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Staying at Villa River Cat in Mandrem, Goa, with a baby

This is my review of the Villa River Cat in Goa.

We stayed there in Jan 2009, with our daughter who was about 1 1/2 years old. She got sick before we arrived, you can read all about that here.

Very short:

It’s a very nice place to stay, in a wonderful beachside village, but not the cheapest.
The owner can be a bit much.

This is their website. They tend to be full in the busy season (european winter), so make a reservation.

Mandrem is a great little village, next to the popular Arambol. Whereas Arambol is all about backpackers (and very busy), Mandrem is much quiter (although getting busier every year), and is all about Scandinavian families with children, a lot of them staying long-term. It seems Mandrem was discovered by Scandinavians, and a lot of them stay here for months every year, taking their small children. The beach is pretty quiet. There are plenty of regular places to stay, but the Villa River Cat is probably the nicest for short-term stays.

The building is a beautiful colonial building, that’s beautifully decorated inside. There are a lot of shared spaces, and it’s quite cool, which is great. They have a restaurant, but it’s a little expensive (300 Rs a meal versus 120 in the other places in Mandrem) but the food is good (but few spices) and some days they don’t make food. There are plenty of other places to eat just a few minutes away though.

Our room:

Our bathroom:

The owner got on my nerves sometimes, he talks a lot and doesn’t listen much. But he does a good job running the place and taking care of his guests. The place was full pretty much the entire month we stayed there.

There are (again) a lot of Scandinavians staying here, often with children too. It’s not right on the beach (it’s a 2 minute walk), but that’s ok, most places are like that (it’s illegal to create buildings within 300 meters from the shore line in Goa, which is great because it keeps the beaches really nice. That is also the reason why you see so many wooden constructions now, they are broken down each year after the tourist season). At the back of the building there’s a garden and a river. The beach is large and mostly empty, great for swimming. Vendors aren’t particularly agressive, and the beach is mostly empty (there are a few places with seats to lie down.)

To get there, just head for Mandrem beach. You can land in Goa with the plane and take a taxi, or take the Konkan Express train from Mumbai.

So should you stay at the Villa River Cat?

It's more expensive than other places to stay: it costs about 2900 to 3900 rupees a night for a room with attached bathroom, and you can get a small apartment with 2 rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom close by for about 1500 rupees a night.

For that money, you do get nicely decorated rooms, in an arty way, and large hangout spaces in the large colonial house. There are 3 floors, and the rooms on each floor are arranged around a large hangout space that's cool and very nice for children to play in. There are lots of little places to sit, there's a garden, there's art everywhere, so the kids have a lot of fun. Negative: the dogs and cats that roam the house are friendly, but there's 1 pet dog of the owner that's 5 months old (Jan 2009), spoilt and poops and pees sometimes in the house. The owner is also a little too much into himself, although friendly and helpful.

The rooms are very nice, we got a room on the top floor (the priciests), with a large bathroom. But what really made the difference for us, especially the first week when our kid was sick, where the large hangout spaces.

There are plenty of families staying at the Villa River Cat, but then again, there are plenty of families in Mandrem all together. If it's your first time in India, or you want somewhere a bit nicer, just book a few days or a week here (it's best to book ahead), and then look for somewhere else to stay once you're here. When you arrive, take a walk in the morning (when it's fresh) and ask around for other places to stay.

Let’s see some pictures!

From outside:

The top floor shared space:

india 085

The terras:

Amelia and friend looking in:

Walking on the beach.

By Peter (Moderator) (Trustee board) (Dev team) on May 6, 2009, 04:47 in India Talkzone.

Peter (Moderator) (Trustee board) (Dev team) (☼Travelguide writer) says on May 6, 2009, 04:48:

If I would go again, I'd stay there the first days and then look for a small appartment for a longer stay with our own kitchen, so we could cook ourselves. These are fairly easy to find in Mandrem. But it's a great place.

Poor but snappy

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Peter (Moderator) (Trustee board) (Dev team) (☼Travelguide writer) says on May 6, 2009, 04:49:

and ps: they didn't have wifi but were considering it.

Poor but snappy

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houstongal (Trustee board) says on May 12, 2009, 21:05:

That's still a pretty good price (to me anyway) Peter! That's a pretty funky bathroom too!

"It is now official: there's no place on earth where you will not find a Peruvian band." David Sedaris

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Peter (Moderator) (Trustee board) (Dev team) (☼Travelguide writer) says on May 12, 2009, 22:32:

Yea the bathroom was huge, and the whole place is very funky :)

Poor but snappy

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