Goa stay safe · Goa travel safety advice
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Goa travel safety advice
Goa travel safety advice
Goa is an ideal holiday destination for travelers, but tourists should bear in mind that like any country with all its heritage and culture comes its own set of safety issues. Readers, please don’t be alarmed with the advice you may get here, but it's just the guidelines to the dos and don'ts in Goa.
Western women should not walk on the beaches at night alone. If you have to, take along a companion.
Do not accept un-bottled drinks from strangers under any circumstances.
Do not accept rides from strangers, locals or foreigners, especially at night.
Do not indulge with drugs.
Be careful when wading at the beach as undertow riptide currents can be strong in certain beaches. Avoid the mouths of all rivers (such as the Mandovi River at Miramar), especially at low tide when the flow of the water current out to sea is the strongest. And just don't get into the water at all in the off season. The safe swimming period in Goa is November to early May.
Avoid contact with unprocessed cashew nuts as they contain an irritant ('urusiol') also present in poison ivy. The cashew apple is edible when ripe.
Goans are very friendly and helpful; should you have any problems, talk immediately to the nearest Goan shop, restaurant or bystander and ask for help.
Travel guides can be expensive and have been known to dupe foreign visitors. Try your hand at travelling alone, buy a map and hire a taxi or rent a bike. Befriend a decent taxi driver and agree on regular business.
Temperatures in winter and summer can be extreme, so do not forget sunscreen.
Beware of hawkers who always mark up their goods up to 300%.
Beware of any scam that offers a free ride in return for a "prize". The prize will suck guaranteed.
Beware of guides offering to take you to a disco with lots of attractive girls, who will dance with you. This is a sucker scam to cheat you of your money.
Also, beware the 'ear doctors', who are more likely to accost men than women and 'produce' some tiny revolting creature, supposedly from your ear, for which they then offer a 'cure' (It is, however, humorous to read the cards they print up promoting themselves).
While travelling by train, beware of pickpockets, strangers who offer you snacks or tea, and other such people who make trains in India a regular hunting ground.{Please make sure not to take off your precious footwear(In non a/c coaches), or you might not have anything to wear next morning. The same goes with all your valuables}
Don't trust travel agents who say that a train is fully booked! They want you to hire a car that costs more and provides them a kick back. A better thing to do is to check out the details yourself on the Indian Railways website . Also, you can book your railway ticket online on www.irctc.co.in.
Emergency services
Goa now has a common number for police/fire/ambulance services. Just dial 108 in case of any emergency. This service is run by the GVK EMRI (Emergency Management and Research Institute) and is based out of Goa Medical College (Bambolim) and has ambulances posted at various parts of Goa. These ambulances are fully equipped and have trained paramedics.
Ambulance
Goa Medical College (Bambolim) 102 or 2458725
Goa Air Ambulance +91 98211 50889
Indian Red Cross (Panjim) 2224601
Esperance Clinic (Panjim) 2463185
Margao Ambulance Trust (Margao) 2714464
Ravi Naik Trust (Ponda) 2312608
Ambulance And Welfare Trust (Panjim) 2227997
Fire service
The number to Fire Service is 191.
Police
Police Head Quarters, near Azad Maidan, Panjim
[email protected] [email protected]
Roadways Enquiry
KTC (Kadamba-Goa) 2438034 to 2438037
MSRTC (Maharashtra) 2438253
KSRTC (Karnataka) 2438256
Official media
All India Radio 2224455
Doordarshan 2224312
Press Information Bureau 2226929
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Goa
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Goa Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.