We stayed at the Taj Holiday Village for two weeks on the insistence on my new partner who had had issues with the cleanliness at Silla Goa the previous year - apparently the hotel was too \"insecty\". After 8 years visiting the Osborne, I initially baulked at the cost, but was persuaded as it meant a return to Goa for another holiday. I was pleasantly surprised as to how refined the hotel was - soft beds, clean sheets and no \"streaky\" towels meant that Jane was in heaven - a 40\" plasma on the wall of the room meant I was too :-)
We stayed in one of the Garden rooms - these are large rooms with a balcony or patio set in blocks of 4 - with a large super king bed. They have all you\'d expect - multi-channel TV, ...
Fridge and hi-fi/dvd etc - Fresh fruit and bottled water was supplied free of charge every day, which was nice. There was a large bathroom with ample supplies of hot water.
Breakfast in the hotel was superb - freshly made dosas, omelettes, pancakes could be ordered from a bank of chefs with all the trimmings - idly, bacon, sausage, bahji etc available buffet style around as were fresh fruits and juices and staff that were willing to do anything for you.
We stayed by the pool one day when I had an upset stomache and was very disappointed with both the pool-side snacks - expensive and poorly presented (chicken burger with no side salad or relish - very bland) as was room service.
We ate in the restaurant one evening as well - the hotel restaurant where breakfast is served and not the Banyan Tree. Again I was disappointed - The chicken tikka was vastly over priced and not as nice as Maggie\'s or Golden Eye\'s or just about any I\'ve had in the previous 9 visits to Goa - I can\'t remember my main, so that sums it up.
The bar was very nice, if expensive, with Jane being determined to try every version of Martini she could. Plumping for the Zen Martini (ginger) being the best of a very good bunch.
There were a couple of things I wasn\'t too keen on - call me tight, but Rs 150 for a small kingfisher is expensive in anyone\'s books. I got around the expensiveness (is there such a word?) by deciding to treat the Taj as UK prices and book everything to the room and paid it off using the N/W Flex card on checking out. That way I managed to not feel to bad about it, though I did keep going to reception just to check how my tab was doing.
You feel a long way out of it at the Taj - and although it\'s not much of a walk into Candolim, I\'d rather not - the downside to this is the price of the cabs - The cabs at the resort wanted to charge at least 50% more than ones off it, which meant me asking every night how much to the stonehouse etc ? and replying \"you must be joking!\" to their reply - we ended up getting a one-eyed, tame cabbie that pretty much drove us around all the time.
About half way through the holiday the room started to smell of wee (for the want of a better word) - we reported it and the room lads plunged the plugs etc which made the worst of it go away, but it never seemed to go away totally - It wasn\'t bad enough to want to move rooms, but I always felt there was a slight smell. So when my missus bangs on about the streaky towels in the Silla, I reminder of the wee smell at the Taj :)
To sum it up - the Taj is a very nice place to stay and we will be going back next year - Brekkie was brilliant as were the grounds, pools and the room was very comfortable - Did I prefer it to the Osborne - Yes, If it was down to me would I rather stay there or the Osborne - then for me it would be the Osborne every time, but it\'s not up to me, so \"Taj Holiday Village\" we will be back !
Rakkor
Read MoreTour Operator: Somak
Recommended: Yes