Palolem Beach

Palolem is in Canacona, at the southern end of Goa, a crescent of about a kilometre and a half between two rocky headlands with a small island at the northern end that can be walked to at low tide. It is the best known of the southern Goan beaches and the least like the northern ones.

Its arrangement is the interesting part. Structures on the sand here are temporary by regulation: wooden and palm-thatch huts and restaurants are built at the start of each season and removed before the monsoon, so the beach that exists in January does not exist in July. That rule, and the coastal zone regulations behind it, is why Palolem has never acquired a permanent built line, unlike Calangute or Baga in the north.

The bay is sheltered by its headlands and the water is calm, shallow and warm through the season, with a gradual entry that suits children and weak swimmers. Kayaks and dolphin-spotting boats work from the sand. Because the huts are seasonal, so is everything else — power, water and rubbish collection are improvised, and the environmental strain is real and documented.

Development is a single street behind the beach with shops, guesthouses and scooter rental. The famous silent discos — headphone parties, run because amplified music on the beach is prohibited after ten — are a direct product of the noise regulation and have become the thing Palolem is known for after the beach itself. Patnem, a fifteen-minute walk south over the headland, is the quieter version with the same arrangement, and Agonda further on is quieter still — the three together are what south Goa means in practice.

Everything on this sand is built in October and taken away in May, so the beach in the photographs does not exist for half the year. In season it is a crescent of coco huts, silent discos because amplified music is banned after ten, and calm water good for weak swimmers. Out of season it is a bare bay, which is worth seeing too.