The Sinquerim Beach is the first tourist beach of North Goa and is also where the famous and best preserved of all Portuguese coastal forts, Fort Aguada is located. The Aguada Bay, which is divided into two parts, the Caranzalem Bay and the Sinquerim Bay is formed by two headlands, Cabo and Aguada. The Aguada Bay is dominated by the battlements of the old fort and tends to be more popular with affluent tourists who avail the facilities offered by the Fort Aguada Hotel Complex that is a luxury establishment.
The Fort of Aguada was built by the Portuguese to control the entry of any enemy into River Mandovi and to protect old Goa from any attack. The fortification skirts the seashore, and its center lies a circular lighthouse tower. The Fort is currently the Central Jail, Goa’s largest prison.
The beach is a good and clean stretch of sand and an ideal place for swimming. The Aguada hotel complex is built around the remnants of the fort with the hotel built on the cliff. However, the complex itself is cut off from the beach since there are no private beaches in India. The hotel has been constructed in three parts, consisting of expensive cottages on the upper reaches of the hillside, the fort jutting out to sea, and a delightful Goan village, with individual cottages. Drawn by the clientele of the hotel, Aguada beach has cafes, and itinerant vendors who sell everything from Kashmiri carpets to massages. The complex also offers and a good range of water sports with two or three water sport companies operating from here.
The Aguada Beach lies at the southern end of a very long stretch of beach that extends up to the mouth of the Baga River. Individual segments of this extensive stretch of sand have been given separate names as according to the villages that lie behind them, such as Sinquerim, Candolim, Calangute and Baga. |
 
