I wrote what it is like to live in Goa.

This is follow up post, more about social life and what to expect.

Goa is a very small place.

A population of 1.5 million, spread over a fairly large area. Decent portion of that population dont necessarily live in Goa full time, especially younger people. Even many “local” Goans work abroad or in other parts of the country for part of the year. Most of the time you live and spend time in a 5km radius, reducing the target population you can have any regular contact with to few thousand people at best.

Goa is slow.

It is very slow. ¹ This is a feature for most people. Bug for few.

Goa is not ambitious.

Lot of artists etc move to Goa to make a career. It is extremely easy to find gigs attended by 20 people, almost impossible to get 100 people gig, let alone 1000s. Outside of techno, there is no demand for it. Most people here are happy to acquire couple of apartment, become airbnb host, and live of on that. If you are more ambitious than that, Goa is not for you.

Distractions.

There is always something happening. There is always beautiful nature to be explored, sunset to be witnessed, waterfals explored. If you are someone who likes structure, routines, and can protect yourself from these distractions, you can thrive here and continue to grow as a person.

If your life has peaked, and you want to deliberately slow down, Goa is the best place for you. If you are young and amibitous, do not move to Goa.

Footnotes

1. I grew up on the outskirts of a small city, so I had some prior experience with slowness, but even then it is a big shock. ↩