What to do in Barbados

Barbados holds a special place in my heart.  As a child, I used to go there a lot and have vivid memories of white sands, palm trees, snorkeling the reef, glass-bottomed boat trips, the Jolly Roger, and jumping waves at Crane Beach.  Unfortunately, it’s been many years since I’ve visited this beautiful paradise, but fast forward 25 years to when my husband and I floated the idea of taking a Caribbean trip, I knew exactly where I wanted to take my young family.  He had never been to the Caribbean, and I wanted both him and my girls to experience the friendliness of the locals and the beauty of this little piece of paradise and to fall in love with the laid-back island life that I remember so well.

When to go to Barbados

Barbados lies within the tropics, just north of the equator, and to maintain its lush greenness, it experiences quite a bit of rain.  The best time to visit Barbados is during its dry season, which is December to April.  We travelled in February, and the weather was a lovely 29-30°C every day.  The nights were warm and balmy, and there was no need for a cardigan or jumper in the evenings.  We did experience some rain, but it only lasted 5 minutes and was quite a welcome reprieve from the heat  – you dry off in another 5 minutes anyway (or as the Bajans say, when it rains, head to the sea – it doesn’t matter as you’re already wet!) This is the most popular time to visit though, so reserve accommodation early as it gets booked up quickly!

Hurricane season is officially July to November, but Barbados usually escapes the worst of the Caribbean hurricanes.  With an average year-round temperature of 30°C, there isn’t really a bad time to visit!  If you choose to go during July-August, you might be there for the famous Crop Over Festival, or go for the Barbados Food and Rum Festival, which is in November, if that is more your thing!

How to get to Barbados

We took a direct flight from London Heathrow to BGI (Grantley Adams International Airport), the only airport on the island.  It’s located in the southeast of Barbados in the Christchurch District.  From there, we got a taxi to our destination.  As you exit the airport, there is a huge taxi rank with all the prices to each destination listed, so you know you won’t be overcharged.  Just make sure to speak to the dispatcher and get a receipt for your journey.  The more people/bags you have, the more the price will increase, so make sure your price is agreed upon before you leave.  As an example, average prices to Holetown are $122 Bds, Bridgetown are $74 Bds, and Oistins are $39 Bds.

It’s always useful to have a bit of local currency on you before you land.  When you arrive at the airport, there are plenty of ‘Red Caps’ (men and women wearing red hats) in the arrivals hall who are there to help you with your baggage.  The charge for this is $2 Bds or $1 US per bag, although any extra tip will be gratefully received.

To travel through customs in Barbados, you need to fill in the Immigration Form.  This can be done at the airport after you land, but to make life easier, you can also do it online up to 3 days before you fly.  This just means shorter queues when you arrive – you just scan your barcode and walk through.

Barbados is also a popular cruise destination and is a guaranteed stop on any Caribbean cruise, so there are often cruise liners moored up in Bridgetown.

Where to stay in Barbados

You can stay all over the island, but the most densely populated areas with the most restaurants and activities are the South Coast and the West Coast.  The South Coast areas, such as Saint Lawrence and Rockley, are a bit more relaxed with a more local vibe, whereas the West Coast areas, such as Holetown and Speightstown, are more upmarket with more fine dining restaurants and boutique shops, so choose your accommodation based on your holiday style.  You can stay in a resort or hire an Airbnb-type apartment or more of a luxury villa/beach house, depending on the vibe that you want.  Most of the resorts have a pool and are fairly small boutique-style hotels. There are almost no high-rise hotels in Barbados unless you opt for one of the branded resorts! There are also plenty of B&Bs and guesthouses to choose from!

When I used to come as a child, we always stayed on the South side of the island, near The Gap at a resort called Sandy Beach, which I now think is called The Sands.  For this trip, we left our booking very late, and there wasn’t much available, so we ended up with an apartment on Brighton Beach.  The apartment itself was brand new and absolutely stunning, and right on the beach, but the location wasn’t right for us.  Brighton Beach is very quiet with only one Beach Bar (Rascals), which wasn’t really our vibe (it was a waterpark, so great for older kids), so apart from a few days when we just enjoyed the beach and the rooftop pool, we travelled to other places to spend the day, which was an expensive way of doing it – taxis were our greatest expense of the holiday.

