Things to Do in Trinidad & Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago are two radically different islands that happen to share a passport. Trinidad is the cultural powerhouse - an industrial, multicultural nation of 1.4 million people where African, East Indian, Chinese, Syrian, and European traditions collide in food, music, religion, and daily life. It is not a beach vacation island in the traditional Caribbean sense; it is where you come to eat doubles on the roadside at 2 AM, watch leatherback sea turtles haul themselves onto Matura Beach to lay eggs, and lose yourself in the sensory overload of Carnival.

Port of Spain's Carnival, held on the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, is the mother of all Caribbean celebrations - two days of mas bands in feathered and bejeweled costumes parading through the streets to soca trucks blasting music so loud it vibrates your ribcage. J'ouvert, the pre-dawn Monday morning celebration, is the raw, paint-and-mud-covered counterpart to the polished Tuesday parade, and many consider it the more authentic experience.

Beyond Carnival, Trinidad's natural attractions are world-class. The Asa Wright Nature Centre in the Northern Range rainforest is one of the Caribbean's premier birding destinations, with over 170 species recorded on the property including the oilbird, found in only a handful of locations worldwide. Guided walks along the trails reveal toucans, trogons, honeycreepers, and hummingbirds in startling density. Caroni Swamp, a mangrove wetland south of Port of Spain, is home to the scarlet ibis, Trinidad's national bird - boat tours at dusk watch thousands of these vivid red birds return to roost in the mangroves, and the sight of them streaming across the sunset sky is genuinely breathtaking. La Brea Pitch Lake, the world's largest natural asphalt deposit, is one of those only-in-Trinidad experiences - a 100-acre lake of warm, bubbling pitch that you walk across with a guide while learning about its geological significance and the Amerindian legends surrounding it.

For beaches on Trinidad, Maracas Bay on the north coast is the island's most popular, reached by a winding mountain road from Port of Spain with spectacular views of the coast below. Tobago is the resort island, small and lush with the oldest protected rainforest in the Western Hemisphere. The Main Ridge Forest Reserve, designated in 1776, offers trails through primary rainforest where blue-backed manakins and rufous-vented chachalacas are common. Pigeon Point Beach, with its thatched jetty extending over turquoise water, is Tobago's postcard image. Buccoo Reef is a shallow coral reef accessible by glass-bottom boat, and the Nylon Pool - a shallow sandbar in the middle of the reef system with waist-deep crystal water - is one of those places that seems almost too perfect to be natural.