Chilled out in a Goa for grown-ups

The Yab Yum eco-resort is an experience far from the bong and bongos scene. Peter Kimpton indulges in simple and healthy treats for the mind and the body
Peter Kimpton travels to Yub Yam Eco Resort in Goa
Retreat to Yub Yam's palm thatched rooms under the coconut trees after a hard days rest at the beach Photograph: PR

Could this be paradise? It is barely possible to think at all at 35C in the shade, but this question drifted through my mind as I sipped a cool papaya lassi and surveyed north Goa's Ashwem beach - near-deserted white sand under an infinite blue sky.

The warm Arabian Sea lapped at my feet, coconut trees swayed lazily behind me, and a beautiful white-bellied sea eagle soared high above. Ah yes, this could be it.

As I lay back on the sun lounger, a diminutive, grinning man suddenly appeared, apparently from nowhere, offering handshakes and unavoidably friendly questions. But then, like a wasp sensing the jam jar open, he quickly darted to my ear, trying to poke at it with a small stick, and claimed to be a professional ear cleaner, promising to extract tiny jewels from my brain.

"What?" I protested, but immediately another character conjured himself up from the sand, and tried selling me hand-carved, stone elephants with even tinier elephants inside them. "You buy, very cheap." "No thank you."

Fortunately, the hospitable staff at Yab Yum resort don't hassle you for anything, and get many other things right too. Established five years ago, and situated in a cluster of coconut trees a few steps from Ashwem beach, Yab Yum (meaning "the union of one") is a peaceful resort of luxury beach huts that's a cut above local alternatives. Huts are the norm for holiday accommodation here, as environmental protection laws prohibit new brick or concrete buildings on this stretch of coast.

Yab Yum attracts a quieter, less hippyish crowd, and offers a host of healthy benefits, yoga, treatments, and green credentials. Everything from food and staff to the materials used to build the accommodation is locally sourced.

Yab Yum staff welcomed us with smiles and cold drinks, then led us through the cricket-chirping dusk down a sandy pathway illuminated by paper lanterns. Then we spotted our room, an impressive, triple-domed, thatched creation surrounded by coconut trees.

The entertaining and gregarious owner Kali, who built the huts himself, joined us for cocktails and told me their design was actually inspired by the 1970s TV series Space 1999.

The huts (there are also a few conventional cottages) are thoughtfully spaced apart and cleaned daily. The en-suite bathroom has a hot shower, and tap water that comes from Yab Yum's own well. Our double bed was huge, the fan hummed quietly, and on the doorstep a bowl of cool water was left to wash feet of the day's sand.

Details really matter. After I peeked at some of the other resorts, it became clear that there is a world of difference between sleeping in a sweaty fleapit as a guest of ants and mosquitoes, and finding modern comfort that still merges harmoniously with the environment in a place where everything is built from local palm thatch, volcanic rock and mango wood.

Even though Yab Yum costs two or three times more than most other local huts, such attention to detail offers a real edge. Apart from an unreliable internet connection in reception, and a wavering electricity supply that affects the whole area, Yab Yum's service and accommodation standards are unrivalled apart from the more expensive Elsewhere resort ( a mile up the coast. This blissful millionaires' hideaway and nature reserve has beautiful, original colonial beach houses, where you could possibly occupy the bed and bathroom used by a certain Brad and Angelina.

Feeling peckish? Most visitors to Goa justifiably worry about stomach upsets, but we encountered no such problems here, where all food is organically grown and expertly prepared.

Breakfast is included, with a choice of free-range eggs, honey, muesli, fruit salads and organic coffee. We regularly enjoyed lunch too, brought to us on the beach, including a delicious organic vegetable tabbouleh.

While drinks are available at all hours, the resort doesn't do evening meals, but our hosts were happy to recommend reliable, inexpensive local restaurants. To get there, taxi journeys were available at any time from the resort, but we discovered the nearest friendly bar just a five-minute stroll up the beach did cheap, tasty Indian and Nepalese food.

Yab Yum offers a full menu of yoga and massage and a host of other treatments. For around £25, I tried a 90-minute, deep-tissue full-body massage, which left me in a state of floating reverie.

My partner also tried an Iyengar yoga session, and was highly impressed by Yab Yum's teacher, who to me looked so impossibly bendy as to resemble a giant human Peperami snack. However, I would imagine her to be considerably healthier.

And so back to the beach. With a 10pm music curfew all along the coast, peace and quiet rules the waves, and so it's all about swimming, sunbathing, kayaking, surfing, watching local fishermen, catching up on your reading, then eating, chatting and chilling in local bars at night.

Yab Yum is definitely designed for couples and families. It has a quiet, sunset bar, dipping pool, and creche facilities, and we met guests of all nationalities, including Indians.

All-night trance parties are virtually a thing of the past in Goa, though these still happen occasionally in the bong and bongo scene of Arambol three miles north, and further south in Anjuna.

For nightlife, the Saturday flea market in Baga is definitely worth a visit. Here we were entertained as much by the sights of outrageous bling-wearing Russians as by old-school hippies.

But apart from the resort, it was also the laid-back Goan people, and their often cheeky, friendly banter that charmed us despite the odd, over-zealous beach hawker.

And at each sunset, in this land of the mongoose, lizard, langur and protected turtle, as stick-legged sandpipers scampered on the beach, and eagles still looped overhead, we also caught the blue-wing flash of a hunting kingfisher.

Paradise was found, and with it, a longing to return.


Yab Yum Resort, Ashwem Beach, north Goa (00 91 832 651 0392; offers dome huts from £45 per night.

Jet Airways (0808 101 1199; flies three times daily to Goa from London Heathrow, with changes in either Mumbai or Delhi. Return flights to Goa in economy start from £440.

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