“Wuh gine on?”
Destination: Christchurch, Barbados
Dates: May 2025
Nights: 5 nights
Accommodation: Sugar Bay Barbados
Highlights: The hotel, the weather and the rum tasting tour
Lowlights: Traffic and road conditions
What better way to celebrate a milestone birthday than to visit Barbados, the birthplace of rum? My sister was turning 40 and wanted to go to the Caribbean. We picked Barbados for its direct flights from the UK and its beautiful beaches, rich history, and vibrant culture. To explore the island, we hired a car and stayed in Christchurch on the southwest side. The drive from the airport was short but painful due to the road conditions. This location was ideal as it was close to Bridgetown for excursions, St Lawrence Gap for nightlife, and some of the calmest beaches.
Accomodation
Sugar Bay Barbados is a beautiful 4-star all-inclusive hotel with a private beach and a protected lagoon. It’s got that cosy bo-chic style and is far away from those high-rise hotels, so you actually feel like you’re holidaying on an island. We enjoyed the tasty food, Paul, the manager, evening entertainment, relaxing spa services, pools, friendly bar staff, and, most importantly, our deluxe oceanfront room.
It was my first all-inclusive trip since I usually prefer local food, but it still offered delicious local cuisine. The 5-hour time difference in the Caribbean meant we woke up at 5 am (10am UK time), so we would go to a nearby beach for a quick swim, then returned for breakfast at 8am, which felt like lunch. We asked for lunch to take on excursions and return in time for dinner and entertainment. This saved us money since the Caribbean can be expensive, but we still enjoyed local dishes like roti, flying fish, Bajan fish cakes, and Cou Cou.
TOP 5 THINGS TO DO
1. Catamaran Boat Trip
With so many options to choose from, we decided on the 3-hour Barbados Catamaran Turtle and Shipwreck Snorkelling Cruise, which cost £65pp. One of the great things about Barbados, especially compared with Turks and Caicos, is that there are plenty of reasonably priced activities without feeling ridiculously expensive. Most tours offer hotel pick-up and will take you down to Bridgetown Harbour to board the boat. We decided to drive ourselves to the wharf and parked near the tour boat company, which was really easy.
The cruise takes you to two prime snorkelling spots, where you get the chance to see the famous shipwreck and swim with turtles. We’re pretty sure it must be the same turtle that they somehow called up to the surface because it seemed to know exactly where to go! The 3-hour tour includes snacks and drinks, but lunch is only included on some of the longer excursions. In hindsight, we really wish we had booked one of the longer tours with lunch. The 3 hours absolutely flew by and, before we knew it, the trip was over. It felt a little rushed, and we would have happily spent a few more hours out on the water.
2. Bridgetown, Barbados
Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados, is located on the island’s southwest coast, near where we were staying. Here are our recommendations:
Rhianna Drive (formerly Westbury New Road)
You cannot visit Barbados without visiting the childhood home of ‘ Pon de Replay’ star Rihanna. Everyone we spoke to claimed to know her. I mean, it is a small island, so that’s not hard to believe! We drove down the road, took our pictures (the home is now privately owned), and then headed into Bridgetown.
Cocktail Workshop at Mount Gay Rum Distillery
The 2-hour cocktail workshop was the highlight of our trip. We left the car at the hotel and arranged transportation, and good job we did, as we left the distillery pretty wasted!! On arrival, we were greeted with a cocktail and then enjoyed a guided tour of the distillery. We learned its history, watched a short film, and sampled four generous measures of their signature rums.
The fun really started when we learned to make a proper rum punch and daiquiri. The enthusiastic staff made the experience even better, and the cocktails were unbelievable. We loved them so much that we bought ingredients to recreate them at home. We even ran into fellow hotel guests, and by the end, we were all friends. They kindly gave us a ride back to the hotel after we had joked about walking. After the workshop, we browsed the shop and couldn’t resist buying plenty to take home. We always thought we didn’t like rum, but it turns out we just weren’t drinking it right! The workshop was £50pp but definitely worth it!
Carlisle Beach
Enjoy the calm turquoise waters of Carlisle Beach. It’s perfect for relaxing, swimming, and snorkelling among sunken ships. Close by is Savvy on the Bay, which offers drinks, live music, good local food, and is ideal for watching sunsets. It’s a long stretch of beach with different names, and it offers plenty of water activities and tours.
