After visiting family in both North and South India (it's been quite an adventure!), lovely husband and I decided to have some quiet time to ourselves at the beautiful Leela Goa resort. Note: when selecting your other half, it's an excellent idea to ensure his family live in close proximity to exotic and beautiful holiday destinations such as Goa.
Visiting The Leela Goa Resort: Key Planning Points
Location: Mobor, Cavelossim, Salcette, Goa 403731, India. Approximately an hour drive from Goa airport.
Best Time to Visit: British winter time. I visited in December and the weather was perfect between 25℃ - 30℃.
Type of Holiday: A relaxed beach bum retreat perfect for couples. The hotel has a private beach, 3 pools, a golf course, a tennis court, and is perfect for those who want to relax in luxury!
Ideal Length of Stay: 1 week. This gives you plenty of time to enjoy everything the resort has to offer at your leisure with plenty of naps on the beach.
Why Visit: For the beautifully landscaped grounds and excellent service.
What to Pack: Sunscreen and sundresses 😎
Best Bit: Excellent service. The staff are extremely attentive and helpful, you don't need to ask for anything twice and often you don't need to ask at all!
Worst Bit: There are no shops on the resort selling basic holiday essentials that you might forget and the closest shops outside of the resort are a couple of miles away. So come prepared!
Key Tip: The party season in Goa is known to start after the 15th of December with a lot of holidaymakers choosing Goa for Xmas and new years. If you want a quiet and peaceful stay, then the start of December is ideal, but if you want to get involved with the beach party scene, then the Xmas season is best, however, expect prices to skyrocket!
The Leela Goa Resort Review
Arrival
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| The Leela Goa welcome |
After a 4 hour journey by car from my husband's mum's place (because the driver took a wrong turn along the way which almost resulted in me throttling him) I arrived at the Leela Goa Resort.
The Leela has a reputation for being one of the best resorts in Goa and as soon as I walked in, I could see why. Every inch of the grounds is beautifully landscaped and as soon as I stepped out of the car, staff were on hand to welcome us with flowers, and coconut drinks.
My spirits lifted immediately.
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| The Leela Goa Lobby |
We were led into the hotel lobby where the hotel staff checked us into our rooms while we enjoyed our drinks relaxing on the sofas which made a really nice change from the usual rapid exchange of card details and confirmation of room numbers between tiered you and an all too cheery receptionist.
The Leela Goa Lobby
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| The Leela Goa Lobby |
The lobby itself is a great place to hang out in the evenings and a lot of guests can be found there.
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| The Leela Goa Lobby |
There are drinks and snacks available and even a selection of shisha.
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| The Leela Goa Lobby at Night |
On certain nights, live music performances also take place for guests.
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| Me hanging out at the lobby after spending the day sleeping by the pool |
After dinner, and heading down to the resort's in-house club (which was completely empty [😔] because we booked our stay for a quiet period which meant no one apart from a small group of people playing chess were there, and me, because I really wanted to play pool), we decided to hang out in the lobby and enjoy a live Indian classical music performance.
The Leela Goa Rooms
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| The Leela Goa Resort Rooms |
All the rooms at the resort are situated in relation to one of the three lakes on the grounds and are designed like small semi-detached house.
Walking towards our hotel room, I felt like I'd found a small piece of heaven. The trickle of water and the quiet surroundings were so relaxing that I didn't want to leave my room.
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| The Leela Resort Goa Villa |
The villas are situated on the lakes and decorated with creeping flowers and blossoming trees. You can see the immense attention to detail and work that has gone into designing every inch of the resort.
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| The Leela Goa, Lagoon Terrace Room |
The room was extremely comfortable and every small amenity had been thought of including complimentary beach bags and a plugin mosquito repellant, which I appreciated immensely, but luckily didn't need during my stay.
The room also had complimentary bottled water, a DVD player, hairdryer and ironing facilities but full laundry services are also available.
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| Look in Bathroom |
The bathroom is integrated into the room but you can shut the automated blinds for privacy too.
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| The Leela Goa Bathroom |
I think one of my favourite things about staying in a hotel is all of the bath stuff. I just love having 20 towels for my one small body (including towel slippers) and 5 different creams even though putting on a simple moisturiser is a chore for me when I'm at home.
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| Lots of Towels. Yeay! |
The only thing they don't supply, and for some reason even the best hotels never do, is toothpaste! So make sure you pack some.
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| Ample bath salts, moisturisers, face towels, shower caps and anything else you need. |
All of the soaps smell amazing and are a lot nicer than your average miniatures - worth stealing.
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| Extra Deep Bath Tub |
The bathroom also has an extra deep bathtub which I took note of as soon as I walked in and earmarked it for a relaxing evening. It was 100% worth it. No more cold knees!
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| Leela Goa Shower |
There is also a really nice and spacious waterfall shower in the bathroom and after a few questionable showers during my India trip (including one where a gecko watched me for the best part of it) I was feeling particularly grateful.
