Barbados with small children

[whatawhoha]

We are desperate to get away this winter, and think we have finally settled on a week in Barbados, does anyone have any hotel recommendations?

I am keen for the kids (2 & 4) to spend a week on the beach and playing in the pool so a kid friendly hotel with lots to see and do near by, and while we would like AI, not too keen on the huge hotel complexes. It's our first trip away with the two of them for obviously reasons, but pre covid we took the 4yo, then 1, to la pirogue in Mauritius, which we loved.

Any suggestions, thanks!

Are you familiar with the testing on arrival requirement in Barbados? It put me off as there were so many reports of the results taking days to come through

Thanks @reallyagain - I had a look at the government guidelines online which says they only need a test from the 3 days prior to travel, but will look into it more.

If you were put off Barbados, have you ended up deciding where to go or are you still looking too? Feels very daunting after 2 years of not travelling, a lot of pressure to find the right holiday!

Barbados no longer test everyone on arrival but you could randomly be selected to test and if positive taken to Harrisons Point which is government quarantine and by all accounts is grim. I love Barbados and have visited almost every year but will steer clear until things calm down.

Don’t do it. If you’re randomly chosen to test and you get a positive result you’ll have to quarantine in their facility.

Lots of people have travelled in the past 2 years, myself included. Please don’t find it daunting. We haven’t had any bad experiences and they’ve all been really straight forward holidays.
I would avoid Barbados because of their current rules. Where else have you considered?

Fuerteventura has beautiful beaches.

Would you not go back to Mauritius? Could also try another Caribbean island, perhaps St Lucia?

Unless you are willing to book the best hotels, it isn't worth bothering with.

We are looking at Jamaica and Mexico which have less stringent testing measures. There is also a low vaccine uptake on Barbados which doesn’t bode well as Omicron has just hit the island. When things settle down there is nowhere else like it and can give you loads of recommendations. We travelled there with babies and small children and had a great time x

We're just back from Antigua. Testing was done before we left UK, LFT before we returned and a test back in UK. Quite straightforward.
The Royalton is child friendly, but large.