Goa isn’t a new player in the growing skateboarding scene in India. The state’s scenic bylanes and secret skate parks make it one of India’s favourite skateboarding destinations. It all started with the Jungle Bowl in Assagao, followed by another skate park in Morjim and another one near the Anjuna-Vagator junction — giving Goa’s skating community a solid ground to meet — until the Jungle Bowl switched ownership, making it a private spot, rather than an open space for the community.
In general, Goa is a tough place to skate. Especially for people who’ve lived in big, fully-developed cities with amazing infrastructure, smooth roads, perfect spots on every street or in public parks. However, as Goan skaters are born into this ‘not so perfect’ skate environment, they know how to enjoy this rough and gritty sport, even in places which are not very ideal for skating.
There are many skate spots in Goa that have concrete ramps which have been built by either Indian skatepark builders, locals, or builders from abroad. In the following list, we explore the best skate parks and skate spots in Goa.
Youth Hostel X VANS Build Skatepark, Panjim
Starting our list of the best spots for skateboarding in Goa is the skating facility located at the Youth Hostel in Panjim. It was developed by SkateLifeGoa, a burgeoning community of skateboarders in the state and funded by VANS India. The Youth Hostel is located in Miramar, on the banks of the picturesque Mandovi River. The area is calm, yet there is often a sporting atmosphere, with people playing basketball at the nearby basketball court and kids roller-blading on occasion. The location has a nearly perfect flatground, composed of huge tiles that is great for learning flat ground techniques and turns. A 7-foot-tall marble coping quarter pipe with a bit of vert stands right in front of the tranquil river. There’s also a tiny quarter pipe that’s a lot of fun to skate on
Right next to the big gnarly quarter pipe is a nice smaller quarter pipe with a metal coping, which is ideal for long grinds/slides going straight, or around the corner. Next to the small quarter pipe, which is roughly a foot tall, is a ledge with a metal corner. There are other movable obstacles like the double-sided ledge, the rectangular rail, the round rail, the rainbow rail, the kicker, and the metal quarter pipe.
From morning until 3 p.m., the skatepark is normally deserted. That’s when the local shredders creep out of their caves and start moving their legs, wheels, and boards. Of course, if you’re a hardcore shredder who isn’t afraid of a heatstroke, you may also enjoy this fantastic park early in the morning!
Bal Bhavan, Panjim
Next on our list of the best spots for skateboarding in Goa is the skating facility at Bal Bhavan in Panjim. This place is just across the street from the Campal football ground and is just about 500 metres away from the Youth Hostel. The flat ground is the main feature of this place. It is made of slightly rougher and less polished granite tiles than those at the Youth Hostel. The tiles also have larger cracks between them, making learning tricks more difficult. Regardless, it’s a dream to skate on this ground! Many ledges are formed of the same substance as the ground and are unfortunately ungrindable, despite your best efforts to wax them. It is, nonetheless, very entertaining to climb up onto the ledges and do tricks down them. A wonderful manny pad/platform leads down to another flat platform for folks who enjoy skating on two wheels. This is ideal for attempting some cool flip-in, manny, and drop-down to manny combinations.
Cirrus Skatepark, Anjuna
Cirrus Skatepark is located at Anjuna. It boasts one of Goa’s first real concrete ramps. The area surrounding the ramp is filled with treehouses of various shapes and sizes, built by eager carpenters and volunteers, as well as wacky art pieces and seemingly never-ending creative projects, all to improve Cirrus’ appearance as a mini-village. The ramp was built by Holystoked, a team of skilled skatepark builders representing the city of Bangalore. Cirrus is the place to be if you enjoy skating transitions!
When the skatepark was first built, it had a concrete halfpipe with a speed bump in the middle. A few years later, the park was revamped with new pool coping on the two-quarter pipes, a roll-in bank, a corner ramp (which was supposed to be extended by the concrete masters to completely surround the park, producing a complete bowl), a little pyramid, and a little quarter pipe that bends in the shape of a crescent moon, allowing you to grind around corners. The park isn’t quite as smooth as it once was, and you might get trapped in a few holes here and there, while skating. The good thing about Cirrus is that skateboards are always stacked or lying around, ready to be used. So even if you don’t have a board, you can still enjoy a skating session by picking up a used skateboard! Although the ramp is built on private property, the landowners are always friendly and inviting, and skating is permitted at all times.
GoAlis DIY Bowl, Morjim
This is the oldest skateable ramp in Goa, which was built by the Alis team from Denmark. It is located in North Goa, facing Morjim Beach. The GoAlis Bowl has grown from a small concrete halfpipe to a full-fledged bowl. The halfpipe has metal coping, but the parts of the bowl can only be stalled (and maybe slashed) as they have no coping. To acquire enough speed to reach the wallride, you’ll need to get acclimated to pumping on this particular ramp. Bring swimming trunks, goggles, and a snorkel if you plan to skate it during the monsoon because it will almost surely be inundated. If you are coming to skate it at the start of the season, bring a shovel and a broom to clean up all the crap collected during the monsoon. The GoAlis Bowl has seen people from all over the world and the copings and lips have been smacked and grinded by highly talented shredders from America, France, England, Denmark, Kazakhstan and many other countries!
Vans sk8goa Park, Assagao
And last on our list of the best skateboarding spots in Goa is Vans sk8goa Park at Assagao. This is the very first comprehensive skate park in India. It had a full, massive wooden mega-ramp when it was erected in 2003. The wood couldn’t possibly withstand the heavy monsoon rains of Goa, but the cooler concrete bits did! There are so many obstacles and ramps at this skate park, that listing all of them would be next to impossible.
The large, blue “Vans” pool in the centre of this concrete wonderland with a deep and shallow end, formed like a conventional American swimming pool and edged with pool coping, is undoubtedly the first thing that catches your attention at this place. A rectangular, medium bowl with a similar sort of coping can be found one step above the enormous blue pool. A quarter pipe runs along the medium bowl’s side, leading to a euro gap and then a four-sided pyramid. But wait, there’s more! A concealed halfpipe is covered in soil on the same level as the rectangular bowl, aside from the quarter pipe and euro gap. A 7 to 8-foot-tall quarter pipe, with an embedded death box to grind over, is located further down. The skatepark was built such that you can get on your board and skate every inch of it without pushing or stepping off the deck. As a result, the area is littered with a variety of slopes, speed bumps (for gaining speed by pumping), and quarter pipes with metal pipes as coping. Apart from that, there’s a unique feature: a short, steep “rainbow” quarter pipe with a grindable top.
You’re probably wondering why, if this is Goa’s and arguably India’s best skatepark, it’s at the bottom of the list. The reason is simple: skating is no longer permitted here. The skatepark is on someone’s property, and they have the legal right to prohibit visitors from using it. Yes, that’s a bummer, isn’t it?
With this, we conclude our list of the best spots for skateboarding in Goa. So all you guys and gals out there! Put on your helmets, grab your skateboards and head down with your friends to one of these amazing skate spots in Goa to have a nice time doing some amazing moves and breath-taking stunts. Enjoy!
