Wonderful Stay !
We were a family of 2 adults and 2 children, aged 8 and 3. We had a wonderful vacation in Goa and stayed in Santana for 4 nights. It was a pleasant experience overall. I would definitely come back again and stay here.
Property
The resort was very nice, with a lot of greenery. The space is utilized to the maximum, so rooms are not very far away from each other. There were two swimming pools, one with a sunken bar was really good. Spent an evening there with nice food and drinks. The other swimming pool beside the restaurant/bar was small and we didn’t use that. There is a beach very close by and about less than 5 mins walk from the resort. There’s a bar, and a restaurant close to it. A lot of sunbeds around the pool and in the lawn make it very good for sunbathing.
Room
We were allotted room 505, with 2 bedrooms and a double bed in each, but no balcony. It was thoughtful of them to give us that room because with 2 kids, it made sense to get an extra room than a balcony. Room was good, decent ambience. I wouldn’t say amazing interiors, but spotlessly clean. A nice bed for comfortable sleep. A two-seater and single-seater sofa-cum-bed. A small kitchenette with basic coffee-maker and some glasses. A decently stocked mini-bar. All these were fine.
However, bathroom was a little old-school, a little inconvenient with the shower taps. Couldn’t manage hot water for long time. The toggle between tap and shower wouldn’t work, needs replacement. Each time you had to close the hot and cold taps and open them again to get the ‘right’ hot water. A bit inconvenient, but manageable. Toiletries were ok.
TV could have been a little bigger for comfortable viewing.
Food
The complimentary breakfast was good, but the spread was limited. There was one Indian dish each day that you could order, and rest of the items on the buffet were continental. You also could order Masala Omelette/Scrambled eggs to your table. Food was tasty and the coffee was good. The restaurant is not very big, so around 09:00-10:00AM, it can get a bit crowded. We went early on one day and it was convenient.
Had a pleasant evening at the bar with nice drinks and side-eats. It was good too.
Service
In general, one thing worth mentioning is that staff need to be told that it is ok to wish Indians too 😉 When you see a staff about 10m away, wishing someone pleasant goody goody ‘Good Morning’ and the next moment, he passes by you seeing you straight in the eye, without a smile, without a greeting, then something is not right.
Well, there were staff at the restaurant who were very friendly, the lady who was there to greet us in the restaurant enquiring if everything was ok, the security at the main gate who was always with a pleasant smile. The guys at the reception, were helpful, but wouldn’t say very ‘polite’. They were like ‘straight-to-the-point’, no smile, no friendly conversation, no greeting. It got better after a couple of days though. So that needs a bit of a step up.
General
You can rent a bike from the hotel and that is the most convenient mode of transportation to local places around.
There is a beach shack called Calamari, just about 2 mins from the resort, with amazing food and live music.
Other good places to eat on the main road – Fisherman’s Cove, The Curry House.
Sinquerim, Candolim, Calangute, Baga beaches are all close by.
Taxi is available on call from the reception. The tariff is there on the noticeboard.
Wi-fi was chargeable, more than the money, the username/password, connecting to it each time was a hassle. It worked perfectly though.
Overall, we had a memorable stay in Santana, and would surely consider this when we return to Goa.
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