GOA IN A RESORT

IHCL SeleQtions first hotel, Cidade de Goa, is designed by the late Charles Correa as an inspired take on the state's syncretic architectural heritage

- DEEPALI NANDWANI

Rising behind the original quartos of the Charles Correa-designed Cidade de Goa is the new Taj Hotel & Convention Centre, perched on a hillside in Panjim. "The luxury hotel has the largest convention facility in the state and commands enviable views of the coastline," says Suresh Khanna Nanjan, General Manager, Cidade de Goa. "Guests who come to the Taj will have access to Cidade's facility, and hopefully, will want to stay back or come again to enjoy its boutique experience."

Cidade de Goa, incidentally, is the first SeleQtions property, a portfolio of classic hotels carefully curated by IHCL. Between the Taj Hotel & Convention Centre and Cidade, the complex is home to 500 rooms. Cidade is a Goa classic, located on the isolated Vainguinim beach, at the cusp of the Zuari River and the Arabian Sea.

The complex is divided into two distinct parts—the lower one with the original resort by Correa, and the upper portion, the new hotel on the cliff. Cidade de Goa continues to grow in strength as part of the SeleQtions portfolio now.

Correa was inspired by his home state Goa, the powers that ruled it and left their impression on its architecture and culture, and by Cubism. He created a beautiful hotel with ochre-yellow façade and seamlessly integrated outdoor-indoor spaces.

Cidade, monikered ‘A village within a resort’, drew references from a quintessential Portuguese village. “Cidade de Goa was the original name for Panaji, or Panjim, Goa’s capital city,” says Keith Pinto, Director of Sales at the hotel.