Goa & Gomantak · Western Coastal Strip
How to reach
By air
- Manohar International Airport, Mopa (GOX) — Opened in January 2023 in Pernem, in the far north — closer to Mapusa and the northern beaches than to Margao.
- Goa International Airport, Dabolim (GOI) — The older airport, on the Mormugao peninsula, operating as a civil enclave within the naval air station INS Hansa. Better placed for Margao and the south.
By rail
- Madgaon Junction (MAO) — The Konkan Railway's principal Goan station and the one most long-distance trains use.
- Thivim (THVM) — The Konkan Railway stop for Mapusa, Anjuna and the northern coast.
- Karmali (KRMI) — The nearest station to Panaji, about 11 km out at Old Goa.
- Vasco da Gama (VSG) — The terminus of the older line east through Dudhsagar and Castle Rock into Karnataka — the ghat railway that predates the Konkan line by a century.
By road
NH 66 — the coastal trunk road from Mumbai through Sindhudurg into Goa and on to KarwarNH 748 — Panaji to Belagavi over the Anmod ghat, the historic pass route to the DeccanThe Chorla ghat road into Belagavi district, slower and through Mhadei forestNH 566 — Panaji to Ponda and the temple cluster
By water
Free vehicle and passenger ferries across the Mandovi and Zuari, including Ribandar–Chorao, Old Goa–Divar and Querim–TerekholMormugao harbour, a natural deepwater port on the Zuari, historically the iron-ore export terminalRiver cruises and, seasonally, casino boats on the Mandovi at Panaji
Getting around
Goa has no local train and a thin bus network run by the Kadamba Transport Corporation, so most people move by two-wheeler. It is also the only state with licensed motorcycle taxis — pilots, identifiable by yellow mudguards, who carry a single pillion passenger and are a regulated category rather than an informal one. Distances are short; Panaji to Margao is about 33 km and Mopa to Margao about 60 km.
How to reach Goa & Gomantak by air, rail, road and water, and how to get around once there. (6)