Goa beyond the beaches: Fontainhas, Old Goa and Chandor

Fontainhas is the old quarter of Panjim, a few lanes of 19th-century houses between the Altinho hill and the Ourem creek. The houses are painted ochre, blue, green and red, with tiled roofs, wooden balconies and blue-and-white azulejo name plates. It is small enough to walk in two hours, and early morning is best, when bakers deliver poi bread by bicycle and the light falls along the lanes. The Chapel of St Sebastian, with its crucifix from the old Palace of the Inquisition, sits at the heart of it.

Start at the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, its white façade above a double flight of zigzag steps on Panjim's main square. Walk up through the lanes of Fontainhas and São Tomé, stopping at small galleries and a tile workshop, and finish with coffee and a pastry. In the evening, the quarter is quiet and lamplit. A guide who grew up here brings the houses to life, naming the families and pointing out the details you would otherwise miss.

Old Goa, 10 km up the Mandovi from Panjim, was the capital of Portuguese India in the 16th and 17th centuries, a city of churches, convents and palaces. Epidemics and the silting of the river emptied it, and the capital moved downstream. What survives are the Churches and Convents of Goa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986, set among lawns and palms. The Basilica of Bom Jesus holds the relics of St Francis Xavier; the Sé Cathedral across the road is one of the largest churches in Asia.

Allow a long morning. Beside the cathedral, the Church of St Francis of Assisi has a carved and gilded interior, and the convent next door houses the Archaeological Museum, with portraits of the Portuguese governors. Up the hill, the ruined tower of St Augustine stands alone. Dress with shoulders and knees covered. On 3 December, the Feast of St Francis Xavier draws pilgrims from across India, and the area is crowded for the novena before it.

In the villages of Salcete in south Goa, families who prospered under the Portuguese built large houses with long verandas, ballrooms, chapels and furniture from across the empire. Several are still lived in by descendants who open them to visitors. In Chandor, about 13 km east of Margao, Braganza House runs the length of the village square, divided into two wings owned by two branches of the family, with a ballroom of mirrors and chandeliers and a fine library. Fernandes House nearby has a hidden escape passage and old arms.

Loutolim, about 10 km north of Margao, has the Figueiredo mansion and Casa Araujo Alvares, set among paddy and coconut groves. These are private homes, not museums: visits are usually by donation and on the family's terms, and hours vary, so we arrange each visit ahead and check current status before you travel. From Panjim, Chandor is about 45 km and an hour and a quarter by road; from the south coast resorts it is closer.

Two islands lie in the Mandovi a few minutes from Old Goa and Ribandar, reached by the flat ferries that carry cars, scooters and walkers across the river. Divar is a quiet place of paddy fields, old houses and a hilltop church, Our Lady of Piety, with views over the river to Old Goa. Lanes wind between Portuguese-era homes with wide verandas, and there is almost no traffic. In late August the island holds Bonderam, a festival of flags and floats.

Chorao, next door, holds the Dr Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, a mangrove reserve best seen from a canoe at high tide in the early morning, with kingfishers, herons and, with luck, crocodiles on the mudbanks. Ferry times and fares change, so check current status before you travel. We pair the islands with Old Goa in a single day: churches in the morning, lunch in a village house and the ferry back at sunset.

Goan food is the meeting of Konkan cooking and four centuries of Portuguese influence, with vinegar, chillies from the Americas and pork alongside coconut and fish. The Catholic and Hindu kitchens differ, and both are worth seeking out. A day of family cooking in a Salcete house, or a market morning in Mapusa or Panjim, teaches more than any restaurant. Hindu Saraswat cooking leans on fish, coconut, kokum and vegetables, while Catholic kitchens add pork, vinegar and the Portuguese love of sweets and bread. Long-running family taverns in Panjim and the Salcete villages still cook this way. These are the dishes we ask guests to try.

• Xacuti: chicken or mutton in a dark curry of roasted coconut and spices
• Cafreal: chicken marinated in green chilli, coriander and lime, then pan-fried
• Vindaloo: pork in vinegar and garlic, far subtler than the restaurant versions abroad
• Fish curry rice: the daily meal, with kokum, coconut and the catch of the day
• Prawn balchão and recheado mackerel stuffed with red masala
• Poi and pão: Goan breads from the village bakers, morning and evening
• Bebinca: a layered coconut and egg dessert, and dodol for Christmas
• Feni: a spirit distilled from cashew apples or coconut toddy

This plan fits easily into a week at the beach, one day at a time, or as three days in a row from a hotel near Panjim. Drive times are short: Panjim to Old Goa takes about 20 minutes, and Old Goa to the Divar ferry about five. Start early on each day, rest through the heat of the afternoon and keep the evenings for food and the lanes. If you are based in the south, swap the order and do Chandor and Loutolim first, as they are closer to the Salcete resorts. A private car and a guide for each day mean you are never hunting for parking in the old quarters.

November to February is the best time, dry and 20–33 °C, with Christmas and the Feast of St Francis Xavier in December. March to May is hot and humid. From June to September the monsoon turns Goa green: beaches are quiet and seas rough, but churches, mansions and the islands are lovely in the rain. Mopa airport in the north is about an hour from Panjim and Dabolim about 45 minutes, so either works.

For Panjim and Old Goa, stay at Cidade de Goa above the bay at Dona Paula or Ahilya by the Sea at Nerul; for Chandor and the south, Taj Exotica at Benaulim is about 30 minutes away. Our Portuguese Goa journey covers all of this over seven nights, from ₹2,20,000 per person, twin sharing, and the Goan food and feni trail is six nights from ₹1,85,000.