If you’re looking for a quieter vibe, then there are hotels on the East Coast, too. I remember visiting Crane Beach as a child, and they now have a couple of very luxurious hotels there, such as the Hilton and The Crane, but if you’re staying there, it’s probably best to hire a car, as you will have to travel to most places outside of the resort.

Next time, we hope to stay somewhere on the West Coast, near Holetown, to be in the middle of all the action and to be able to walk to restaurants, shops, and bars.

Getting around Barbados

We mistakenly thought we’d be able to walk much of Barbados, but to be honest, the pavements are not great and are missing in some places.  Some areas are better than others, but a lot of the roads and highways don’t have a set path next to them to walk on.  It’s definitely not a very buggy-friendly place.

Taxis are quite expensive in Barbados.  We spent a lot of our budget just getting around the island, as we were staying in a quiet area and wanted to head to where more action was every day – I would estimate that we spent around US$60-70 just to travel around every day.  We made friends with a taxi driver whom we were able to text whenever we wanted a lift, but there is also the ‘Pickup’ app that you can download, which works just like Uber.  It shows the agreed price beforehand and is very reliable – there are always plenty of drivers. You might notice a lot of horn beeping in Barbados, but this is not in anger like in other countries – horns are a means of greeting hello and thank you.

Barbados also has a great Bus network.  There are government-owned blue buses, privately owned yellow buses, and privately owned ZR minivans.  Bus fares are $2 Bds to anywhere on the island, but the government-owned buses do not carry change, so you have to make sure you have the right amount.  Most of the time, the yellow minibusses and ZR minivans can change larger notes or will accept US$.  Buses can be hailed by raising your hand at one of the many bus stops all over the island, as most buses in Barbados do not have set time schedules. Rather than leaving at a certain time, they depart once they have reached max (or close to max) capacity, and they fill up to overcapacity, so be prepared to squeeze in!

Travelling by ZR van is quite an experience!  They try to cram in as many passengers as possible (it’s not unusual to have to sit on someone’s lap), and they can drive erratically,  at high speeds, blasting out loud reggae music.

Hiring a car in Barbados can be quite expensive as there are a limited number of them on the island.  Also, the roads are not maintained very well, especially in more rural areas, so there are plenty of potholes, and you often see cars with blown-out tyres!  Don’t forget, in Barbados, they drive on the left-hand side of the road like in the UK.

Where to eat in Barbados

I did a lot of research around where to eat before we travelled to Barbados, as food is such a big part of our travels!  Barbados has such a vibrant food scene, from fine dining to local food trucks, and there is something for every palate.  The country is known for its fish cutters, rotis, souse, and macaroni pie, but they really do offer every cuisine from sushi to asian fusion to curry to Mexican and so much more.  I like light, fresh flavours, so the ceviches, salad, and blackened grilled fish were my go-to dishes.  When it comes to restaurants, everyone has a favourite recommendation, and we tried a different restaurant every day, alternating between lunches and dinners out.  This is what we found:

Food is not cheap, especially in the finer dining restaurants – think London prices or possibly more.  Drinks are the same, especially wine – it’s more economical to drink the local rum-based cocktails, and if you’re settling in for a few, then order a jug instead of individual glasses.  We liked to book dinner for around 17.30 so we could watch the sunset as we ate (it also made sense with the kiddies to eat earlier), or occasionally we booked a spot for cocktail hour at 17:00-18:00 to watch the sunset and then ate at 18:00.  Also, I would advise you to book quite a long way in advance (at least a month or two if going in high season) if you would like a seafront table, as these get reserved quickly in the more popular restaurants.  You can mostly book online, and the booking systems allow you to request the table you would like.

These are a few of the restaurants that we tried on our trip, ranked from our favourite to our least favourite, but we only scratched the surface.  As always, these are our personal experiences dining at these places, but if you have other thoughts or further recommendations, I’d love to hear about them in the comments.  We avoided the super high-end ones (Sandy Lane & The Cliff) as we were travelling with kids and instead opted for the more beachy ones.

