Goa wears its history on its walls. In Fontainhas, the old Latin quarter of Panjim, houses are painted ochre, indigo and leaf green, with tiled roofs and wrought-iron balconies, and the street names are still Portuguese. Few places in India feel so much like a meeting of two worlds, and that mixture is the key to what to wear in Goa as a woman: clothes relaxed enough for the beach, considered enough for a town with old manners, and respectful enough for its churches.

The season that matters runs from November to February, when the monsoon has passed, the air is dry and warm by day and the nights are mild. Christmas and New Year are the busiest weeks; by March the heat builds. Through all of it, linen is the natural cloth. Its open, matt fall suits the Goan light, whether the colourway is certified Belgian linen, like the Amelia linen dress shirt in Coral Orange, or natural linen, like the PP linen blouse in Lemon.

Old Goa, a short drive inland from Panjim, was once the capital of Portuguese India, and its great churches stand among the palms: the Basilica of Bom Jesus, which holds the relics of St Francis Xavier, and the vast Sé Cathedral opposite. These are working places of worship, and visitors cover their arms and legs out of respect. The PP linen blouse in Lemon, long-sleeved and cut to the hip with a curved hem and seashell buttons, worn with a long skirt, is right for a morning there. The guide to the PP linen blouse describes its cut in detail.

Fontainhas is best walked in the late afternoon, when the light softens the colours of the houses and the small cafés and bakeries open their doors. Here the Amelia linen dress shirt in Coral Orange is at ease against the painted walls, with flat sandals for the uneven pavements. The riverside along the Mandovi, a few minutes away, is lively in the evening.

The beaches of the south, from Benaulim and Cavelossim to Agonda and Palolem, are quieter than those of the north, and many of Goa's most considered resorts are found along them. Days are slow: a swim in the warm Arabian Sea, lunch under a thatched roof, an afternoon in the shade. The ladies linen set in Dubarry carries that day without a change, and looks equally right at a beach table and in a resort lobby.

The north is livelier. Around Assagao and Vagator, villas and restaurants have made the area a destination for long dinners, and the evening markets draw a mixed, sociable crowd. Here a HER Laos Linen Shirt in Orange, worn loose over white trousers, is relaxed and confident. Above Vagator, the ruined walls of Chapora Fort are a favoured place to watch the sun go down; the climb is short but steep and loose underfoot, so sandals with a firm grip are worth the room in the bag.

Inland, the spice plantations around Ponda offer walks through pepper vines, areca palms and cardamom, often with lunch on a banana leaf. The paths can be muddy after rain and the air close under the trees. Light trousers and the PP linen blouse in Sky Blue are practical under the trees and keep insects off the arms; the Amelia linen dress shirt returns at dusk.

Outside the beaches, Goa is more conservative than its reputation suggests. In towns and villages, covered shoulders are appreciated, and swimwear belongs only on the sand. A linen blouse or shirt with long sleeves, kept in a bag, makes the move from beach to market easy and courteous. For those travelling further south, what to wear in Kerala follows the same coast into the backwaters, where the same courtesy applies.

The town's own palette, ochre, indigo, green and white, welcomes Coral Orange, Lemon and Dubarry, and the deep red of a bougainvillea wall makes almost any natural tone look deliberate. White linen is lovely at night, especially near the sea, when the heat has gone out of the day.

By the time the sun drops behind Chapora Fort, the blouse worn to the cathedral that morning is folded in the bag, and the Coral Orange of the Amelia linen dress shirt has caught the last of the light.

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