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| View from my Leela Goa Resort |
And then there was the view from my room's balcony....
I think I've made my point.
The only odd thing that happened during my stay was a brief power cut which lasted a couple of seconds. Pretty understandable given we were in a remote part of India, but the hotel has its own backup generator and so there was only a moment's delay before everything was rebooted.
Leela Goa Grounds
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| The Leela Goa Resort Grounds |
The resort is set in 75 acres of land and there are scheduled buggy tours that take place in the evenings to make sure you get a chance to see all of it. Or if you are like me, you can go exploring and enjoy a walk.
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| Just Blending in with the Lily Pads |
The only thing missing was some shops! Unfortunately, the resort only has 3 - 5 gift shops, none of which sell any essentials you may have forgotten (like toothpaste and flipflops!). The nearest shops are a couple of miles away, so you really can't afford to forget to pack anything!
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| The Leela Goa Resort Grounds |
There are also three pools available (one of which is for kids).
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| The Leela Goa Resort Pool |
The main pool also has a "water cave" (seen below) which you can swim into. It's a lot of fun.
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| The Leela Goa Resort Pool |
Staff is always on hand to bring over snacks and drinks and set up your deck chairs with towels. The pools are open till late meaning you can have a relaxing swim in the dark!
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| The Leela Goa Resort at Night |
Given how green and luscious it is, you have to wonder how they manage to keep the wildlife out...
In the evenings I spotted staff spraying the resort with mosquito spray and gardeners and security guards patrolling the resort. All I know is, I didn't spot a single snake or gekko or even a mosquito while there....
The Leela Goa Beach
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| Goa Private Beach |
We were recommended by almost everyone we met in India to book a resort with a private beach. A lot of the public beaches in Goa can be run down and there is known to be a drug culture in some areas which means if you don't know the area that well, you could end up with less than a relaxing getaway.
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| Goa Beach |
But if you navigate to the right spot, then Goa's beaches are probably the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen and are even nicer than those found in Bali and Dubai.
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| Goa Beaches |
The sand is so fine that when the waves wash in it smoothens so perfectly that you feel like you are walking on cement until it crumbles away under your feet.
But the waves are deceptively strong and you are recommended to not swim in the sea. Even as I walked through the water, close to the shore, the waves were strong enough to push me over. However, the good thing was there weren't any jellyfish when I visited in December or any crabs meaning you could stroll through the water worry-free.
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| The Leela Goa Private Beach |
The Leela Goa's private beach has plenty of snack and drinks available and a handy flag system to either grab the staff's attention or to ask not to be disturbed if you fancy a wee nap!
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| Enjoying a Leela Mocktail on the Beach |
Then you can just sit back and relax....
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| Goa Bird |
And enjoy the company of this little guy who likes to walk around and mind his own business (unless you are eating nuts - then he wants your nuts.)
The Leela Goa Food
There are 7 restaurants available at the resort so there is no shortage of good food.
The Restaurant (Buffet) - All Day Dining
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| The Buffet Restaurant at The Leela Goa Resort Outdoor seating area |
Thes Restaurant is the main dining area at the resort and serves a breakfast, lunch, and dinner buffet and includes a wide variety of cuisines with all the usual suspects including Chinese, Indian and European food.
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| Trying some traditional south Indian food at the buffet breakfast |
Out of all the restaurants I tried at the resort, the food at "The Restaurant" was probably the most underwhelming. But their morning dosa's were particularly good.
As they say, when in Rome....
Jamavar - Indian Restaurant
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| Rogan Josh Lamb Shank |
The resort's Indian restaurant was surprisingly really good. I didn't expect the food to be as authentic and tasty as it was given we were in a resort but it didn't let me down.
The food was tasty but not spicy which is how I like it.
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| Kashmiri Chicken Biryani |
I really did stuff my face which was surprising because hot weather usually doesn't inspire me to eat Indian food and also I had pretty much been eating Indian food non-stop for 2 weeks at this point (interrupted by some casual Chinese food - they love it over there).
But the food was too good not to eat it.
The staff are incredibly attentive to such an extent that every time I asked my husband to pass over a dish, a waiter would jump into action to serve you food which resulted in me trying to dodge the waiter's gaze so I could plate up for myself!
Susegado - Grilled Food Restaurant
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| Susegado at the Leela Goa Resort |
If you are wanting to have a romantic dinner, then the Susegado is the place to go.
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| Susegado at the Leela Goa Resort |
It's situated on the beach and serves a great selection of seafood, which Goa is known for, including lobster, but also a variety of other grilled foods and steak.
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| Calamari |
What I would say is, all the restaurants at the resort are expensive, and prices are in line with what you would expect from a nice restaurant in the U.K. The food, is of course good, but depending on your length of stay, it can add up, and so it's worth considering inclusive or half-board options depending on what works for you.
All in all, if you are thinking about visiting Goa and you want a luxurious break, the Leela should definitely be on your list.
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| Bye Bye Goa |
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