Why you Need to Ditch Goa for Sri Lankan Beaches Right Now!
Breakups are painful, but sometimes a more beautiful and fun version of your first love comes along and you know things will never be the same again. Before my girlfriend leaves me for good, I need to clarify I’m talking about my first love — Goa. Goa, we’ve had some fun times together. The days spent lazing around on the beach, the nights spent partying till dawn, and the fun times riding around on scooters. We’ve had a good run, but I’m afraid I have found someone else. Sri Lanka has shown me what true love is and I can never go back. To give you closure I need to explain why I’m doing this.
Getting to Sri Lankan beaches is ridiculously simple
At first glance, it seemed that traveling to a different country would be long and painful. But I realized that planning a trip to Sri Lanka took half the effort than going to Goa. It takes less than 5 minutes to get an online travel visa to Sri Lanka. The flight to Colombo is only two hours from Mumbai and costs about the same as a flight to Goa during the season. Once at the airport, the beaches are only an hour away. And my favorite part is that you get taxis that will drop you to your destination at a fixed nominal price.
The beaches are clean and much more beautiful
The first time I set my eyes on Mirissa I realized what a beach is really supposed to look like. Fine white sand, transparent blue-green water, and shacks with a wide range of cuisines. Far from the polluted and garbage strewn stretches of Goa, Sri Lanka gives off a tranquil vibe that cannot be matched. I was so used to the idea of Goa that the concept of water so clean that I could see the bottom of the ocean was almost alien to me. I spent hours taking lazy swims in the ocean.
The crowd is lesser and from all over the world
Let’s face it. The long wait to get a table at shacks, the shoddy service, and the traffic at odd hours have affected Goa so much that it resembles Bandra on a Friday night. You run into the same people in Goa that you do in Mumbai. I travel to get away from the craziness in Mumbai and Sri Lanka offers just that. Sri Lanka has just enough people without the crowded craziness. Unlike Goa, travelers come from all over the world. I was hard pressed to find any Indians, but that was a good thing. People are generally friendly and I ended up getting to know different cultures from abroad up close.
The parties are awesome and go on all night
Beer in Sri Lanka is dirt cheap! Almost every part of Sri Lanka has an active nightlife. From the Wednesday night parties at Jungle Beach that last till dawn, to the countless shacks in Unawatuna that that will play everything from EDM to classic rock, Sri Lanka is every party animals dream. Remember the beautiful beaches I spoke about? All this happens just off the ocean. You can hop shacks all night by simply taking a walk on the beach.
The hotels are beautiful and insanely cheap
I have paid an arm and a leg for a dingy shack in Goa more times I can remember. I never had the satisfaction to say that the hotel I was paying for was worth it. So when I booked a small bed and breakfast in Mirissa I wasn’t expecting much. Once I reached there I was surprised to find that the hotel was exceptional. White linen, clean bathrooms, air conditioning, and free breakfast, for 24$ a night (Approximately 1500 INR) this was a steal. All I had to do was get out of the hotel and I was already at the beach. Gone are the days that I have to make do with shady rooms.
Goa, I know you’ve been good to me but you’ve changed. I need someone who gives me the same things that you did when we started off — the calmness, the fun nights, and the cheap good quality hotels. But you’re no longer the same. So this is it. I’m never coming back.
-Sagar Shah, Manager at Vista Rooms