Top of our list for beach restaurants was definitely La Cabane on Batts Rock Beach.  We decided to go and spend the day there and were not disappointed.  While they don’t offer sun loungers, there is plenty of beach access, and you can put your towel down anywhere.  They even have a few hammocks dotted about to relax in or a massage tent if you need to unwind.  We spent most of the afternoon on the comfy sofas next to the bar, as our kids loved dancing to the DJ and trying out the bar swings!  And the food…we all agreed it was the best food we had eaten.  It was healthy, fresh, and right up my street.  The ceviche was incredible and so fresh, and we went for the barbequed special of the day, which was grilled snapper, and the kids had the barbequed chicken.  Everyone was so happy, and we just spent a lovely, relaxed day there.  It’s just on the edge of a Nature Reserve, and as we walked home through it, there was a turtle nest hatching, and all the babies were waddling towards the sea – it was the most unbelievable experience, made all the more special as it was completely by chance that we got to see it.  We also got to see the Standing Stones in the Nature Reserve, which are quite a sight – a bit Blair Witch Project-y!

The main exception to our fine dining embargo was that on our last night, we went upscale at Paul Owens at the Beach House.  This was the fanciest restaurant that we dined at, as we wanted a special dinner for our final evening.  It truly was a spectacular vista, right on the beachfront in Holetown, and the food was exquisite.  We started in the lounge area with a cocktail from their extensive list before moving to the restaurant for our meal.  The food was very modern with fresh, delicious flavours. I had the seared tuna, which was cooked perfectly. They had a lot of wines available by the glass, and it was a lovely place to sit and watch the sun go down while the kids played in the garden and along the boardwalk.

One of our favourite lunches was at Sea Shed, which had such a fun, relaxed party atmosphere.  We heard they did great live music, and so we booked for a late lunch at around 15:00.  In hindsight, we would have gone earlier or later, as the restaurant was very quiet at that time, and it would have been nicer to have had a bit of a buzzier vibe.  However, it worked out quite well for us as we ate quickly and then headed upstairs to the bar area, which the kids loved as they could run around – in fact, there were so many other families there it almost turned into a creche!  The staff were so great and the live violinist was a hit with the kids, especially once he started playing Baby Shark on his neon light-up violin! We would have loved to have arrived earlier and gotten sunbeds (they provide waiter service to your sunbed if you don’t want to go to the restaurant), but these were all full when we arrived.  We did head down to the beach for a quick sunset dip with the kids, which they loved!  Next time, I think we will plan to arrive in the morning, get the sun loungers, and spend a full day there.

I picked Pier One as a location because I had heard it was a great place to spend the day.  They have sun loungers to use, a small pool onsite with a swim-up bar, and access to the sea via some steps, so we figured we could spend a whole afternoon there (we travelled there after spending the morning at the Nature Reserve, which was close by).  When we arrived, all the sun loungers were already taken, so we actually spent most of our time in the pool until our table was ready for lunch.  The restaurant has what I imagine to be (having never been to one) American Country Club vibes.  Very laid back and chilled with a subtle elegance.  The food was light and fresh for lunch, think salads, crab cakes, club sandwiches, and a fish taco type vibe.  I would say that there weren’t many kids there, but ours were made to feel welcome.  They loved having the pool to play in, and after lunch, we all jumped off the pier and spent some time in the sea, which was lovely!

We chose to go to Lone Star for lunch one day, and it was a beautiful setting, right on Alleynes Bay Beach.  Literally, right on the beach, you couldn’t get closer to the water!  The restaurant is gorgeous, light and airy, and very nautical.  We loved the laid-back beachy vibe, and the food was lovely, but we found it to be one of the most expensive options we ate at for lunch.  I wouldn’t say the food was any better or worse than anywhere else, but it was just slightly more expensive.  I had the beef carpaccio followed by a goat’s cheese salad, and it was delicious, but I think here, you are paying for the ambience and location more than the food.

