With a ratio of 1.5 staff per guest room, the service is exceptional, especially on the rooftop terrace, which is reserved for guests and is the ideal spot for a sunsetcocktail.
After a fiery Goan curry lunch, or a sunsetcocktail, served on the fort ramparts, look in on the in-fort chapel, then dip your toes in the shallows across the river at Aswem beach.
As I walked through it alone during a visit there this spring, it reminded me in some ways of Ian Fleming's Goldeneye in Jamaica, a spartan but splendidly labyrinthine retreat devoted to both a productive life and to the elegant sunsetcocktail hour.