8 July 2026
Amrapali House of Grace, the old Goa everyone else drives past
A century-old Portuguese home on the banks of the Zuari with six rooms, five dogs and one copper bathtub. Goa with the volume turned right down.
Most Goa stories involve a scooter, a shack and a queue for brunch. This one starts at a lily pond. Behind it stands a deep red Portuguese house with whitewashed arches and a tiled roof, sitting by the water at Siridao bridge in Goa Velha, Tiswadi. The hotel calls this the heart of Goa, and looking at the map, it is hard to argue.
The house went up around 1919 as Morgado, built by Casimiro Honorato de Siqueira Nazare for his wife Maria Gracias and their five children. Restoration began in 2014, keeping the original structure wherever possible and bringing in local artisans to custom-make the details, which is why the carved window arches and painted ceilings feel grown rather than installed. Today it is a six-room boutique hotel that describes itself as independent-minded, and for once the self-description holds up.
The film
Six rooms, no two alike
The rooms are named like blessings. Creation is the grand one, a 650 square foot master bedroom looking onto the garden. Peace is the smallest and arguably the sweetest, with a freestanding copper bathtub and a private garden facing the water. Compassion is a glass house with a 180 degree view of the pool from the room and, pleasingly, from the bathroom as well. Harmony gives you a proper lounging space and a bathtub of your own, Devotion faces the pool with a writing desk, and the Moroccan Pool House is a standalone powder-blue cottage with shuttered arches and a Moroccan-inspired lounge, right on the pool.
The bits you will write home about
The pool sits in a courtyard between the red arcaded wings, watched over by a stone Buddha. The kitchen cooks slow and à la minute, and the waterfront café serves gourmet desserts from a pastry chef the hotel says is Le Cordon Bleu certified alongside teas from Assam estates. Five in-house dogs handle the welcome committee.
The house will arrange yoga, massages, private picnics at Siridao Beach and guided tours to Old Goa, Divar Island and the Salim Ali bird sanctuary. They say you can catch crabs off the veranda, which we intend to verify personally. Bambolim beach is five minutes by car. Candolim is forty, which is exactly far enough.
A British guest called it "one of the loveliest places I've ever stayed", and it shows off press headlines calling it among the prettiest boutique hotels in North Goa. We would put it more simply. This is what people mean when they say old Goa, minus the guesswork.
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Inside Amrapali House of Grace
The rooms
Creation
The master bedroom, all 650 square feet of it, with garden views, a painted ceiling picked out in indigo, a sofa for proper lounging and carved wooden doors opening straight onto the green.
Peace
Their quaintest room, and the sweetest, with a four-poster, floral walls, a freestanding copper bathtub, smart TV and its own private garden facing the water.
Harmony
A spacious, well-arranged room with a comfortable lounge area, bathtub, smart TV and private garden. Its sitting room frames the water through double doors.
Compassion
The glass house on the pool courtyard. Arched doors give a 180 degree sweep of the pool from the bed and, rather brilliantly, from the bathroom too. Patterned blue tiles underfoot.
Devotion
A private, pool-facing room under a pitched terracotta ceiling, with a four-poster, day bed, writing desk and smart TV.
Moroccan Pool House
A standalone powder-blue cottage with shuttered arched windows and a Moroccan-inspired lounge. Your own little house, right on the pool.
Amenities
Outdoor poolComplimentary Wi-FiAir conditioningElectronic safesHair dryersBespoke menus and fine diningMassage therapist on callComplimentary drinking water
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Members only (joining is free, three taps on WhatsApp). Our concierge replies personally, arranges Amrapali House of Grace for your dates — your booking is confirmed directly with the property.
Stays featured in the Journal are part of the Indiaesque collection. All information believed correct as of 8 July 2026. Errors and omissions excepted.
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