"The Aldona villa run like a gallery, and priced like one"
A 150-year-old Portuguese villa in Aldona, reimagined as what its makers call an "art riot lifestyle boutique hotel", where the standing house rule is the good kind of absurd: everything is for sale. The art on the walls, the decor, the tableware, the furniture you are sitting on. The Project Cafe began in Ahmedabad in 2015 with an art studio and cafe in a pre-independence art deco bungalow, and its method has stayed constant since: handpick artists, architects, stylists, furniture designers and chefs for each space, never repeat them, and put everything on sale.
The bedrooms carry Goan names (the colva, the tiracol, the miramar, the chapora among them) plus a heritage suite, and around them the villa works as a full ecosystem: swimming pool, art gallery and event space, indoor and outdoor cafes, restaurant, art bar, retail outlet and lawns. It is pet friendly, and there is even a board room, because the crowd this attracts sometimes brings its work along.
The furniture you are sitting on has a price tag.
The rhythm of the place is set by its calendar rather than its concierge: art exhibits, culinary pop-ups, bar takeovers, performing-arts shows, musical evenings, fashion launches and workshops rotate through the year. The restaurant runs noon to 10pm, the coffee shop from 8am, the gallery and shop through the afternoon, the bar into the night.
This is inland North Goa, a serene village of greenery and heritage homes on the Mapusa river side of things, far in spirit from the beach-belt crush. You come here for old Goan houses, long lunches and the villa's own programming, and treat the coast as an excursion rather than the point.
Some facilities and experiences may be chargeable.
About 45 minutes from Mopa airport, 20 from Thivim railway station, 1.5 hours from Dabolim, all approximate
Design-minded couples, creative sabbaticals and art-and-food people who want slow village Goa rather than the beach strip
Six bedrooms and one heritage suite, by the hotel's count
The Project Café Goa is at Cottarbhat, Naicavaddo, Aldona — a serene North Goa village of lush greenery and heritage homes. It occupies a 150-year-old Portuguese villa reimagined by The Project Café.
It describes itself as an 'art riot lifestyle boutique hotel' where art, design and hospitality converge, built around four offerings: Eat, Shop, Stay and Experience — part of a group with sister spaces in Ahmedabad.
The café is open Monday to Sunday, 10 am to 11 pm. Contact is via +91 95121 25965 or connect@theprojectcafe.co.
Yes — Stay is one of the villa's four offerings alongside the café, gallery-shop and experiences, with bookings through their website or by contacting the team directly.
Yes, the house rules state it is a pet-friendly café, with pets welcome on a leash or in a carrier. Smoking is not allowed inside, with designated outdoor smoking zones.
An upstairs room under a bold black-and-white striped ceiling, with an arched ikat-print headboard, red cushions, a carved dark-wood mirrored almirah and French doors to a private balcony in the treetops.
A room with an indigo block-print upholstered bed, a glowing red-and-cream striped ceiling cove, a monochrome striped bench, and doors that open straight onto the pool terrace.
Pale blue walls, a tall scalloped headboard in marigold printed with white birds, a backlit striped ceiling, a full-length standing mirror and French doors to a verandah beside the pool.
Warm grey-and-terracotta walls under an orange striped ceiling cove, a stepped fabric headboard, a sage quilt with a pink border, writing desk with kettle and tea tray, and doors to the garden and pool.
Rocky peninsula. Patnem Beach. Dolphins at sunrise. Casa Jaali is where you actually want to be in Goa. Authentic Goan architecture, locally crafted rooms, 35 meters from the beach. The real thing.
Rates on request, usually back within the hour
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On the banks of the Poovar River at the far south of Kerala, where river, beach and backwater meet, Isola di Cocco is a coconut-grove retreat of Kerala-style villas, a private beach, and a proper Ayurvedic centre on site. Its name means the Island of Coconuts. Days go slowly here: the pool, the sand, or the long calm of an Ayurveda treatment.
Rates on request, usually back within the hour
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