Hotel Mandovi

The Mandovi river is right there across the road, and you can see the boats going by if you stand in the right spot. Our address is D.B. Bandodkar Marg, and we’ve been here since before many of the newer buildings in Panjim were even thought of. Hotel Mandovi is an old name in Goa. The building has high ceilings and those heavy wooden doors that you don’t see much anymore. It feels like stepping back a few decades. We don’t have all the modern gadgets and shiny surfaces of the beach resorts. Instead, we have thick walls and big windows. The lobby is often quiet in the afternoons when the sun is high. We have a restaurant that’s been serving the same local dishes for a long time because that’s what people expect when they come here. Sometimes the elevators are a bit slow, and the floorboards might creak under the carpets, but that is just the character of an old place. We’re not trying to be a five-star luxury spot; we’re just a landmark in the city. A lot of regulars come back every year because they know what to expect. They like the view of the river and being able to walk into the center of town. It’s a simple, steady kind of business we run here on the waterfront.