I read so much about Champers when researching Bajan restaurants that I knew we just had to go.  It seemed to be most people’s favourite restaurant, so we had to give it a try.  We booked it for our first dinner and were given an amazing table, right by the sea, and the girls were thrilled with the view.  It’s in an absolutely beautiful location, just off Rockley Beach and perched up on the rocks overlooking the ocean.  The food was good, although not the best we had on our trip.  We weren’t disappointed as such, but it just wasn’t one of the most memorable meals of our holiday.  I feel like some of the other restaurants we went to were more fun, with a better vibe, but I’m told this is the place to come if you’re celebrating a special occasion. They really spoil you on your birthday/anniversary with lots of special touches.  I would probably give it another chance, but it was just middle of the road for us.

We chose Calma Beach Club in Holetown, as we wanted an all-day venue, and we heard they offered brunches, lunches, and sunbed service.  We wanted a relaxing day on the beach with food and drink brought to us on our sunbeds, so we could spend all day on the sand and in and out of the water.  I was also impressed that they offered a gluten-free menu, so we headed off early to get our sunbeds.  You can’t reserve sunbeds; they are first-come, first-served, so we planned to go early when they opened at 10 am.  We arrived at about 10.10 to be told that all the sunbeds were gone for the day!  We were pretty disappointed, but to be fair, they found us sunbeds next door, rented by one of the locals, and promised to bring drinks to us if we wanted them.  We couldn’t get our food brought to the sunbeds, which was a shame, so we ended up eating in the restaurant.  The food was good, but expensive for the amount compared to other places that we’d been.  However, it was the service that let them down as we waited ages for our meal, and there weren’t even many people in the restaurant.  They did apologise and say that a lot of staff had called in sick that day, but with two restless, hungry children, the atmosphere wasn’t very relaxing.  I will say that we had a sundowner there, and their cocktails were very good!

On our first night, I wanted something low-key and easy as we would have been on an all-day flight – the kids would be exhausted, and we would all be jet-lagged.  We just needed somewhere to get food quickly, and Zaccios came highly recommended as somewhere nice but laid back.  In hindsight, I think Zaccios would be better for lunch as it’s right on the beach in Holetown, but as it was dark when we arrived, we didn’t get the full experience.  The food was so-so (I had the blackened catch of the day), and we agreed it wasn’t somewhere we would rush back to (although having said that, Dan still maintains they do the best rum punch on the island – and he tried a lot of them!)

Now this one I’m truly gutted about.  We booked an early dinner at Fish Pot after hearing so many great things about the restaurant.  It’s on the beach (Smitons Bay), slightly north of Speightstown, and it looked like it had exactly the vibe we were going for, beachy and laid back but with delicious food.  However, on the day of our reservation, my daughter was unwell, so we had to cancel. They were extremely accommodating and cancelled our booking at the last minute without a cancellation fee, which we really appreciated.  You can bet it’s top of my list for our next trip!

Barbados also has plenty of more relaxed options if you’re looking for more of a taste of the local food:

One that always gets a mention is Surfside.  We went on our glass-bottomed boat trip one day, and as it was picking us up from Surfside, we decided to make it our lunch destination.  The menu there is a mix of local food and some more upscale dishes, such as seared tuna, but most people go for the Bajan specialities.  The flying fish cutters and macaroni pie, as well as the Bajan fishcakes, are well worth a try!  Happy Hour is from 4.30 to 5.30, which was rammed with locals, so you know the drinks and the prices have to be good!  They also show a lot of live sports matches, so there is always a good atmosphere on game day!

Just down from Lone Star on Alleynes Beach is Ju-ju’s beach bar, and we ended up here for a snacky dinner and a sundowner, having had lunch at Lone Star earlier.  The food was good, local fare (fish cutters, burgers, and sandwiches), and the portions were generous. It was the location that was the best, though, very relaxed, tables in the sand – it looked like lots of people had set up camp there for the afternoon with the jugs of cocktails and bottles of rosé that were being brought out!  And the sunset was incredible, well worth staying late at the beach for.

