Barbados tips - first visit

[HitchensGeck]

Going for a week tomorrow!

Couple in our early 40s and self catering so hoping to eat as reasonably priced as possible. We often eat high end dining in England so would rather eat like the locals mostly when abroad.

We are staying in the south (Hastings) but willing to travel if the beach is worth it! The west seems to have the calmer conditions so will probably head there 2-3 days.

Any must do excursions, restaurants, beaches, theme nights and anything/everything people can recommend would be very helpful thanks!

If you can, arrange a private tour of the island on the first day! Then you can decide where you want to visit for the rest of your trip. It’ll come with rum punch so make sure you take photos to remember!

We stay in St James so can’t comment on the area you’re staying in but you have to try the Lone Star for dinner. It’s our favourite place and we ended up going five times last trip (breakfast lunch and dinner). But there are so so many fantastic places to eat.

If you can, taxi and make the most of the beach bars for their run punch.

Many of the lovely hotels offer day passes (for a price) so you can use their sun lounges and facilities. Nigel at Coral Reef is your man. But you can also just pop into Sandy Lane hotel for a drink (and lunch if you like) and see how the other half lives. You can still swim and chill on the beach, you just can’t use their facilities.

My final tip is just to and explore. That’s the best bit about Barbados; it’s so easy to get around.

Oistins for the fish, Bathsheba on the East coast for the views and beaches ( but NOT for swimming!) Harrison’s Caves, Welchmens Gully, Barbados Wildlife reserve, Animal Flower caves for the experience, a distillery visit- Mount Gay, Andromeda and Hunter’s gardens, west coast beaches, St Lawrence Gap for the nightlife,
Lots to do!

Oh and if budget allows, a catamaran trip for snorkelling!

And of course, just sit and enjoy the sunsets 🌅

The catamaran trip is an absolute must-do. One of the highlights of our Barbados holiday

Great advice so far thank you

Best beaches on the west coast, Heywoods, Alleynes Bay and Thunder Bay, have a great trip!

We are in a 5* hotel but self catering, another thread just popped up on here about every meal being over £200 per couple that seems very expensive to me!

I will certainly be trying to find cheaper than that for the most part.

When you first arrive you’ll find yourself waking up early because of the jetlag. Take advantage of it by going to Pebbles Beach (between the Hilton and Radisson hotels) to see the racehorses bathing in the sea. They’re there from around 6am till 7.30am.

An island jeep safari is always a good trip too.

There are some really good Facebook groups, take a look at those as well as posting here (Barbados for travellers is a good one)

We did self catering and it was not expensive at all! No way near £200 and we ate out alot! Banks beer is great as is the rum punch!

ZR buses are so cheap, bit of a roller coaster at times 😆 savvy bay i think its called is lovely.

Defo some kind of snorkeling as loads to see.

The people are so friendly there, have a great trip and wear plenty of suntan lotion as the UV rays are strong!

https://barbados.org/swimming-horses.htm

We are going for the first time later this month. We are planning on eating out on some evenings and cooking for ourselves on others. We definitely haven't budgeted for £200 every time we eat out!

Tax free shopping for watches 😃

Eating out can be as expensive or as cheap as you want to make it! There are some really top end places, like Champers, Tides and The Cliff - but also many much more reasonable places.

Re alcohol, if you stick to beer (Banks) and rum, it’s much cheaper, as they are produced on the island.

Bear in mind that most things have to be imported, so some stuff can be really expensive.

We took packs of ground coffee with us last time we went, as a bag of coffee worked out at around £12 in Barbados!

You all are so very helpful thank you and for putting my mind (and wallet) at ease

Earthworks is a great pottery place to visit.

The west coast is the posh bit, but there are no private beaches in Barbados so go and enjoy (and dont let any oligarchs private security try to move you on, as has happened to me). Over on the east coast the sea is much rougher but that means quieter beaches.

Crime is generally low and people are friendly, so use public transport if you want to cut costs.

If you fancy a museum, the Barbados Museum, which is based in the historic garrison, is well worth a visit.

It's a small island and the south is, frankly, the least beautiful part because the most densely populated. So enjoy it as a base for getting around and exploring the rest of it.

I love Barbados and used to go all the time, thanks to the lucky accidents of marrying into a Barbadian family and having a mate who worked for Virgin and got us cheap tickets. Sadly none of that applies anymore but I still miss the place!

We visited Barbados pre-kids and some time ago, some of the highlights were a visit to Hunte’s gardens, swimming with turtles (this was just an operator on the beach) and randomly attending a National Trust or such like event on a tower with rum punch! The people were lovely and very hospitable.

We stayed on the west coast near Alleyne’s Bay and Holetown, that was a beautiful spot.

Take plenty of photos, I still use some of my beach photos from that holiday for my desktop backgrounds.

It’s a gorgeous place and I’d love to return- maybe when the kids are older.

Make sure you have good insurance. Lots of flights cancelled due to air space closures in the Caribbean due to the US action in Venezuela. Airspace has reopened but it is worth making sure you have a contingency plan.

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/caribbean-flights-cancelled-trump-venezuela-tui-barbados-b2894184.html

We got robbed in our hotel. Inside job. Lock everything away. Don't take valuables. The police were in on it too.
I'd never go back. Antigua is much nicer.
Barbados is like torremelinos bh sea nowadays.

I’m sorry you were robbed, but it’s simply not the case to compare Barbados with Torremolinos! That’s just nonsense.

Frequent visitor to Barbados
Drive to St Nicholas Abbey. The oldest plantation house in the Caribbean and Benedict Cumberbatch’s ancestral home.Take a tour and walk around the gardens. Take the noddy train to the Cherry Hill view point and look at the rollers from the Atlantic side of the Island. Drive to Morgan Lewis Windmill and stop at Farley Hill Station (ruins) if you want. The Windmill is worth a stop. Then drive down the coastal road along Cattle wash Bay, past the pink church to Bathsheba.
Drive up the hill turning a bit inland and follow signs to the Atlantis Hotel. (you will turn left at the top of a steep hill) Brilliant place for Lunch. There used to be Railway from Bridgetown to Bathsheba. Look for the Big old Photo inside showing old Fishermen dressed in sacks. You will see some ‘white faces’. These people were enslaved from Ireland by Oliver Cromwell and taken to the Caribbean. They are known as ‘red legs’ or ‘bakras’ (back row). Considered the lowest of the low and there are still pockets of these people on the Island. They could only sit on back row of the church, hence the name bakras.
To Hell or Barbados by Sean O’Callaghan – fascinating but a hard read)
After lunch visit the Andromeda Gardens

There are 2 types of buses Blue Buses run by Barbados transportation and yellow buses which are smaller . (TheYellow bus driver has a mate who squeezes you on). Both cost $3 (exact money only – no change) per journey regardless of length. and destination is on the front. Yellow buses have boom boxes and are noisy with Grime played at full blast. Blue buses are a bit more sedate. All are crowded in rush hour / school times. Buses are very frequent. Bus stops are usually labelled ‘To the city’ or ‘from the city’. City being Bridgetown.

We thoroughly enjoyed the Friday night fish fry at Oistins. There are vendors of fried and grilled fish everywhere and plenty of cold Banks beer. You’ll achieve your wish of eating like the locals if you go there! There’s a real party atmosphere with good vibes and sound systems thumping out reggae and calypso.

I believe the buses have all gone cashless now sadly - they have had a huge injection of money and most of the buses are all modern.

Agree with the recommendations here, so much to do x