3. Explore the rest of the island
Beachfront hotels offer many amenities, but exploring the rest of the island is a must. Even if you haven’t hired a car, a one-way bus fare is £1.30, and the little blue and yellow buses can take you to popular sites like Farley Hill National Park and Harrison’s Cave. Look for red, white, and black signs for bus stops, and check the Barbados Transport Board website for schedules. Here are some of the places we visited:
Animal Flower Cave
Perched dramatically on the northern tip of Barbados, the Animal Flower Cave is one of the island’s most fascinating natural attractions. Named after the colourful sea anemones found in its rock pools, the cave features impressive coastal views, natural pools and spectacular formations carved by the Atlantic waves. It’s a wonderful place to experience Barbados’ wilder, more rugged coastline.
Cherry Tree Hill Viewpoint
Cherry Tree Hill is one of Barbados’ most scenic viewpoints, offering sweeping views across the east coast and the rolling hills of the Scotland District. The drive up through the countryside is beautiful in itself, with sugar cane fields lining the road. At the top, the panoramic vista makes this a perfect spot to stop, take photographs and simply enjoy the island landscape.
Morgan Lewis Windmill
Standing among the hills of St Andrew, Morgan Lewis Windmill is one of Barbados’ most distinctive historic landmarks. This beautifully preserved sugar windmill offers a glimpse into the island’s agricultural past and its long connection with the sugar industry. Surrounded by lush countryside, it is also a lovely viewpoint and a peaceful place to appreciate Barbados away from the busier coastal areas.
Beaches
Fun fact: Barbados is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean; just don’t tell my sister, who has always dreamed of swimming in the Caribbean Sea. Either way, the water was absolutely stunning, with the same crystal-clear, turquoise colours you’d picture in the Caribbean.
One of the things I loved most about Barbados was how different the coastline feels depending on the area you visit. The West Coast has calm, inviting waters, with beaches like Mullins Beach, Paynes Bay, and Gibbs Beach that are great for swimming and relaxing. The South Coast is livelier, featuring a mix of beaches, restaurants, and activities. The East Coast offers a different vibe, as the Atlantic brings bigger waves and rugged scenery, with Bathsheba known for its dramatic rock formations. The North Coast is rugged and dramatic too, with cliffs, caves, and crashing waves near Animal Flower Cave, contrasting with the quiet beaches of the west.
4. Swim with the horses at Pebble Beach
You’ve probably seen this all over people’s socials; we did, and we wanted to check it out- why not? We were up early enough. It was only a 3- minute drive from our hotel, and we parked near the Radisson Aquatica Resort Barbados. This happens almost every morning around 5:30- 7:30 am. The beach is free to visit; the handlers will charge you for any interaction with the horses. I paid $10 to help wash and get a photo of Daisy in the water. Watch out for the floaters!!
5. Oistins Fish Fry Fridays
If there’s one thing you should save a Friday night for in Barbados, it’s a trip to Oistins Fish Market. The area comes alive with grilled fish, music, dancing and a lively mix of locals and visitors. We had fresh mahi-mahi, flying fish, and snapper, which were served with a selection of sides like macaroni pie, rice and peas, plantain, or chips. We grabbed a Banks beer and a rum punch and stayed after dinner for some music and dancing.
We arrived around 5:30–6 pm, found parking, chose a food stall and grabbed a table before it got really busy. Parking is available around Oistins, but spaces fill quickly on Fridays, so getting there early is definitely worth it.
See yuh, Barbados!
Barbados was a wonderful first Caribbean experience for my sister, and Sugar Bay made the trip even more memorable. The resort had such a welcoming atmosphere, with friendly staff, great entertainment and those little touches of hospitality that made it feel special.
Hiring a car gave us the freedom to explore more of the island and discover some of its beautiful beaches, especially useful after we found sea urchins and rockfish around our resort beach at low tide! Driving around Barbados was an adventure in itself, though. The traffic and road conditions were challenging at times, and one wrong turn on the way to Cherry Tree Hill left us on a dirt road, where a few kind locals had to help us get the car back on track.
The highlights of the trip were definitely learning how to make a proper Bajan rum punch and sampling the local food at Oistins Fish Fry. After eating fish that fresh, going back to anything from a tin just doesn’t seem quite the same!
I suppose there’s only one solution: we’ll just have to start planning our next Caribbean island adventure.
