Anyone been to Barbados?

iregk

Anyone here ever been to Barbados. I'm looking at booking it for my hooneymoon and have been told a few things that are slightly unsettling.

Is it true about an evening dress code all over the Island of trousers, shirts and shoes?

A few people have said food and drink is very expensive, is this also true?

Any advice on what the island is like and where is a nice place to stay would be greatly appreciated.

ladybirdirl

hey there,

yup went to barbados in 98 and loved it.I don't remember anything about a dress code to be honest.

There was a lovely cafe I went to called Cafe Sol - I think owned by an irish couple but a really nice mexican place (and not too spicy!)

I stayed in the south of the island (can't remember the name of the hotel but it was right on St Lawerence's Gap on the south tip of the island. Generally the south of the island is best for a bit of night life and nice beaches. The west side has some nice hotels but the currents can be quite strong there apparently.

Go into the capital (Bridgetown I think) it's nice but there is quite a bit of poverty. The thing I will say is that all the caribbean islands I've been to have this element, you can't escape. While I'm not saying ignore it, I'm saying don't rule out Barbados and go for St. Lucia becuase St. Lucia has it too!

All in all I loved Barbados, I preferred it to St. Lucia for friendliness,food and general atmosphere.

If you want any more info feel free to pm me(though not sure how much I can remember, it was 98 I was there!)

Ladybird

Ps forgot to add that food and drink are about the same as at home - not cheap as some parts of Spain/Greece but not outrageous either. I never found it crazy,just about comparable or slightly cheaper to Dublin (and I don't mean eating in Shanahan's in dublin)

mobpd

iregk wrote:

Anyone here ever been to Barbados. I'm looking at booking it for my hooneymoon and have been told a few things that are slightly unsettling.

Is it true about an evening dress code all over the Island of trousers, shirts and shoes?

A few people have said food and drink is very expensive, is this also true?

Any advice on what the island is like and where is a nice place to stay would be greatly appreciated.

Hi
We were there last November, with our 1 year old daughter. Great place for families - but guess thats all to come for you....:)
We found the climate good - seems all year is about 30 deg, we had rain but it came and went within 30 mins, seems to miss most hurricanes...but there is a chance during the May to Sept season.
We also stayed in south of island - which seems to be where most nightlife is ...the west coast seems to have more of the upmarket all inclusive resorts (and the rich and famous holiday homes)
The island is not that big - we hired a car and were able to see everything we wanted to across the island during the week.
There were lots of infrastructure projects as the cricket world cup is taking place there this year.
Dress code? think its just no beach shorts, swimwear in the evening restaurants
We would deffo go back at some point ...very friendly people, great beaches, weather, food and drinks (oh to be drinking rum punches by the carribean sea now!)

Kinetic^

Lol, was just looking into this a few minutes ago, sounds like a good place to go for sun rather than the costa del skanger!!!;)

Dellas

The new Hilton is a really nice hotel and a nice beach too. Dress code is long pants at night and no swimwear in restaurants.

Ollieboy

Was there 2 years ago in September, there's some really nice resorts, but these are resorts, so its mostly all about sun and taken it easy. We went for a week and enjoyed it, but have been to better places. I hired a car and saw all the island in 2 days, so there's not much to do, thats why its so relaxing. The food is expensive, dearer than here and the night live was very poor, everything stop around 1 unless you went to Bridgetown.

Its mostly a poor place, but nice, wouldn't be in a rush back. If your staying in the 5 star resorts, it mostly dress code, but they do have snack bars etc which are general dress.

If you really want a good place to go, go to Cancun in Mexico and stay in the Rio Cancun, best place I've ever been and really good value. Its a 5 star place, excellant food and drink and all inclusive for 900 each, plus we got to swim with Dolphins, Sharks and underwater caves etc, best place I've ever been and will go back this year, direct flight from Dublin or Manchester.

Also, some of the other islands are meant to be nice over there beside Barbados, like St Lucia and I think St Vincents, Virgin fly to nearly all of them, if I was going back that direction would do a cruise and take in a lot of the islands at once.

gl with it

Kinetic^

Well the reason I looked into it is that I wanted to get a nice relaxing sun holiday without having to see a bunch of Irish/English kids getting hammered so I didn't want anywhere in Mediterranean or Inland Europe. Is it any different?

Ah Barbados,I was there last summer.
If you want heat,sun and warm sea's,I'd totally recommend it.
Beautifull people too,just so friendly.

It's a very relaxed athmosphere-we stayed in the st james parish on the west of the island which is quieter but nice.
The East is only 15 miles across some rough roads either.That part of the island looks like any atlantic coastal part of Ireland except for the heat and the coconut trees!

The evening dress code is in some of the posher restaurants and of course in Sandy Lane.
But other than that its so hot,most people will be in shorts and a shirt in most restaurants.
I can recommend the cliff restaurant-its just a fab location with the roar of the waves and the flamed lighting and the food! You need reservations for that.

iregk

Thanks a lot folks for all the help much appreciated. The place we are thinking of is called the Turtle Beach hotel on the south of the Island, I believe about 5 mins walk from St Lawrences Gap. Want a nice relaxing holiday but with a touch of night life as well. Dont want to be confined to a hotel for the two week duration.