvem) and Morji. The local people are friendly and un-interfering, the markets fairly well stocked and the public transportation system reasonably efficient. By way of accommodation there are somewhat Spartan cottages and thatched huts.

The Chapora river demarcates the Bardesh subdivision, the home ground of several beaches: Chapora, Anjuna, Baga, Calangute, Candolim, Sinquerim and an inner beach, Quegdevelim, one of the few rocky beaches in Goa and also a shell collectors haven. Off the Mandovi estuary, in the Tiswadi subdivision, there are little beaches which are both tranquil and well-connected.

Other beaches are Caranzalem, Marvel, Dona Paula, Bambolim and Siridao, all in close proximity to Mormugao harbor.

The Mormugao subdivision has a string of excellent beaches, like Bogmalo, Issorcim, Cola (a rich spawning ground for fish and crustaceans), Pale, Velsao, and Cansaulim. The Vasco da Gama beaches of Cumberthi and Baina are sadly, totally polluted and very nearly destroyed.

The Salcete subdivision accounts for Goa's widest and cleanest beaches. They are Gaudalim, Colva (Goa's largest beach), Benaulim, Mobor, Varca, Carmona, and Cavelossim, the latter now overcrowded with new hotels. Further south, are more beaches as primitive as those of the Pernem subdivision but much less frequently used by foreign tourists. Only adventurous campers dare there. Try them. The local gentry once owned exclusive shacks, which were used in the summer months.

There are also in the same subdivision of Canacona, the Palolem, Colamba, Talpona and Galgibaga beaches. That is where Goa ends. Across is the Karnatakan beach of Karwar and, somewhere in between, lost in the sea, the Goan island of Anjediva which the Portuguese epic poet Camoens once described as the Island of Love It is now a naval establishment and out of bounds for civilians without a special security clearance.