Park Avenue Hotel

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We stayed in Park Avenue Hotel for 2 weeks at the beginning of November after booking a last minute trip to Goa.
This hotel is fantastic, we couldn't have been happier. It is what some would say is basic, there is no air con, but good ceiling fans, no TV's telephones etc in the rooms, but it is spotlessly clean and absolute luxury when compared to what most of the population of Goa have.
Our room actually consisted of 2 rooms, a bedroom with 2 big beds and a wardrobe, a sitting room with 2 armchairs a coffee table and a fridge (which was well stocked with beer and soft drinks which were not double the normal price) and a bathroom with flush loo and hot shower.
The hotel its self is lovely, there is a medium sized pool, which was cleaned everyday, a bar which was open all day and evening and a restaurant, which was all outside and served lovely food.
We had B+B and the included breakfast consisted of unlimited tea/coffee, toast and freshly squeezed juice. A few times we added to our breakfast with scrambled eggs or something, this costs about 40p extra.
There are safes available for a small charge and you are given a new padlock and keys which only you have, and you can have access to your safe 24 hours a day. You can change up travellers cheques or currency in the reception, the rate is a tiny bit lower than the travex shops, 77 r instead of 78, works out about £1 per £100 so not enough to make a difference and means you don't need to carry your passport around outside.
The staff are what really makes this hotel, they are friendly and helpful, i don't think those guys ever sleep! Every time we left our keys in for a room clean we returned to a spotless room and a different "towel sculpture" on the bed, a crocodile 4 swans and a flower to name a few! Hubby got a bout of Dheli Belly (from a salad in a beach shack) and the staff noticed he had not been down to breakfast and asked after him, 20 mins later someone arrived at the room door with extra bottles of water and packs of rehydration powders!
The hotel is located on Baga road, the brochures say 20 mins walk to the beach, if you walk to the main beach it takes about 10mins, but you can walk down the little side road beside the hotel and be on a sandy beach in under 5 mins.
The location of the hotel is great, there are plenty of restaurants around, directly opposite there is a Tibeten Market, which opened while we were there, it sells lovely stuff and is a great retreat to be able to look at things to buy without sellers jumping on you! There is a Travex shop and internet shop right next door, along with a sweet/ciggie shop owned by "Auntie" a leather shop and a Lovely shop called Himalayan Crafts owned by a really nice guy called Sanjay, this is another place where you can have a good browse and look around without any hassle.
We really can't think of ANYTHING bad to say about this place, if you are booked into this hotel you WILL have a great holiday.
Goa is a beautiful place with beautiful friendly people, we saw a few tourists who appeared a bit shell shocked with the whole thing (when they ventured out from the 5 star all inclusive hotel) the only thing we would say if you are going is to remember that you are visiting a 3rd world country, but what these people lack in money they more than make up for in welcome.