Savvy on the Bay is a kind of Beach Club, and you can spend the whole day there as they offer sun loungers, boat trips, and they have a bar and all kinds of different food trucks serving all the local dishes.  You can also just visit for the food, and with options from pizzas, burgers, cutters, and tacos to jerk chicken, desserts, and ice-creams, there is definitely something for everyone.  And there’s usually some kind of live music playing, or if not, the sound system plays a pretty good selection of tunes!  They even offer shuttles from your hotel that you can book in advance to pick you up and take you there.  The Boatyard Beach Club is very similar and is found next door, but I can’t comment as I haven’t been there.

Barbados has so many fantastic restaurants that there were plenty that never made it onto our list.  These are a few we haven’t tried but come highly recommended – The Tides, QP Bistro, Tapas,  Lobster Alive, Local & Co, Sandy Lane, and The Cliff, to name a few- but we’ve got them earmarked for our next trip, so I’ll report back.  Please feel free to let me know in the comments if there are any that I’ve missed or should be aware of for future trips!  I love a good recommendation!

Harbour Lights is a Beach Club during the day, which turns into a dinner extravaganza for a couple of nights each week.   A BBQ buffet dinner combined with a show, which I’ve heard is such good fun.  From fire breathers to live music, stilt walkers to dancers, and steel bands to DJs, it’s definitely dinner with entertainment.  A kind of dinner show that turns into a nightclub, and it’s fun for all the family too!

Oistins Fish Fry is a good place to mingle with the locals.  Friday night is the big night there with steel bands, live music, and dancing in the street but beware, the queues for the food stands are long and you can easily wait 45 minutes for food.  If you prefer shorter wait times and a quieter experience, the restaurants are open every night of the week, so just avoid a Friday.  I’m reliably informed that Pat’s Place is the best in town.

All of the restaurants that we went to were very accommodating of our children, and they all offered child-friendly options for them to eat.  If you’re looking for more specifically kid-friendly places, you could visit the Chefettes (local Bajan fast food restaurants all over the island), as they all have adventure playgrounds attached to keep the kids entertained.  A few others that came highly recommended for children were Mimosa’s and the Art Splash Café, both of which have play equipment for children to explore while the adults eat.

There are plenty of supermarkets all over the island if you want to cook your own meals.  Massy are the largest and most abundant, but there are also some others, such as Emerald City, Tri-Mart, and Jordans.  (You can see all the main supermarkets here).  The supermarkets have a very wide selection, much of it imported, and you’ll find plenty of brands from the USA, Canada, and the UK – I found a lot of Waitrose own-brand products at the Massy we visited.  Most tourists moan at the high prices of food, not realising that this is for the imported food.  If you choose local food, the prices are very reasonable.  Try a local brand of crisps over Lays or Walkers and choose local baked goods over imported biscuits and cakes -it’s a good way to expand your food knowledge without breaking the bank.  There are also plenty of local convenience stores, markets, and farmers’ markets to visit, as well as roadside vendors selling fresh food and drinks.

What to do in Barbados

Barbados has so much to offer, from beautiful beaches to day trips, excursions, boat trips, food tours, nature and wildlife tours, rum tastings, etc.  Here are a few of the things we did and would recommend:

• Beaches!  In Barbados, there are no private beaches.  This means you can walk on or spend the day at any of the beaches on the island.  Some of the hotels have their own sun loungers on the beach, which you can’t use, but this doesn’t stop you from being able to access the beaches outside any hotels.  There are also plenty of locals renting out sun loungers, so you can usually find somewhere to lie if you’re not a fan of lying on the sand!  And the sea; clear, turquoise, and beautifully warm!  We loved Holetown Beach, Mullins Beach, and Paradise Beach, to name a few.

