Advice on the Bahamas

[mogwai]

We're thinking of a trip there next year but have never been before.

Have no idea what would be the best place to head for with a two year old daughter (ie, she will be two then, not now)

All advice welcome!

The biggest tourist area is on Cable Beach, up the road from Nassau; there is another major area on a different island (the name escapes me). The hotels are basically high-rise buildings, owned by the big American companies and casinos feature big in them.

We found the food to be very expensive in the hotel area, so would advise you to look into a meal package or an all-inclusive arrangement. Nassau prices were OK.

We only went for four days, and had four children at the time. The beaches are nice and sandy, but very open.

We've also been to Jamaica with kids, and definitely prefered Jamaica.

what was better about Jamaica?

I've always been under the impression that there was a high crime rate there and it wasn;t really safe to wander off the holiday complex.

As we need something self catering I wonder whether the bahamas/carribean isn't really what we need.

Jamaica tends to be made up of smaller, locally-owned resorts that are totally self-contained and secure. What I saw of the Bahamas (and it was only one part, but the main part), was a few miles of high rise American-owned hotels, all next to each other. I just prefered the smaller resort, where the kids could have the freedom of it.

Not sure about self-catering. I've never really heard of that. Even if you rent a villa, you get the cook and housekeeper too.

I stayed in a hotel in Nassau, TBH it was the one time I wish we had been in a big resort. The small island connected to Nassau is Paradise Island. It has the big hotels with casinos and some smaller rise beautiful hotels.

We actually headed for there on the days we wanted to go to the beach as we felt more comfortable there. There are lots of hawkers on the beach and we got caught twice by con men when exploring the town, one trying to get us to go to a restruant which was miles away and he kept trying to get cash out of us on the way, and another in an historical site (we thought he was a genuine guide), told us all about the place and wanted cash.

To get to our hotel we had to pass a dodgy area with dealers and stuff. Don't get me wrong there are some really nice residential areas and the main part of the town and market are fine. Trouble is the con men are used to the rich americans that come off the cruise ships, they don't get that some of us save up for years for the holiday and are not loaded.

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We stayed at Our Lucaya which was a big resort on Grand Bahama and had a very chilled holiday when the youngest was 4 months - lovely pools. We have a lovely photo of baby being kissed by a dolphin. The kids loved it - lots of snorkel opportunities for the older ones. Dd got an ear infection and I must say we were impressed by the clinic.