BBrootsbarbados
logo

Barbados West Coast
Bridgetown, northward, including places we saw along the way: the historic Synagogue, Rhianna's house, a rum shop, the last remaining slave house, sugarcane fields, and St. James Church.
logo

Barbados North and East
Rural and tropical areas of the island, including: Animal Flower Cave, Harrison's Cave, Barbados Wildlife Refuge, and On the Wall art center, which includes a ceramics studio.
logo

Saint Michael Parish
This area includes the Garrison, and all the history of the British. These were the things in walking distance to where I was staying: Chelsea artist enclave, the George Washington House, the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, Needham's Point guns, Carlisle Bay, and the Hilton itself, including how they battened down the hatches during Tropical Storm Kirk.






BBguidebooks
BBabsolutelybarbados

Absolutely Barbados: One Man's Mission to Discover the Heart and Soul of a Caribbean Paradise
by Julian Armfield

The author visited Barbados, fell in love, married, and moved there. He wrote this book so you will fall in love with Barbados like he did. This is the best first book to read before you go. It will make the trip more fun once you understand the psychology and lifestyle of people who live there.

Amazon - Kindle
BBgreattouristguide

Greater Than a Tourist - Bridgetown Barbados: 50 Travel Tips from a Local
by Reena Manickchand-Scott

This travel series reveals what locals would like to tell tourists about their place. Essential reading if you want to see the real Bridgetown.

Amazon - Kindle

Amazon - Audiobook The audio book takes thirty minutes, so if you do plan to go, listen to it several times. Take notes.

Amazon - Paperback
BB101guide

101 Things To Do and Places To See in Barbados
by Russell Streeter

This book lists everything to see and do in Barbados. Read this one after you read the other two because this book will be your trip planner. I got the Kindle, but I wish I had bought the paperback too, so I could mark it up. It's a quick read - an hour or two at the most. So read the Kindle, then write your notes in the paperback.

Amazon - Kindle

Amazon - Paperback

Barbados has something for everyone. I wanted to see nature, sit in the ocean, swim with turtles, learn the history, try out vegan restaurants, learn the bus system, and meet people who live there. Other visitors may prefer jet skis, cricket, scuba diving, or rum. Barbados also offers a coral reef submarine ride, glass bottom boats, catamaran bay cruises, and all-inclusive luxury resorts. You could go to Barbados and spend the whole time inside your resort if you decide. The hotel where we stayed, the Hilton, was a good mixture of luxury resort, but with lots to see in walking distance.

As far as good vegan/vegetarian restaurants, I dined at two in Bridgetown, and found out there's a strong Rastafarian culture in Barbados. Most of the vegan/veg restaurants are affiliated with Rasta culture. You can find all the vegan/veg restaurants by entering the keywords "Bridgetown, Barbados" at HappyCow.net. Why is the cow happy? Because you are eating lower on the food chain, which is good for cows and the earth. All Barbados restaurants offer vegetarian selections. Barbadians don't eat much beef, but you can find plenty of seafood, as well as Indian curry dishes. The best curry I found was at Tapas. The two vegan places where I ate in Bridgetown were Green Lime Eco-Café and Jenn Health. Both places served delicious Barbadian food cooked with love. Next door to the Green Lime Eco Café is the Caribbean Wax Museum.

Food in walking distance from the Hilton - I found a food court that offers Barbadian, Middle Eastern, Chinese, and other storefront restaurants. I also walked to the café at the George Washington House several times, and had a delicious dinner at the Island Inn Hotel that included live entertainment. There's also Brown Sugar, which serves traditional Barbadian fare. The hotel also has several restaurants. The breakfast buffet at the Hilton Lighthouse includes salad, fresh fruit, peanut butter, walnuts, sunflower seeds, raisins, almond milk, and bread. It also has eggs, hashbrowns, sausage, and all the things most breakfast buffets have.

Consult visitbarbados.org to plan your trip. Once you're there, you'll find all the hotels have a tour operator in the lobby who will help you brainstorm and book tours. Some tour operators pick you up free in a big tourist bus, while others require you to get yourself to their place in a taxi. One of the best options is to hire a guide with a taxi. There's a three hour minimum, but the tours I took with taxi drivers ended up more like five hours. With you and two fellow travelers in the cab, it works out to about $50-$60 US each, plus entry fees at the venues.

I do not recommend renting a car. First, the taxis and busses make transportation so easy. The busses are $1 US per ride, and you can take busses all around the island. The route is complicated and they drive on the left, with many roundabouts to confuse American drivers. If you are just there to do the tourist thing - do it via cabs and busses.

Photos:
Barbados West Coast
Barbados North and East
Saint Michael Parish

Videos:
Waterfall inside Harrison's Cave - Saint Thomas Parish, Barbados.
Heavy rainfall during Tropical Storm Kirk - from Hilton at Needham's Point, September 27, 2018.
Ocean during Tropical Storm Kirk - at Needham's Point, September 27, 2018
Ocean during Tropical Storm Kirk - at Animal Flower Cave, September 28, 2018.

Guidebooks and Travel Advice






index


surrealist-logo