SinQ Beach Resort

SinQ Beach Resort is a mid-range boutique hotel that's popular with Indian tourists, especially families, with lots of guests from the state of Gujurat. It's one of a number of properties in Goa run by the same group, but is often recommended to families as the other hotels are more centered around parties and romance, with restaurants and nightclubs on-site. The lobby here is nothing much -- just a small room for checking in, with the hotel's small restaurant off to one side with indoor and a bit of outdoor seating. The main common area is poolside, where there are lots of cabanas that guests are free to use, plus a bar set off to one side. Fairy lights wrapped around the trees give the pool area a magical ambience at night. Rooms are spread across three buildings and many look out on the pool. 

This hotel is located just off the main road that runs north-south in Calangute, but it can be a bit difficult to find with Google Maps as it's on a side street that juts out at a sharp angle from another side street. It's about a three-minute walk to the main road and there are a few shops in the nearby area that don't require running across traffic. It's about a 10-minute walk to the southern end of Calangute Beach. Plan on a 10-minute drive south to Candolim, a 15-minute drive north to Baga Beach, and a 25-minute drive north to Anjuna. Getting to the Goa International Airport in Vasco de Gama takes around an hour, traffic permitting.

This hotel offers three types of room: Classic Rooms, larger but otherwise similar Deluxe Rooms, and huge Super-Deluxe Rooms. All have similar decor and layout, with size being the main differentiating factors -- though Super Deluxe Rooms do add sofas. Decor is minimalist but pleasant, with wooden-style parquet floors and a marked absence of artwork on the walls. Dark-wood furniture and chocolate-brown plush chairs coordinate well with dark-wood molding and doors.  Standard amenities include air-conditioning, kettles, free bottled water, free Wi-Fi, flat-screen TVs, and mini-fridges. Bathrooms feature a similarly earthy color scheme, with brown floors and tan-marble walls -- plus huge square-shaped shower heads in glassed-in walk-in showers. Small furnished balconies add light and outdoor space to each of the units. Note that although traffic noise is not an issue here, noise from other guests can be a problem. Moreover, rooms next to the elevators may be subjected to Kenny G-style Muzak from the elevators, which blasts loudly every time someone presses the elevator call button. 

There aren't many amenities at this property, but there is a lovely outdoor pool with a blue mini-tile bottom and a small kid-friendly wading pool at one end. A bar with food and drink service is located poolside, and it's much nicer to eat out here than it is to score a table at the plain, dark restaurant, which really only gets a lot of visitors during the free morning breakfast service. During our visit,  a lot of the breakfast food seemed to be extra sweet, perhaps an attempt to cater to the Gujarati tourists staying here, who are known to prefer their curries with sugar or other sweeteners. Room service is also available. There's a fair bit of on-site parking -- free of charge. Wi-Fi is fast (unusual for Goa) and free.