Gomtimata Beach, Vanakbara

At the far western tip of Diu island, where the fishing hamlet of Vanakbara gives way to open dunes, Gomtimata Beach unfurls as one of the quietest stretches of sand in the whole Somnath–Diu circuit.

• It takes its name from the small Gomti Mata shrine set back from the shore, and the beach carries something of that shrine's stillness: a broad, pale-gold arc of open sand, sparse casuarina and palm cover, and an Arabian Sea horizon almost entirely free of buildings.
• Where Diu's town beaches can fill with day-trippers, Gomtimata often leaves a visitor alone with the wind, the crabs stitching the tideline, and the low rhythm of the surf.
• Diu, a small former Portuguese enclave now administered as a Union Territory joined with Daman, sits just off the Kathiawar coast a short drive from Una and roughly ninety minutes from Somnath.
• Reaching Gomtimata means threading the length of the island past Vanakbara's harbour, one of the region's busiest fishing ports, before the road thins and the sand widens.
• The reward is space: a shoreline you can walk for a long while without meeting another soul, ideal for a slow morning stroll, shell-hunting, birdwatching over the shallows, or simply watching the light change.
• A word of caution shapes every visit here.
• Gomtimata is tide-prone and its currents can be strong, so swimming and deep wading are firmly discouraged; treat it as a beach for walking, sitting and photography rather than a bathing beach.
• There are few facilities, so carry water, sun cover and anything you need.
• Late afternoon is the beach's finest hour, when the western aspect turns the sky and the wet sand copper and rose, and the day's fishing boats become silhouettes on the water.
• It is, above all, a place to slow down at the edge of India's coast.
• For meals, keep to Diu's pure-vegetarian kitchens rather than the port's seafood stalls.
• Vanakbara itself is a working fishing village with little vegetarian dining, so plan to eat in Diu town or nearby Ghoghla, where pure-veg Gujarati and Kathiyawadi thali houses serve unlimited rotli, shaak, dal-bhaat, kadhi and farsan.
• A simple pilgrim-style thali here — with a bowl of sweet shrikhand or a jalebi if the counter has it — is the most reliable meal near the beach.
• Ask specifically for a pure-veg thali restaurant, and carry packaged snacks and water for the sandy, facility-light shoreline itself.