Anjuna Beach

Anjuna Beach is the spiritual home of Goa's counterculture and, by extension, the most LGBTQ+-comfortable stretch of coastline in India. The beach that drew hippies in the 1960s and became ground zero for the full-moon rave party scene of the 1980s and 1990s has evolved into a broader international tourist destination while retaining more of its alternative DNA than the more commercialized beaches to the south. For LGBTQ+ travelers, the result is a beach where being visibly queer attracts nothing more than a glance, if that. The beach itself curves in a wide arc beneath a low red laterite cliff, with beach shacks along the sand serving cold Kingfisher, fresh seafood, and the kind of plate of pasta that suggests the chef has been making it since Portuguese time. The water is warm throughout the season, the waves are manageable for casual swimming, and the sunsets are the best in Goa ? the horizon is clean to the west, and the light in the hour before dark turns the cliff and the palms a deep amber. The Wednesday Flea Market at Anjuna is a decades-old institution and the single best people-watching event in Goa. Vendors from across India and from the global traveler community sell textiles, jewelry, clothing, crafts, and curiosities; the crowd is a cross-section of everything Goa attracts ? backpackers, families, yoga retreat visitors, Bollywood crew on weekend breaks, and a significant proportion of the local and visiting LGBTQ+ community who have long made the market a reliable meeting point. The social atmosphere at the flea market is the most openly diverse in India. The beach shacks along Anjuna ? Curlies is the longest-established and most famous ? run into the evening and function as the de facto social venue for the beach's night crowd. Curlies in particular has a history as a gathering point for the alternative community and applies a reliably liberal social policy. The music, typically electronic or ambient, runs late, and the crowd at midnight is a different proposition from the afternoon swimming families. Staying in Anjuna places you within easy reach of the surrounding beaches ? Vagator to the north (where the more serious electronic music events are held), Baga and Calangute to the south (busier, more commercial, but with good beach clubs). The accommodation options range from budget guesthouses along the laterite lanes to boutique hotels in converted Portuguese-era houses.