  

  

  

• There are also a few Beach Clubs, such as Savvy on the Bay, Harbour Lights, and The Boatyard, that you can visit for the day.  These offer loungers for hire, bars and food trucks to visit, and even day trips snorkelling and swimming with the turtles that you can book.  We actually booked Savvy on the Bay for our last day, as we had a late flight and had to check out of our accommodation in the morning.  We booked the package with luggage storage and access to the air-conditioned shower room so we could spend our last day on the beach and have a wash before heading to the airport!  There are also beds for hire at some of the restaurants, such as Calma, Sea Shed, Pier One, and Fish Pot, and sometimes they offer service to your loungers.  Beware, these get booked up very quickly – if you’re not there by 10 am, you’re not getting a look in!  La Cabane is a fun Beach Club with live music but no sun loungers. Just sit on some of the sofas or bring your own towel to put on the sand.  There is also Bikini Beach Club that I’ve heard of but never visited – I’ll report back on that when I’ve been!
• Take a trip on a glass-bottomed boat!  Now this is something I remembered doing as a child and just had to repeat when I was there with my own children.  We took a trip with ‘Mark The Shark’, who took us on a 3-hour trip starting from Holetown and taking us along the coast, pointing out beaches, celeb villas, and restaurants to try.  The kids loved looking at all the marine life through the glass hull of the boat.  We then moored up and got to jump in the water and swim with turtles, which was just the most amazing experience; they are so beautiful and majestic.  He then took us to a well-known shipwreck where we could snorkel again and see all the incredible ocean life that has made it their home!  Finally, we were offered a few glasses of his homemade rum punch, which he swears is the best on the island. Other tours are offered around the island too. I know of the Marvin Sobers one and the ones you can take from Savvy on the Bay, and they all do a similar thing, just visiting different areas.

  

  

  

• See the local wildlife! We were extremely lucky when we were there to experience so much of the natural wildlife. One day, as we were leaving La Cabane and walking home through the Paradise Nature Reserve, we happened upon a nest of turtles that had just hatched and were making their way to the water.  It was really magical to see them waddling down the beach and getting floated away by the waves to live in the ocean.  We also got to swim with the turtles during our glass-bottomed boat trip and even saw turtles poking their heads up above the water when we were just swimming at various beaches.  We also saw stingrays one day at Mullins Beach as we swam in the sea.  They just turned up and swam alongside us as well as some enormous tarpons (local fish), which were honestly about 4 feet long, silver, and utterly beautiful.  You can also see guaranteed local wildlife by visiting the Wildlife Reserve, where you can feed the monkeys every day at 11:00 and 14:00.  Our kids absolutely loved this, and it was a highlight of the trip for them.  You can also wander around and see all the turtles, birds, lizards, and other local animals, and it’s easy to spend a good few hours there.  The other place to feed the monkeys is at Welchman Hall Gully.

  

  

  

  

• See the racehorses at Pebbles Beach.  We got up very early one morning (well, we were already up thanks to the time difference and the kids’ body clocks) to head down to see the racehorses swim at Pebbles Beach. Every morning at around 6 am, the local racehorses make the trip from the Garrison to Pebbles Beach, where they get their daily swim in the sea.  You can just head there yourself or arrange to be picked up and taken.   It’s an early start, but so worthwhile, and just a lovely thing to see.  You’re there as the sun comes up, and it’s truly magical to watch the grooms take the horses into the waves and see them splash around.  It has become a bit of a tourist hotspot, however, and can be a bit crowded, but just abide by the locals giving you directions (it’s for your own safety) and enjoy the experience.  You can’t touch the actual racehorses; however, there are some locals who bring their horses down to the beach, and for a small tip you can stroke and ride them – perfect for the kids who were completely entranced by the whole encounter.  There’s a small coffee bar selling hot drinks and cakes to help get you over that early morning feeling, too!

  

  

  

• Rum! What Barbados runs on.  You can’t go to Barbados without having a Bajan Rum Punch or a Planter’s Punch. Served almost everywhere, these cocktails are pretty potent, but sitting on a sun lounger with a cocktail in hand is such a lovely way to watch the sun go down!  You can also go on an organised rum tour – or just organise yourself and visit a few of the rum shops on the island, of which there are over 1500.  They’re a cross between a local shop and a bar and each one has it’s own special vibe.  If you ask for a rum and Coke, you’ll probably be given the bottle to pour your own measure!   You could also go to one of the big distilleries, such as Stades or Mount Gay, and do one of their tastings.  We were staying just along the beach from Stade’s Distillery and went there one day – we had the kids, so didn’t do the tasting, but we did enjoy a cocktail each!

