Holiday Inn resort is a beach front resort which is located on the Mobor beach in Cavelossim – South Goa. The resort is tucked on the strip of land engulfed between the beach on one side and the Sal river on the other side, thereby ensuring that you have a peaceful holiday.

Mobor beach

I had shared our trip plan to one of our family friends and they also expressed their interest in joining us. What started as a random search for a weekend getaway had transformed into a full blown vacation plan. We booked 2 rooms for 4 nights and opted for their all meals inclusive package. Even though we had plans to explore Goa, we opted for the all meals plan as the deal was too good to resist. On the hind sight it was a good choice as we ended up having almost all our meals at Holiday Inn. They have 5 categories of rooms to choose from :

  • Plaza Garden or Pool view rooms – their standard rooms
  • Deluxe rooms – again with an option of either pool facing or garden facing
  • Kids Suite – the room has a separate room for adults and kids
  • Garden Suite – These rooms have a private balcony along with their own private Jacuzzi
  • Sunset Suite – the rooms with best views and facilities.

Reservation was pretty easy and it was great to see that our rooms ware ready well in advance. Check-in was a breeze after the customary check of ID and few welcome drinks and hot towel. They also upgraded our rooms to a Deluxe room with a private sit out area. The one difference that I could immediately make out was that the resort was relatively quiet without the usual buzz. One would also find layers and layers of plastic sheets covering the façade of the hotel – they try their best to retain the views from the lobby but at the same time ensure that the heavy rain does not get into the lobby area. (Check the featured image of this blog, you can get an idea how neatly these sheets are placed)

Their Deluxe rooms were very well laid and was stocked with all the basic amenities.The resort was very green but the lawns were not kept that well (some of the pictures would highlight this) – guess this could be because of the off season. The lobby of the hotel was very impressive and the view of the Arabian Sea from the lobby was beautiful. The resort provides you many dining options:

  • Cafe Mardi Gras – This is their 24 hrs coffee shop at the lower level of the hotel. The cafe provides a wide range of Goan cuisine along with the European styled pastas and north Indian dishes. The chef recommended us: Chicken Xacutti, Pork Vindaloo, Goan Fish Curry and the all time Goan favourite, the Panfried Pomfret Recheado.
  • Whispers of Orient: This restaurant serves Chinese, Japanese and Thai food. We did not try this restaurant during our stay though.
  • Sundowner Lounge: This place serves good starters and is a perfect place to relax with a drink
  • Beach Grill – unfortunately, this was closed during monsoon.
  • Fig & Olive – This place serves Mediterranean and Italian food. They serve pastas, fresh salads, seafood, grilled specialities, wood oven pizzas and desserts. We had ordered for a chicken pizza and it was very good (could not remember the name of the dish though)

The beach:

Mobor beach is not the like the Utorda beach which is made of fine white sand. (Read following blog for more information). This beach is very similar to the beach that one will find in Benaulim (Read following blog for more information). The beach was very clean and there were very few people at the beach during this time of the year. Most of the people were from the resort enjoying their vacation – we hardly found anyone else. The sea was pretty rough and the lifeguards advised us not to venture into the sea (we could feel the strong undercurrents even at knee deep water). You will find few stray dogs and cow roaming on the beach though – frankly speaking they did not bother us at all. But, if you travelling with your kid, you should keep an eye on them – just in case.

Happened to see a dog take few sips of the fresh water running towards the beach and could not help admire the sight.

Mobor beach – The sand is dark in color. The beach though is very dean
Heavens opening up during Goan Monsoon

 

The resort also had a very good Spa (The ambiance of the Spa was very good, was clean and welcoming )and fitness centre. With so many places to explore during our short stay, we skipped the Spa sessions and thus cannot comment on the therapy sessions.

The pool area:

The highlight of the trip has to be the time that we spend around the pool. We were blessed with sunshine for couple of days during our stay and we had a great time by the pool. The pool is very well laid out and can accommodate many people – There is a small kids pool by the main pool. The pool was very clean and there are ample number of sun beds available. Click here for more pictures.

We had a great time at Holiday Inn – Goa and would recommend this resort for a great family vacation. Pack your bags and enjoy a great vacation at this resort by a private beach which is clean and picturesque. 

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