Vivanta by Taj - Holiday Village Reviews

The stay at Taj holiday village was fantastic ! It has the requisite privacy, with discrete cottages, not noisy, ollution free and a dreamy beach attached to the resrot !

Stayed for 3Nights through an off-season package, which is great value (around 1/3 the season rates). Very Kid friendly with tons of activities to keep the kids busy (Rappelling, Rope Crossing, Arts, Drama etc.) and staff are great with kids.

Best Experience: The beach, pool, sports and water activities. The Jiva Spa (excellent Jacuzzi & Sauna), do try the massage if you can afford it. (Typical packages are prices around 3,000). Rooms were very neat, clean and very efficiently serviced.

Worst Experience: Food was mediocre not the usual Taj experience you expect. This could be an off-season issue. One exception would be the buffet at the Banyan Tree, which I would highly recommend.

My wife and I went for a 3n/4d stay at the taj village and it was great. It\'s based in north goa, it was off season time (July) and therefore the rates were about 1/3rd of the regular season rates. It\'s all cottages, renovations are on so some aren\'t available, but it is a fantastically well maintained property. Mind you, it\'s monsoon time, high tides and so no beach access but even then, Goa, and this property, is beautiful, green and wet...if you’re ok with that. The room service/ restaurant staff was warm and friendly, well trained and added to the delight of staying there. Our cottage was great, very neat, clean, efficient, air conditioned, great bathroom and closet space and cozy. This was our first visit to the Taj Village, Goa and despite this experience, I still recommend it.

Worst Experience: Now for the \'but\' part - we had booked our package through an online travel agent and had requested a \'single unit\' cottage. The kind where each cottage houses only one guest and isn\'t divided into \'two units\' with a door in between that is locked so that each guest can have their privacy. The agent confirmed this accommodation after checking with the hotel and yet while we landed up at the hotel we were told that the single unit cottages were given away. Add to that, check-in is at noon, our flight was delayed, we ended up there after 2 and were yet made to wait till 4pm before we could step into our cottage. Why? Because a guest had been given the \'extended check out\' option which is supposed to be given only based on availability. We questioned a little further and learnt that it was a big group staying there and therefore their request was accommodated...at the expense of another guest, us! Not good! Our luck got worse though. After freshening up that evening, my wife and I decided to sit in our private garden to have some tea and just as we stepped out, our neighbors, who had brought along a pet dog (and also shared the same ‘private’ garden) decided to enter our room since we had left the door open. Our spontaneous reaction was to shut the door so that the dog doesn’t enter, which we did, and as a result of that locked ourselves out of the room. Then came the hassle of walking across to the reception, in the rain, bare footed, and arranging for a second access card. Now, do you see why we insisted on that ‘single unit’ cottage?

Goa is another creation of God for mankind. The scenice beaches and hapyy faces of the locals with good food is more that anyone can ask for. A holiday to Goa reminds you that you are still young at heart and lots more to enjoy in life. With this spirit, we set off on our train journey from Bangalore to Goa. On arrival we took a cab to from Madgaon to Taj Village resort / Fort Aquada. Both the proerties are twin and you can use all facilitties in both. On arrival we were greeted with tender coconut, warm smiles and courteous staff.

Best Experience: The adventure club incharge attended to su immediately at the reception and gave us a brief on activities included in the tariff and addiitonals. We finall check in to a beautiful sea facing room ( They have several of them) You can sink into their soft beds or have a lovely bath with the spac musice on. They have beautiful space called \'Jiva\' It is one of a kind and to be tried once to papmer yourself. They take you for rock climbing, river rafting right on the Arabian Sea. This is a must do it for all. There is a music and dance troup - live ,every evening to add to the spirit of goa. their buffets and room service are ecellent. food is just awesome. I must mention the efficiency of the housekeeping staff. Very prompt and clean. We had missed our footwear adn they had the efficiency of coureirign it back to us. Kudos Team Taj.

