A traveler's guide to Barbados
Sleep on the west or the south. Visit the east. Do not plan to swim there because the photograph looked empty.
Barbados is two seas. The west coast, the Caribbean side, is the calm swimming and the expensive hotels. The east coast faces the Atlantic and is beautiful in the way a cliff is beautiful. Most weeks are spent on the west, with one drive across.
When to go
December to April is dry and the high season. June to November is greener, cheaper, and the months to watch the forecasts. The west coast stays swimmable more often than the east.
The beach
The Platinum Coast is a string of small bays rather than one endless beach. Public access is the law and sometimes a narrow path between walls. The south coast is livelier and less polished. Crane's clifftop view is famous and a climb.
In the water
West-coast water is the swim. A turtle snorkel off the west is the gentle boat day. The east coast has surf schools in specific bays and a lot of shore that is only for walking.
If you only remember this
- Driving is on the left, and the roads are narrower than the map suggests.
- Beach bars will feed you. A reservation is for the polished rooms, not for a fish cutter.
- Reef shoes on the south, where the bottom is rockier.
- The bus works. A car is for the east-coast day.