Hotel Reviews of Santana Beach Resort

5.00
JEAN, Pune | 31^st January 2008
Hotel Review of Santana Beach Resort
Comments: Goa has always been the 1st choice for our family vacation especially when we have just a few days to spare( 3-5 days) & no advance travel bookings to be made as the 7 hour drive from Pune is quite a breeze with the new expressway thru Kolhapur.
Since it is our must go holiday place every year, we try out different resorts on different beaches each year & it turns out to be quite an adventure each time.Sometimes, we drive on to other interesting places further south or east , like Vythiri ( Kerala) , Coorg,Dandeli, Hampi (Karnataka). You guessed it- Goa & it's exquisite neighbours never loses it's charm , year after year.
This Jan, we got a good deal for a family room at the Santana beach resort on Candolim beach.Made the bookings on phone through Make my trip .com & had a few initial hiccups where the staff didn't quite understand that a family room is meant to accomodate a family of 4 & tried to charge extra for the 2 children accompanying.
I had to phone the hotel itself & get it confirmed that there was no extra charge for the children & after a few phone calls back & forth with Make my trip.com ( I almost didn't book thru them cos they then tried to add a tax!) things were finally smoothened out.
The Santana Beach Resort is superbly located just off the Dando beach at Candolim.
However, the family rooms are located at the far end of the resort, away from the beach.This was not a big problem for us as our kids are quite big & could find their way around. However, the block where these rooms are located seem to be recently acquired by the hotel & only 3 were occupied by guests, while the others were being done up & had some workers living in them. So the ambience from the balcony was not the best ( the next door resort too was under construction), but while in Goa, you never spend too much time in the room, so not a problem. I guess by the next season, this block will be well incorporated into the main resort & will be quite fine! Being the peak season, most of the other rooms were occupied by chartered group tourists, Russians, I think.-mostly elderly folk, so the resort was really peaceful!
The rooms were really basic, no ambience there! The living room had a TV & a sofa cum bed to accomodate 2 children.There was a convenient little kitchenette with a small fridge & hot water kettle & a supply of coffee & tea bags- handy!
The beach right in front of the resort has quite a few rocks & pebbles, so it's best to walk to the right towards the Big Ship stranded there & lay out on the sunbeds provided by the shacks- free if u eat or drink there.The sea can be quite rough sometimes but our kids enjoyed the big waves & couldn't have enough even though we lost our sunglasses & goggles to the ocean.
Sadly, a lot of sand from the beach has been eroded since we were there last, leaving a lot of gaping rocks towards the Sinquerim ( Taj Village) side.
Breakfast provided by the resort was just ok- eggs, toast, cornflakes, biscuits, coffee,tea & mango frooti! Some local fruit like banana/papaya would have been lovely, & many other resorts also offer an Indian breakfast like idli/wadas . One could order for a fresh fruit platter for an additional cost of Rs 120.
Other than the breakfast, we didn't eat any other meals at the hotel.The beach shacks Calamari & Amanda win hands down on location & dinner with your toes in the sand is what Goa is about! Besides the beach shacks, the road along Candolim is alive with restaurants serving good food & live entertainment so u can stroll down & make your choice every night- karaoke or bingo, butter chicken or sorpotel...
The pool at the resort is really small( so is their car park), so our kids didn't even bother to unpack the large inflatables they brought along. However, they bought a boogie board from the surf shop right outside the resort & had a blast with it in the ocean.- Who needs a pool ( even a small one!) when u can have the ocean ?
Taxis are easily available & u can bargain for a good rate. We tried some water sports - parasailing from a winch boat & jet skiing at Calangute, but other than that, that beach is way too crowded for swimming. For a lovely beach experience, we drove way up north to Morjim , which is still unspoilt- no hawkers, motorised watersports.-just a great expanse of sand & sea & some shacks during the season where u can eat, shower & even stay overnite for a back to nature experience, & maybe if u are lucky ,on a full moon night, be witness to the hatching of Olive Ridley turtles who are known to nest there every year. Now that would be quite unforgettable!
Best Experience: The Seaside for sure! - Great waves at candolim, watersports at Calangute & a beautiful beach at Morjim! Ingo's night market at Arpora on saturday nights is a great place to hang out for good entertainment, varied foods (Spanish paella to japanese sushi)& an amazing range of products on sale!
Makes u wonder where u are!
Worst Experience: The rooms at the resort didn't have a great ambience. Furniture was just put in place & the light switches were in all the wrong places & had us quite puzzled on the 1st day.
Not too bothersome after that!

5.56
Jenny, Bangalore | 06^th December 2007
Hotel Review of Santana Beach Resort
I stayed for 4 nights at this resort in October and had a great stay. Got a fantastic deal through Travelguru. The rooms were very spacious and comfortable. Had a great day doing nothing done swimming in the pool and the beach adjacent to the resort. Would definately recommend this hotel....

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6.00
Amit Rai, Noida | 15^th October 2007
Hotel Review of Santana Beach Resort
As a tourist i assume a resort/hotel makes your trip 50% relaxing but Santana Resort in North Goa did much more than that. Its is a fabulous resort in North Goa with great aminities,wonderful location and excellent staff. The owner Ms. D'souza is really on top of line her profession. The ambience is really wonderful with studio apartments at quite an affordable prices. Really a great place to spend you vacations!!!...

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2.56
sumba, Noida | 16^th April 2007
Hotel Review of Santana Beach Resort
The hotels location is good & rooms are decent, but the attitude of the owners is pathetic to the point it is deplorable. The owners are downright rude to the point that when you try and talk to them instead of addressing your problem they tell you that they are busy...simple if you are an indian they dont appreciate your business. They are only intersted in getting you to shell out as much advance payment as possible and then harass...

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