Worst Experience: None at all. Only the sad feeling while checking out :(

Our family of four (includes our two children) started off from Calicut, Kerala by car to Goa around 1000Hrs. We had a leisurely drive visiting folks in Noth Kerala and Mangalore and then on to Goa. The roads start deteriorating after Mangalore and the stretch from Mangalore to Surathkal is pure misery. In fact, the drive upto Kundapur from Mangalore is not recommended. At times, we wished we had flown or taken the Konkan Express. However the little asides, like a stopover at Udupi to see the Krishna temple and a lovely Vegetarian meal (Very inexpensive), made it worth the bumps and curses (inspite of the fact that I was driving a Corolla!!). That evening we stayed at Cancona ( South Goa as you enter from Karwar, roughly 30 Km from Karwar) in a little place by the beach. Next morning we left for Candolim which is beyond Panjim as we were to check in for a two night package by 12. The Taj Holiday village is about 20 Kms from Panjim towards Calangute and Anjuna beach. We arrived by 1300 Hrs but our rooms were not ready as the previous occupant had checked out at 1200. We were hustled by the staff (although very politely) to have our lunch at one of the restaurants by which time our room was ready. The meal (And no doubt, a bottle of Kingfisher) however, put us into a fine mood and we settled down quickly into our lovely sea view cottage. The rooms are cosy cottages with a small private yard with deck chairs and adequate privacy and stunning views of the sea. The sea front bordering the property had collapsed and there were restraining fences to keep guests away. This was a bit of an eyesore and took away part of the beauty of the view. Also, parts of the property were undergoing refurbishment and was fenced rather clumsily. But the rest of the resort was truly stunning with a small 5 hole putting green and a lovely pool with a sunken bar. The next couple of days were pure bliss as we spent most of our time with long walks on the beach (mostly in the early morning) and soaking in the pool. The best part was that we could leave our two children on their own at the pool under the watchful eyes of the staff or at the kid\'s activity centre with very attentive staff (And their own kid\'s meal menu!!) to keep them occupied. The food (We had opted for an \'All Meal\' plan ) was a gatronomic delight, especially the buffet at the \'Caravelle\'. The fixed menu at the Beach house and the Thai restaurant \'Banyan tree\' was good but not as satisfying as the buffet for it\'s variety. One evening we went to the adjacent Fort Aguada Resort ( This is also a Taj property and you can use the facilities there as part of the package , including eating at the restaurants there, as part of the plan. There are very efficient complimentary drop and pick up services to and fro any time of the day or night) to the Italian restaurant for a fixed menu meal which was quite a disappointment. The menu on offer was not upto the standards we had come to expect although the staff were the usual courteous and gracious selves. There was also a half day sight seeing trip to Panjim with guides to show you the Basilica of the baby Jesus and the adjacent cathedral. It was a pleasant half day. On the whole it was an absolutley refreshing and value for money experience (It was priced at off season and we didnt have a spot of rain the whole time which made it full season weather !!!) and We would love to go back (Off season , of course). One final tip, carry your own wine, beer or whatever poison you prefer as the minibar prices in the room and wine prices in the restaurant are truly 5 Star. The road leading upto the resort has some excellent wine stores stocking wonderful Indian (Read SULA, I am a special fan!) and imported wines.

Best Experience: The staff were extremely courteous at all times and cutting across all levels from the pool boys to the front office supervisor. I remember walking into the business centre, quite tipsy and well fed after a meal, at 12 in the night asking for a PC to copy pictures from my camera to my portable hard disk and being served with the same gracious smiling service.

Worst Experience: The only single bad experience was while on my way to the resort from Panjim and when I called up the resort for directions. The operator promptly transferred me to the call centre which would\'nt respond while all along I was looking for a human being to direct me to the property. It was a singularly frustrating experience and I gave up after a couple of times and did things the old fashioned way. I stopped and asked as I got along and found the place, no thanks to the Taj staff.