  

  

• See Barbados from the water!  Whether it’s on a Catamaran, private yacht, or an all-day cruise, one of the best things about holidaying on an island is getting out on the ocean!
• Horse Riding on the Beach – There is something utterly magical about horse riding on a deserted beach, and Barbados has plenty of places that offer beach riding.  From a relaxed ride for beginners to a fast-paced ride/swim along the beach to a private evening horse ride along the beach, there is sure to be an experience to tempt you.
• Watersports.  Rascal’s Waterpark is an inflatable waterpark set a little way out to sea on Brandon’s Beach.  It’s a great activity for older kids and teens, and there’s a restaurant and bar there as well as sun loungers to hire, so you can make a day of it.  You can also hire paddleboards and kayaks to have a go at some of the watersports there.  In fact, most beaches have the opportunity to experience some kind of watersports.  Everything from water skiing to jet-blading, from scuba diving to surfing is available on the island  – have a look here to find out what’s available and see if anything piques your interest.

• Island Tours.  The island is so beautiful, but some parts, such as the centre, north, and east, are pretty hard to get to without a hire car.  If you want to explore, you could always hire a guide to take you on an island tour.  Most of them are customisable, and they’ll take you anywhere you want and fill you in on the rich history of the island. You can do walking tours in Bridgetown, a coastal driving tour, or even an e-bike tour if you’re feeling energetic!
• Consider visiting during the Crop Over Festival (July-August) or the Barbados Food and Rum Festival (November) for a cultural experience. 

On our next trip, we hope to get out and about and explore the island a bit more – I remember loving the waves at Crane Beach as a child, and I’ve heard that the East coast is definitely the best for surfing! There are so many places to visit, Bathsheba, the Botanic Gardens, Animal Flower Cave, etc.  Let me know your favourite hidden gems in the comments below.

Helpful tips for Barbados

In Barbados, you can pay for most things in either US$ OR Bds$ (Barbados Dollars) at a rate of 1US$ TO 2Bds$.  Most restaurants, shops, etc will accept cash, but some food trucks only accept cash.  The buses also will only accept cash (Bajan$), and you have to have the right money as they don’t give change.

The rum punch is always a good idea.  My husband and I tried multiple ones all over the island, but he said that the one on Mark the Shark’s glass-bottomed boat was the best, closely followed by the one at Zaccio’s.

Take plenty of mosquito spray and avoid the beach at dusk so you don’t get nibbled on by the sand flies.  I was also told to avoid touching any ropes in the sea, such as those cordoning off boating areas or attached to buoys, as sea lice like to live on the ropes and can give you a nasty rash.

Most days we had some rain, just a short shower of a few minutes – my advice, go out and dance in it! You dry off in 5 minutes anyway!

The heat will decrease your appetite.  We tended to have one big meal out a day, whether it was lunch or dinner, and we bought some fruit and yoghurt for breakfast in the apartment, and that was enough.

Buy local – if you go to the supermarket, anything that is imported will be $$$.  Try the local Bajan pastries or fruits instead of the more expensive imported ones.

Take a mask and snorkel – there are coral reefs all around the island and so much wildlife to see.  Also, I would advise sea shoes as the ground can be very rocky under the sea in some places.

Barbados has a strict ‘no camouflage clothing or items’ rule.  Camouflage is reserved strictly for the Barbados Defense Force, and the wearing (or even possessing) of camouflage items is illegal.  This means no clothing, backpacks, hats, bandanas, etc with any type of camouflage print in any colour!

Tipping – it is not expected to tip taxi drivers, but it is always gratefully accepted.  In restaurants, make sure to check your bill as some charge a service charge.  If none is added, then around 10% is a good tip to leave.

Barbados is 4 hours behind the UK.  This worked quite well for us, travelling with little kids as we tried to stick to the UK time as much as possible.  We were up and out early – usually around 5 am, and after an early dinner at around 5/5.30 pm, they were tucked up around 7.30 pm (ish).

And as the sun sets on another trip to Barbados, we’ve already booked flights for next year – I guess the family loved it as much as I do …

If you have any recommendations for places to go or things I haven’t mentioned, I’d love some more ideas for our next trip!  Feel free to share them in the comments section below!

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