Things to Do in Barbados

Barbados packs a surprising amount of variety into just 166 square miles, and the best approach is to treat it as three distinct islands. Start underground at Harrison's Cave in the central parish of St. Thomas, where a tram glides through a crystallized limestone cavern system stretching over a mile and a half, past stalactites, stalagmites, and subterranean streams that pool into emerald-green lakes. Book the first morning tour to beat the cruise ship crowds, and if you want more than the standard tram ride, the adventure pass includes a zip line course and a Mount Gay rum tasting right on the property.

From the cave, it is a short drive east to Bathsheba, where the Atlantic crashes against mushroom-shaped boulders that have become the most photographed scene on the island. The Soup Bowl break here is world-class, drawing competitive surfers from October through March when north swells push waves to twelve feet, but even non-surfers should walk the coastal trail and stop for lunch at the Roundhouse, perched above the spray.

On the calm Caribbean side, the west coast catamaran cruises are the single best half-day you can spend. Operators like Cool Runnings and El Tigre sail from Bridgetown south along the Platinum Coast, stopping at Carlisle Bay where you snorkel over six sunken shipwrecks and swim alongside hawksbill and green turtles in shallow, gin-clear water. Lunch, rum punch, and snorkel gear are included on the five-hour sailings.

Downtown Bridgetown itself deserves more than a quick pass. The UNESCO World Heritage Site encompasses over 115 landmark buildings from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, including the Garrison Savannah, one of the oldest racetracks in the Americas, and the beautifully restored Nidhe Israel Synagogue, dating to 1654. Walk Broad Street, cut through the Careenage waterfront, and you will feel the layers of colonial and post-colonial history in every coral-stone facade.

No visit is complete without a proper rum education. Mount Gay, distilling since 1703 and the oldest commercial rum brand on Earth, offers tastings and cocktail workshops at its St. Lucy headquarters. St. Nicholas Abbey pairs its rum with a tour of a Jacobean plantation house built in 1658, one of only three surviving in the Western Hemisphere. Foursquare, run by fourth-generation distiller Richard Seale, is the connoisseur's pilgrimage in St. Philip, producing single-barrel releases that rival aged scotch. Space out the distillery visits, pair them with a beach day, and let the rum culture sink in slowly, the way Bajans intended.