A heritage villa hotel in Goa, India welcomes you for your holiday in Goa

A beautifully restored 300 year old Portuguese era manor house that once belonged to a governor of Macau, Siolim House is now a unique boutique "Heritage" Hotel in Goa, very unlike a Goa hotel. When we decided to restore the house in 1996, Siolim House's future looked bleak - for five years it had fought a losing battle with the Goa monsoon (see the before and after photographs).

A family's history seemed to be fading away, and like so many other elegant Goan homes, it would see its end. But over three years, without sparing any detail, from its lime plaster to its patterned floor tiles, the house was lovingly brought back. Siolim House is still a private home, and we hate to call it a Goa hotel.

The entire restoration of Siolim House was done with a view to it being a Goan home, and therefore we were very generous in our use of space. In a building that had twenty four rooms there are today only seven suites and seven bathrooms. No necessity was felt to cram rooms in, and so we have spacious public areas and rooms.

We realised several years after the restoration began that welcoming guests in a "hotel de charme" would help us keep Siolim House in perfect shape, and give it the character that comes with welcoming people from all over. That way we also did not have to worry about the Goan monsoon storms that had wreaked so much havoc on the house when we decided to take on the enormous restoration job.

The results of our labour over all those years is a charming demeure with the all comforts a sensitive person would require to feel comfortable, including an oversized overflow pool and exceptionally friendly service. You will see if you visit that we run it for matters other than pecuniary, and for instance do not cater to people other than residents or their guests for meals.

The house took to her new vocation more naturally than we could ever believe, and now gives us and our guests much peace and pleasure!

Siolim House would be thoroughly enjoyed by that kind of person who knows that luxury has nothing to do with hotel receptions, glass atriums, piped music in hotel elevators, bell boys with funny caps, 'coffee shop' menus, uniformed waiters, checkout times, complaints departments, guest service officers and other such things and has everything to do with giving yourself the chance to really relax. Siolim House is no competition to a Goa hotel until the day they all want to be like us, which is highly unlikely! ("you can't run a Goa hotel like this!")

We hate to call Siolim House any thing but a home, so call it yours while you enjoy your holidays in Goa and unwind on nearby goa beaches, that are among Goa's most wonderful. Once our guests visit nearby Mandrem, Morjim, Arambol and Ashwem most finest goa beaches they can never go anywhere else, and Siolim House is hugely fortunate in being located so close to these goa beaches where you can really feel you own miles of empty goa beaches. While on holiday in Goa you can also enjoy Goa's alternative culture or see the historical and cultural sights of Goa.

We have now seen many people at Siolim House, and many return as friends. We believe that all have fond memories and feel the time they spent was special. The house has bonded many guests to us, to others and to the house, and for that we are grateful to the stones and plaster that is Siolim House. Who said houses are inanimate!

We hate to call Siolim House a Goa hotel, so call it your Goa home while you are there.

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