The guidebooks say that the most idyllic beaches are to the south of Goa. This is not necessarily true. We went up to north Goa for a few days and stayed at Aswem beach which is a couple of miles away from Arambol.
Aswem was gorgeously peaceful with hardly anyone on it apart from a few beach huts. After staying in Anjuna is was a complete retreat. This was a few years ago and hopefully it is still the same. Arambol had a very chilled out vibe and not full of hedonist party goers but a lovely atmosphere. There is also a fresh water lake there.
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