Ginger Goa

From the exterior, the budget-friendly Ginger Hotel looks like a modern chain property, with a contemporary tower-block design and nine floors of rooms. Guests enter into a huge, loud lobby with off-white floors and walls and a bright red sofa. There's a restaurant off to one side and a small front desk, plus a travel desk in the corner from which guests can book taxis and tours. Rooms, which are a bit shabbier than the rest of the property, are upstairs in a partial atrium configuration, connected to the lobby by a single elevator. Most of the guests who stay here are Indian, with a good mix of vacationing couples and families along with business travelers. 

Ginger Goa is located just outside of Panaji's city center, in an area with lots of restaurants, banks, and corporate buildings right by the main bus station. There's a government-sponsored handicraft shop across the street and plenty more shops and restaurants can be found in the old city center, the edge of which is a 10-minute walk from the hotel. While the waters around the center of Panaji aren't good for swimming, there is a beach in the suburb of Miramar, about a 15-minute drive away. Old Goa is also about 15 minutes by car, albeit in the other direction. The popular tourist beaches in Candolim and Calangute take about a half-hour to reach by car without traffic. The international airport in Vasco de Gama is around a 45-minute drive away.

Ginger Goa offers Standard Rooms (with two twin beds or one queen bed) and Superior Rooms (with one queen bed). There's not much difference between the two categories, except that Superiors add bean bag chairs and have slightly nicer showers. All rooms come with flat-screen TVs, mini-fridges, air-conditioners, and kettles for making tea and coffee. Decor in both categories is simple and minimal, with marble floors, little art on the walls, and light-wood desks and cupboards that show a fair bit of wear and tear. Bathrooms in Standard Rooms are of the basic wet-room variety, with wall-mounted soap dispensers but nothing else in terms of amenities. Superior Room bathrooms upgrade to separate glassed-in walk-in showers, but are otherwise the same as their Standard Room counterparts. Smallish windows look out on the city, and during our 2018 stay about half the buildings had a direct view on a noisy construction site that didn't look like it would be completed any time soon. 

Ginger Goa has a lot of amenities for a budget hotel. The Square Meal Restaurant serves a primarily Indian menu with a few continental dishes available though food is a bit on the pricey side by local standards, especially given that it’s a budget hotel. The cafe also serves fresh coffee drinks from Indian coffee chain Cafe Coffee Day. Room service is available around the clock. This hotel offers a small fitness center with a treadmill, an exercise bike, and a rack of free weights. Other amenities include a small gift shop in the lobby selling touristy t-shirts, an area with an ironing board for guest use, a small business center with a computer, and a taxi and tour booking counter in the lobby. Wi-Fi is free throughout the hotel. There's free on-site parking on the side of the building, and the property is protected by a guard.