Elsewhere

You get the map coordinates for this beach hotel on the coast of India’s once-Portuguese colony of Goa only after you've paid. From the airport, take a cab to a dusty coastal road near Mandrem where a boy will be waiting, holding a sign that reads 'Take Me Elsewhere'. Follow the boy over a bamboo bridge, through a creek, some coconut groves and there it is: acres of golden beach. This is Elsewhere, an idyllic property made up of four secluded colonial buildings and three en-suite luxury tents. The Priest’s House was built by one Padre Luis Gonzaga de Santana Sequeira, who lived there until the late 1950s, a man who used his own canoe to cross the creek and say mass in the Mandrem Church. It’s beautiful, with fourposter beds, bathrooms open to the elements and plenty of open space. Meditate, swim in the perfect sea and in the evening dine alone or communally under a banyan tree, or doze beneath the stars.