Goa is not one place — it is three, and most people only see one

You land at Mopa or Dabolim and the driver takes you straight to the Calangute–Candolim strip — thirty-five minutes from Dabolim, closer to an hour from Mopa. Check in, drop the bags, and walk to the beach. The shacks run from around ten in the morning to eleven at night; swim only between the red-and-yellow lifeguard flags, which are strict about this and right to be. The afternoon is yours.

At six in the evening you board the Santa Monica for an hour on the Mandovi. The boat moves past the Panjim promenade and the whitewashed Reis Magos fort on the far bank, with live Goan folk music and a fado set on deck. It is touristy and it is worth doing on the first evening, when you are still getting your bearings, rather than when you would rather be somewhere else.

A half-day run up the coast, starting at Fort Aguada. The Portuguese built it in 1612 to stop the Dutch, and the four-storey lighthouse and the freshwater cistern — aguada means watering place — are still there. Then north through Sinquerim, past the Anjuna cliffs where the Wednesday flea market sets up through the season, and up to Vagator's twin beaches and the Chapora headland. Go up to the Chapora fort walls for the view down both sides of the coast; the steps are uneven and there is no railing at the edge.

You are back at the hotel by one at the latest. The afternoon and evening are free — this is the day to find your shack, order a plate of fried kingfish with poi bread, and decide whether you want a water sport or another beer. Skip the dolphin-watching motorboats at Sinquerim; the boats are fast, the dolphins are rare, and the thirty minutes are not worth the ₹500.

Check out and drive to Old Goa, thirty minutes east of Calangute on the NH66. Go before eleven; after that the heat and the crowd both turn difficult. The Basilica of Bom Jesus holds St Francis Xavier's body in a silver casket above the right transept — entry is free and dress respectfully. Se Cathedral across the lawn is the largest church in Asia; the Golden Bell in its south tower cracked centuries ago and still rings. Ninety minutes covers both; the Old Goa Heritage Walk from Viator's Make It Happen team (117330P2) adds a guide who knows which walls are Portuguese and which are Kadamba, which is the difference between knowing you were here and understanding what you saw.

Then Dona Paula and the Miramar seafront, and south over the Zuari bridge to Colva or Benaulim. The sand here is wider, the shacks fewer, and the sunsets longer. A Goan seafood dinner is included tonight — pomfret in recheado masala if the kitchen has it, and rice, always rice.

Colva beach is at its best before nine, when the fishing boats come back in and the sand is cool. Walk south towards Benaulim and you will have it almost to yourself. Dabolim airport is forty minutes from here; Mopa is ninety. Tell us which flight you are on and the pick-up time sorts itself.

If you have a late flight and want to use the morning, the Fontainhas Heritage Walk (117330P1 or 138452P2) in Panaji takes two and a half hours and runs most mornings. The Latin Quarter's ochre and indigo houses are repainted after every monsoon, and the light before ten is the reason photographers come specifically for that hour.