Barbados do's

[npe]

I'm heading to Barbados with my girlfriend in May, we've never been before. We're primarly heading for a beach holiday, but are there any must do's we should be looking at? Any recommended postcard beaches?

[Lee_sec]

Must do in Barbados?

Drink plenty of Mount gay rum!

[Simon Brooks]

Tiami Cruises, well worth a day out

[Grey Ghost]

If you are looking for beaches then hire a mini moke and drive round the island at your leisure.

Small guide:

http://www.barbados.org/beaches.htm

[JustNeil]

Go scuba diving, even if you've never done it before. Plenty of places will give you a lesson in a hotel pool before you go into the ocean. Can be pricey though, so shop around. If you can, get an all inclusive deal, with drink & food included. We went with Cool Runnings, if you want a recommendation. Or you could go fishing. Some restaurants will cook your fish for you when you get back.

As mentioned, drink lots of rum. Find a rum shack, make some friends, eat some local food.

Try Oistins Fish Fry if you want to be a proper tourist.

I'd say hire a car with doors and a/c instead of a moke. I did the moke thing a few years ago and almost drowned. :-) Driving standards can be pretty shocking, especially at night. Driving with sidelights, or main beam, at random. Driving drunk seems to be a national sport when it's dark too. :-) Luckily for brits, they drive on the left. Most of the time.
You'll need a Barbados driving licence, but they're only a few quid, so take both parts of yours.

Sunday lunch on the beach is always worth doing. Some have decent BBQ's and live music, it's when the locals go to the beach, so expect it to be busy.

If you're into clubbing and getting smashed, you could try St. Lawrence Gap. Once was enough for me :-)

Spend a few hours wandering round Bridgetown, take a look at some of the boats in the harbour and try to avoid spending a fortune on some nice shiny duty free stuff. Try to miss when the cruise ships dock, it gets stupidly busy with all the passengers trying to squeeze as much as they can into their few hours.

Try to avoid deserted beaches at night, there can be some rather unsavoury characters wandering round, looking for skinny dippers and tourists. Rare, but it does happen and they may be armed.

Oh, and avoid asking a police constable if he knows where to buy some weed, like some stupid brit did a few years ago. Got himself thrown off the island.

Postcard beaches, most of them really. Try heading toward Bathsheba on the east coast, it's breathtakingly beautiful, but there's not much up there so take a cool box if you can.
Just remember, East Coast = Surf. West coast = expensive. Mainly.

Overall, just go with the flow, don't stay in your hotel all the time and enjoy it.

Edited by JustNeil on Sunday 1st April 23:54

[jaybirduk]

Avoid Manchineel trees!

http://barbadostravel.squarespace.com/journal/2006...

[mattdaniels]

JustNeil said:

Driving drunk seems to be a national sport when it's dark too. :-) Luckily for brits, they drive on the left. Most of the time.

There is no drink drive law/limit over there. I've driven back a few times from Harbour Lights whilst well imbibed with XO. It's not so much the locals you have to watch out for but the roads themselves which are like ice rinks at the best of times.

Edited by mattdaniels on Saturday 7th April 11:22

[croyde]

Went years ago and did a daytrip which started with a small plane to Union Island then a day on a luxury catamaran visiting various tropical islands, snorkelling and great food and lots of drink served on board. It was just us and 2 other couples and a kid. Flew back to Barbados in the evening.

The landing at Union Island is interesting and I did find it on my old MS Flight Sim 98 many moons ago

[The Leaper]

I can also receommend the flight and day trip to Union Island and the schooner island cruise etc. We visted Mayreau, Palm Island and one other. We did it from St. Licis five years ago. Expensive but good value for what it involves.

R.

[Malx]

We had a day there on our recent cruise and did a thing with Tiami Cruises where we got to swim with sea turtles. It was a really good trip and the crew at Tiami Cruises were by far the most friendly and professional of all the excursions we did.

Check what things they have on offer.

[flyingjase]

I'm getting married out there at the start of July followed by a meal at the Cliff

Can anyone recommend a decent bar for afterwards for a group of (late) 30 somethings? Want some life but not full on clubbing - somewhere where we can actually hear ourselves speak.

I have been recommmended Lexy's Piano bar but looking at the website it looks like something occupied by Costa Del Sol ex pats (or perhaps I'm just being a snob?)

[chillo]

flyingjase said:

I'm getting married out there at the start of July followed by a meal at the Cliff

Can anyone recommend a decent bar for afterwards for a group of (late) 30 somethings? Want some life but not full on clubbing - somewhere where we can actually hear ourselves speak.

I have been recommmended Lexy's Piano bar but looking at the website it looks like something occupied by Costa Del Sol ex pats (or perhaps I'm just being a snob?)

Priva is just across the road from Lexy's

[toastybase]

We went last October, had an amazing time.

I would recommend the 'Cool Runnings' day cruise. They take you out round the coast of the island and provide a great lunch plus you get to swim with the turtles, the crew are friendly and I even bought the t-shirt as a momento! I think it was about 90USD per person for the day including a bus picking you up from your villa.

For food we went to the following resturants:

Scarlets - http://www.scarletbarbados.com/page5.htm

Daphnes - http://www.daphnesbarbados.com/

The Cliff - http://www.thecliffbarbados.com/CR/Default.asp

Lone Star - http://www.thelonestar.com/

We left the Cliff for the last day as it's the best of the bunch.

All beaches are free to the public



I would recommend only using Barbadian dollers especially as we were in a villa and bought our breakfast/snacks from the local supermarket and it was a right faff using USD.

[flyingjase]

chillo said:

Priva is just across the road from Lexy's

Thanks - looks really good but not open Wednesday

Edited by flyingjase on Monday 9th April 10:15

[chillo]

flyingjase said:

Thanks - looks really good but not open Wednesday

Edited by flyingjase on Monday 9th April 10:15

Just out of interest are you having your wedding ceremony at the cliff? what's the per head charge?

Have considered getting married there one day (always enjoyed the food and atmosphere)

The cost of a full on do there scares me!

[flyingjase]

chillo said:

Just out of interest are you having your wedding ceremony at the cliff? what's the per head charge?

Have considered getting married there one day (always enjoyed the food and atmosphere)

The cost of a full on do there scares me!

Yes, we are getting married on the beach in front of the Cliff, we have 16 people going so costs are a lot less than a UK wedding (well a lot less than my last 2 divorces anyway )

The wedding itself is just the cost of the minister and hire of seats / clean up afterwards etc which is not a lot (a few hudred quid from memory). The Cliff charge £90 per head for a 3 course meal plus booze (which is where they get you, I suspect my booze bill will be a lot more than food bill). On top of that, there is cocktail hour / canapes just after the wedding. That's it as far as the Cliff itself is concerned.

Then add the extras - go as mad as you want on that one, eg limbo dancers, band, fire eaters, fireworks etc etc. I'm currently trying to source and African Tribal Dance troupe which is proving a little difficult!

It all depends on what you want, but compared to most UK weddings it's cheaper but that obviously depends on how many guests you have.