Working remotely from Goa: what to check before you book a month

To work well from Goa for a month, get five things right before you book: the internet, the power, the desk, a quiet place for calls and, for a long stay, a kitchen and a washing machine. Then give the work fixed hours, and give Goa the rest.

I host guests in Siolim, a village on the Chapora in North Goa, and this is the checklist I'd hand anyone planning a working month here: what to ask, what to bring, which season to choose and how to keep Goa from becoming the view behind your screen.

Why I'd base a working month in a village

I'd choose a village over a beach strip, and Siolim is the one I know. It sits on the south bank of the Chapora, between the busy beaches of Anjuna and Vagator and the quieter north coast across the bridge, a lived-in place of old houses, church bells and river light. That makes for calm working days, with North Goa's beaches and restaurants within reach.

When the laptop closes, Morjim, Ashwem and Mandrem are there for quieter beaches, and Vagator, Anjuna and Assagao for sunsets, cafés and evenings out. Then you come home to Siolim's slower pace. For errands, Mapusa is the market town and the hub for buses, and its market is open daily and liveliest on Fridays.

• A balcony or verandah with a view. You'll spend more time on it than you think, most of all in the monsoon.
• A market town within reach, such as Mapusa, for supplies and buses.
• A village whose days don't turn on the beach. From June to September most beach venues close or slow down, while river and inland villages such as Siolim, Aldona and Assagao carry on.

Internet and power: ask first, then bring a backup

Treat “fast Wi-Fi” as no answer. Ask for the speed as a number, ideally a recent speed test showing upload as well as download, because a video call sends your picture as well as receiving theirs. And ask where the router is: a strong signal beside it can be weak at the desk.

Then bring a backup you control. A mobile hotspot or a second SIM on a different network turns an outage into an inconvenience rather than a missed call, so test it from the desk on the first day.

Power is the question most people forget. Ask whether the home has power backup, such as an inverter or a generator, and what it runs. A backup may keep the lights and fans on but not the air conditioning; for work, what matters is whether the Wi-Fi router stays on. I'd ask it for any month, and before a monsoon month above all.

• What's the speed, upload and download? A recent test beats a description.
• Where's the router? Near the desk beats two walls away.
• Is the connection shared? One line across many rooms can slow when everyone is online.
• What happens in an outage? Is there a second line, or someone to call?
• Is there power backup, and does it run the router?

The desk, the chair and a quiet corner for calls

A dining table and a bar stool will do for a day, not a month. Look for a real desk and a chair you could sit in all morning, and check where the light falls: side light from a window is kind to eyes and to video, while a window behind you turns you into a silhouette on calls.

Find the quiet corner on the first day and learn the home's sounds: the road, the neighbours' mornings, rain in the monsoon. Take calls on headphones rather than the laptop's speakers, make a short test call before the first one that matters and, if there's housekeeping, agree a time that doesn't clash.

• Desk: room for a laptop, a notebook and a cup.
• Chair: one you'd sit in for hours.
• Light: from the side, not behind the screen or behind you.
• Your kit: a laptop stand, a keyboard, a mouse and headphones with a microphone.

Time zones: know your overlap

India has one time zone, India Standard Time, which is UTC+5:30 all year. India doesn't use daylight saving, so if your team is somewhere that does, the gap between you moves by an hour twice a year. Work out your overlap before you book, protect it and give the rest of the day to Goa.

With Europe, the mornings are yours and the afternoons are the team's. With New York and the East Coast, the overlap is your evening, so take the long lunch and the afternoon out first.

A working day in Siolim

The risk of working from Goa is a month somewhere beautiful spent looking at a screen. The fix is a routine with edges: fixed hours for work, and the best light kept for being outside. The midday sun is strong here, so go out early, work through the heat and go out again in the late afternoon.

Keep weekends for longer trips, such as a day in Panjim or a long day in the south. Remote work and slow travel share a rule: one base, and fewer plans.

Which season for a working stay

Pick the season for the work you'll do. Goa's dry season runs from about October to May, with December and January the busiest weeks, and April and May hot and quiet; by April you'll want the air conditioning. My piece on the best time to visit Goa goes month by month.

The monsoon, June to September, is wet, green and calm, and good for focused weeks once you've asked about power backup. July is the wettest month: Panjim averages about 955 mm of rain over 27 rainy days, with about three hours of sunshine a day, so expect rain on most days. The sea is closed for swimming, most beach shacks close and the villages are at their greenest. More in Goa in the monsoon.

Staying a month: the kitchen, laundry and getting around

A week can be lived out of a suitcase; a month needs a home that works. Ask whether long stays are welcome before you plan around one, and look for these.

• A kitchen you'll cook in: a cooktop, a fridge and pots and pans, with drinking water to refill.
• A washing machine, and an iron if you're on camera.
• Storage, so the suitcase can go away.
• Housekeeping on a schedule you can plan calls around.

For getting about, a scooter or a car is the easiest way around North Goa, and buses link the towns at low fares, with Mapusa the hub for Siolim. Taxis suit evenings out and airport runs: Uber and Ola don't operate in Goa, so use GoaMiles, Goa's own taxi app, or the airport's prepaid counter. My piece on getting around Goa has the rest.

Use the checklist for the house and the Wi-Fi. Siolim itself is best without one.