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India Update: Devbagh Island

The tiny town of Karwar, on the coast of the Arabian Sea and a two-hour drive from the Goa airport, isn't much of a tourist draw in itself, but from Karwar the island of Devbagh is just a five-minute boat ride away. The Devbagh Beach Resort there is kind of an anti-Goa -- there are no nightclubs or flashiness, and the guests are middle-class Indian families rather than backpackers from Nottingham or Tel Aviv.

What you have here in abundance are amazingly beautiful surroundings. You're likely to have the clean, extremely long beach almost to yourself -- there might be some locals from the fishing village nearby dragging their nets through the surf. The resort itself is wooded with casuarina trees, a kind of evergreen, keeping things shady and relatively cool.

Staying here isn't roughing it. The cabins and huts aren't fancy, but they are wired for electricity and therefore have the ceiling fans that become essential very early in the year. The meals, included in rates, were elaborate and good, with prawn curry and other seafood served at just about every meal. There's also a nightly bonfire on the beach, with fish grilled right there in front of you. If you want a break from Goa craziness, then Devbagh might be just the place to take it.