When visiting Goa, India, you will certainly end up touring the state and taxi drivers will take you to a spice garden Goa.
The visit to a spice garden is for all those who enjoy learning something new and for those who like to learn about the food, culture, and history of a place.
A while back I had the chance to visit the spice garden Goa in the sunny Indian coastline state. Goa has a rich history, with Vasco Da Gama, the famous discoverer of the Renaissance has been to Goa in his lifetime and with the establishment of the spice route through the former Portuguese colony, Goa.
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The later had traveled on behest of the Portuguese king to Calicut in 1498 and later on to Cochin and Goa, which they called Golden Goa. I was so mesmerized as a kid by the discoveries of our fore fathers. These must have been exciting times.
Anyways, the Portuguese’s aim at the time was to establish a spice trading route, to gain the overhand of this wanton market in Europe. Those were great important times in Europe, with great kings governing their lands, this was the time of Renaissance – The rebirth.
You have the choice to visit several different spice plantations in Central Goa – Ponda. We had visited one of the major Spice Plantations. Certain particular plantations are surrounded by lakes & rivers and are situated in the jungle.
The entry for visitors is somewhere around 500 INR (~7€) with food buffet included and they even provide a separate option where visitors can bath an elephant. To reach the spice garden Goa you just need to grab a taxi and the taxi driver ll be happy to take you there.
Every visitor receives a homemade aromatic lemongrass ginger tea as welcoming drink before the tour starts. The Guides are quite friendly and they can answer basic questions about spices. It depends on the guide and his/her experience in the spice field.
What some might find helpful in the spice garden Goa, is that there are special tours for certain languages. You can get Hindi, English and Russian language tours. Some might even provide different language tours, which I didn’t mention here,
Once you are ready to go, you just need to join a group with a guide to start the spice garden tour.
The guide explains and teaches you how to make an Indian Aphrodisiac with spices.
Small wisdom about Cardamon.
Have you heard of Piri Piri?
Fresh from the tree, scraped & aromatic Nutmeg.
The making of good old Bidi! (Indian “Cigarettes”)
Cinnamon bark
Bay leafs
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Pretty looking tropical Plant
Entertainment is provided too for the visitors
Plates made of betel tree natural material
Food Buffet after the Tour
My Organic Food plate
They have a shop at the end of the tour where you get to buy spices and other novelties
food served in the spice garden Goa has very basic flavors and isn’t too much spiced, however, it’s not Goan Portuguese food but rather Maharashtra Konkani food.
The place is well situated and your kind of place if you are with your family and friends. A must see for anyone who visits Goa and who likes to learn about food and culture of the region.
Rajinder says
I would like to order garam masala from this garden. Can someone kindly guide me. I was in Goa in January and I purchase some really like it. Want to get more
Peeyush Raghuvanshi says
One of the worst food served by this garden. I suggest no body travel to this place.
Helene Dsouza says
Hi Peeyush, I think so most of the spice gardens there serve poorly flavored food. It’s more plain and bland (ironically in a spice garden). This might be to accommodate the taste preference of all the visitors from around the world.
Aditya Maheshwari says
I had recently visited this spice garden and purchased cade oil and neem oil for eczema, but procedure to use it is written in some language other than English. Kindly guide as to how use these oils for eczema.
Helene Dsouza says
Aditya this is a food and travel website. My post is about spices for food :/
Maureen says
I still want to visit this place and Goa in general. 🙂 The photos I’ve seen look so inviting.
mjskitchen says
Thanks so much for sharing this experience! I would love to be able to visit these gardens and experiences all of those awesome spices.
Eva Taylor says
Thank you for that very in-depth tour, it is very helpful to anyone wanting to travel to Goa. I would love to visit a Spice Garden like this, it’s so helpful to see the spices in their original state. The food looks quite interesting, was it tasty?
biswa ranjan datta says
i had been in the team of tata chemicals ltd annual conference in the last march 2015 and visited your garden. i purchased some packets of spices with only 1 packet of masala tea . how could i get those,say 3 (three) packets if ordered by mail. kindly inform the procedure and the price thereof by courier or vpp. regards
biswaranjan datta
Helene Dsouza says
Hi Biswan,
I am sorry but you might have misunderstood. I am not associated in any way with the spice gardens in Goa. I just wrote about one spice garden trip, that; s it. Sorry again.
priti sahu says
I want to some spices so please contact me
Helene Dsouza says
oh but I don’t sell spices, sorry. =)
Smita Chandra says
Loved this post with it’s beautiful pictures and story 🙂
Helene Dsouza says
Thank you Smita, glad to read that you enjoyed the post. 🙂
Fredee Waugh says
Looking forward to the newsletter. I just discovered you. I can’t wait to learn more about spices, especially those that I can use with vegetables.
Helene Dsouza says
=) Just a heads up, I am planning to post more veg dishes with spices in Jan. There will be surely something for you. Cheers!
linda @spiceboxtravels says
What a wonderful tour! Thanks for sharing this. Since I am also a fan of spices, I’d really like to see this place one day.
Liz says
Oh, I’d love to tour the Spice Garden, too! And so fun that you had your sweet sister join you!
Ginny McMeans says
What a wonderful post. It makes me want to jump on a plane right now.
Dale says
Hello, we shall be visiting Goa next March and feel a few outings instead of just lying on the beach for 3 weeks would be a good idea. We are staying in Sinquerim. Which would be the best way to get to this Spice Plantation, and how long would it take?
