Anjuna Beach is 18 kms from Panaji is a popular beach area adjacent to Chapora fort and Baga it was the haunt of the flower generation in the sixties - and is still popular with the younger generation. In Anjuna there is magnificent Albuquerque mansion built in 1920, flanked by octagonal towers and attractive Mangalore tiled-roof. The Anjuna band plays for the beach party at night.

Anjuna Beach is 18 kms from Panaji is a popular beach area adjacent to Chapora fort and Baga it was the haunt of the flower generation in the sixties - and is still popular with the younger generation. In Anjuna there is magnificent Albuquerque mansion built in 1920, flanked by octagonal towers and attractive Mangalore tiled-roof. The Anjuna band plays for the beach party at night.

In Anjuna Beach Goa Palm trees stand motionless in the warm air. To the east is a mountain. If you want to return to civilization, climb the mountain to get to Baga where you can catch a ferry out.

Designer leather and lycra may have superseded cotton Kaftans, but most people's reasons for coming are the same as they were in the 1970s: dancing and lying on the beach slurping tropical fruit. While browsing in the area have a day trip to the famous Anjuna flea market.

The most notable feature here is the Wednesday flea market that operates in the shade of palm trees behind the beach. The Chapora Fort is close by.

Anjuna frequented by a wide assortment of a fascinating mix of humanity attracts a weird and wonderful collection of over monks, defiant ex-hippies, gentle lunatics, artists, artisans, seers, searchers, writers, sybarites and itinerant expatriates who normally wouldn't be seen out of the organic confines of their health-food emporia in San Francisco or London. 

Bathing is generally safer than at most of the nearby resorts, too, especially at the more peaceful southern end, where a rocky headland keeps the sea calm and the undertow to a minimum.

Full moon, when the infamous parties take place, is a particularly good time to be here if you want to indulge in bacchanalian delights.

Flea Market
Anjuna’s Wednesday flea market, held in the coconut plantation behind the southern end of the beach, is the hub of Goa's alternative scene and the place to indulge in a spot of souvenir shopping.

A few years back, the weekly event was the exclusive preserve of backpackers and the area’s seasonal residents, who gathered here to smoke chillums and to buy and sell clothes and jewelry they probably wouldn’t have the nerve to wear anywhere else: something like a small pop festival without the stage. These days, however, everything is more organized and mainstream. Pitches are rented out by the meter, drugs are banned and the approach roads to the village are choked solid all day with air-conditioned buses and cars ferrying in tourists from resorts further down the coast.

The range of goods on sale has broadened, too, thanks to the high profile of migrant hawkers and stall-holders from other parts of India. Each region or culture is allotted its own corner. At one end, Westerners congregate around racks of rave gear, Techno tapes, designer beachwear and clapped-out old Enfields sporting "For Sale" signs. Nearby, hawk-eyed Kashmiris sit cross-legged beside trays of silver jewelry and papier-mâché boxes, while trendily dressed Tibetans preside over orderly rows of prayer wheels, turquoise bracelets and sundry Himalayan curios. Most distinctive of all are the Lamani women from Karnataka, decked from head to toe in traditional tribal garb, selling elaborately woven multicoloured cloth, which they fashion into everything from jackets to money belts, and which makes even the Westerners party gear look positively funereal. Elsewhere, you’ll come across dazzling Rajasthani mirror-work and block-printed bedspreads, Keralan woodcarvings and scattering of Gujarati appliqué.

What you end up paying for this exotic merchandise largely depends on your ability to haggle. Lately, prices have been inflated as tourists not used to be dealing in rupees will part with almost anything. Be persistent, though, and cautious, and you can usually pick things up for a reasonable rate.

Even if you’re not spending, the Anjuna  flea market is a great place just to sit and watch the world go by. Mingling with the suntanned masses are bands of strolling musicians, mendicant sadhus, fortune-telling bull and snake charmers.

Eating and drinking

The beach shacks tend to be overpriced by comparison with those elsewhere in the state (especially on flea market days, when they hike their prices) but many will feel the location is worthy paying for. Responding to the tastes of its alternative visitors, the village also boasts a crop of quality wholefood cafes serving healthy vegetarian dishes and juices.