Helene Dsouza says
Hello Dale!
Usually one would hire a taxi to take a tour, that means taxi drivers take you first to old goa then Mangesh temple and at the end to the Spice Garden, since everything is on the way and they only provide packages. I would suggest to do that, because the roads are pretty unknown if you don’t know goa at all. The tour would cost about 1000 INR if you take a Taxi. But if you prefer to go by bike on your own, then you can take the road towards old goa and then towards ponda. Calculate at least 1 – 1 1/2 h drive. Hope that helps! =)
dassana says
when we had the lunch, it was spicy. we were very few people except for one foreign couple family. plus there was no one selling paan or bidi… but it was a nice visit and so much learn to about the spices and their benefits. it seems you had a great time there.
Helene Dsouza says
Was it the same Spice garden Dassana, because apparently there are a couple ones in the area and more are coming new every year. I loved it as well, its so informative and for me spices and herbs are very essential while cooking and even to treat minor health conditions.
Helene Dsouza says
@Frieda what did u do in your college days? lol I am glad that u enjoyed it. Its good to share knowledge with friends.
@louise yeah I surely did well in getting them to go to to spice gardens. They enjoyed it too and bought some few pods vanilla, since it is so expencive in europe. thanks for passing by and leaving a comment. =)
@Courtney the fact is that spices realy lower the blood levels and they clean the body. u get smoother healthy skin, hair grows thicker, pimples and all go, moskitos bite u less,… there r aa million reasons why one should eat spices. Thats why indians are so healthy. I used to not like spices either. It realy depends on the mixture of spices u use while cooking. Since I have discovered spicy food for me, I can feel my health reaching its peak. Your mum might like Punjabi or goan food to get into indian food.
@Gerry great! it should be on everybodies bucket list. hihi
@Joanne u r anytime welcome. let me know if u ever get to come to goa. =)
@Kiran thank u dear wish u the same. I have never been to bangalore but I have heard so much of this city, I realy want to have a chance to get to see it in the near future.
@Kimeling welcome here! thanks for the comment. Goa is gorgeous, a paradise on earth. =)
@Jamie u would love it here. I mean u can life in any standart u wish and in any enviroment u fancy. Goa is developing fast, in general india is the fastest growing economy on earth and Goa is its touristic pearl. In the 5 years I was here, I saw double amount of building mushrooming on the coastal belt. Its crazy, how quick all changes around us. You d better see it before it is all commercial. 😉
@Torview @Amelia thx guys for passing by and leaving a comment! =)
@nami you should grow some smaller plants at home, even if they r only herbs, they dont need much space and they come handy. =) thx for the compliments! XD
Nami | Just One Cookbook says
Hi Helene! Amazing. It's kind of sad to say that all the spices I know are all in jars or some kind of packages…maybe besides some herbs. The rest of spices, oh well, I have to admit I have no idea about the source… This must be VERY educational tour. And thanks for sharing it with us and educate us!!
Amelia's De-ssert says
Hi Helene, thanks for sharing all the beautiful pictures. Looks like it's a fun visit to the spice farm, glad that you enjoy the trip. Have a nice day.
Torviewtoronto says
enjoyed the lovely post and pictures
escribble says
What a fun visit — I went to a similar spice place in bangalore. It was so much fun and filled with knowledge on pure and fresh spices. Have fun sweetie, and a very Happy New Year to you and the family 🙂
Kiran @ KiranTarun.com
Jamie says
Helene, this is such a fascinating post! First, I do want to say that we always gave our sons books and films on "dead things" – ancient Egypt, archeological and history books and documentaries, the discovery of everything and they also turned out really loving history! And my husband and I would love to take a year off and "discover" the world, just go around the world on a huge adventure but you are right, one needs money or a sponsor. But now that I have traveled on this Spice Garden adventure with you I know I must come to India! Wonderful!
kimeling says
This looks so great. I definitely want to visit this place as well 🙂
Joanne says
Thanks so much for this tour through the spice garden! It's so gorgeous. Definitely a place I want to visit in real life someday.
the food dude says
Awesome photos, you are so blessed to live in such a beautiful place. Goa is definitely on my bucket list!
Mommy LaDy Club says
I felt like I was right there reading this! What a treat:) My parents spent 18 months in India recently, and my Dad loves the food and spices like I do. Now back at home, he believes that all of their spices were healing his high blood pressure, because it was much lower there. He tries to add them to his food, but my Mom really hates the spices…it's funny. Thank you for a lovely post, and thanks for linking up your post on our Fitness link up!
~~louise~~ says
Your posts never fail to lift me to places I have never been before in a language I can understand! I am so glad you encouraged your visitors to visit the Spice Garden. How many times in ones life do you get to stroll among the herbs and spices. I can only imagine the whiffs of aroma.
I wasn't able to see the videos for some reason but I will try again. Thank you so much for sharing your spice journey with us Helene. It was just what I needed to "spice" up my day. And Helene, there's always something knew to discover so don't ever give up your dream!!! Louise
Frieda says
Thanks for sharing your spice tour! Beautiful photos and the video was so great! I really enjoyed it and seeing how the bidi is made reminded me of my college days- ha! Also, interesting fact that cinnamon and bay leaves are from the same tree! Who knew?