Barbados: Coast to Coast

The capitol of Bridgetown serves as the dividing point between the West coast and the South coast. Nearly every hotel and resort on the island will be located on or near one of these two coasts. What is the difference? Are there advantages to one or the other for a visitor to the island?

The prevailing easterly trade winds affect the most distinctive natural differences between the two. Because the wind invariably blows from East to West, the eastern coast has heavy surf—the primary reason there are no hotels on the East. There are some very nice beaches but they are not suitable for swimming or watersports activities.

This Easterly wind also bends around the south coast, creating a bit of wind and surf there as well for those beaches. It is not surprising that this is where the best windsurfing is located (and there are some world-class locals). These beaches are generally suitable for swimming; only during bad weather will the red “no swimming” flag be posted.

The West coast is on the leeward side of the island (the wind is blowing offshore not onshore). These bays and beaches are much calmer with very light surf. Snorkeling and nearly all day trips aboard private boats is perfect here along the calm West Coast.

The resorts, shops, restaurants, and other business establishments of each coast also exhibit a decidedly different “personality.”

The resorts along the South Coast will range from 2 to 4 stars. Prices for accommodations on the South coast tend to be relatively modest and reasonable.

The central locale of the South coast is St Lawrence Gap. Without a doubt, this is THE local hotspot, featuring a cobblestone walkway with gas lighting, and lined with one interesting restaurant or bistro after another. Barbados is known for its many wonderful (let me say it again—wonderful) restaurants, and several are located here in the “Gap.”

Between the Gap and Bridgetown, the area is busy with a variety of establishments including banks, gas stations, KFC, Chefette (the local fast food outlet featuring rotis to go), etc. strung along the South coast highway. Old and run-down buildings sit side-by-side with brand new buildings—evidence that many old structures are being replaced with new.

The West coast is sometimes referred to as the “Gold coast” or the “Platinum coast,” and is less intensive in its development. Some of the coast is the preserve of the rich and famous, whose stunning villas will occupy some of the beach area.

The center of the West coast is Holetown, the original English settlement which dates to the early 17th century. This has a delightful shopping area, including a series of “chattel house” shops. Outstanding restaurants are dotted here and there along the coast.

The West coast features mostly 4 and 5 star resorts. The accommodation costs for staying on the West coast will generally be higher than on the South coast of this lovely island, Barbados.

About The Author Joan Wingert is editor for Caribbean dot Travel (www.caribbean.travel), a recently-launched website specializing in information for travelers to the Caribbean. Our site includes an interactive library (www.caribbean.travel/articles/index.php) which hosts articles on any and all things related to the Caribbean as well as travel in and around the islands.

Recommended Reading

The Rough Guide to Barbados

Book Description
INTRODUCTION

Tourists pour into Barbados from all over the world, drawn by the delightful climate, the big blue sea and brilliant-white sandy beaches. Many of them rarely stray far from their hotels and guesthouses, but those who make an effort find a proud island scattered with an impressive range of historic sites and, away from the mostly gently rolling landscape, dramatic scenery in hidden caves, cliffs and gullies.

Chief among the island’s attractions are its old plantation houses – places like St Nicholas Abbey and Francia – superb botanical gardens at Andromeda and the Flower Forest, and the military forts and signal stations at Gun Hill and Grenade Hall. The capital Bridgetown is a lively place to visit, with an excellent national museum and great nightlife in its bars and clubs, some of them located right on the beach. No other town begins to approach the capital in size, but the small and largely untouristed Speig

htstown – once a thriving and wealthy port – is a good place to wander for a couple of hours then grab a drink on a terrace overlooking the sea. And, of course, there are the beaches, from the often crowded strips such as Accra Beach and Mullins Bay to tiny but superb patches of palm-fringed sand like Bottom Bay in the southeast.

For more than three centuries Barbados was a British colony and, perhaps unsurprisingly, it retains something of a British feel: the place names, the cricket, horse-racing and polo, Anglican parish churches and even a hilly district known as Scotland. But the Britishness is often exaggerated, for this is a distinctly West Indian country, covered by a patchwork of sugarcane fields and dotted with tiny rum shops, where calypso is the music of choice, flying fish the favoured food, and cultural influences as likely to emanate from America as from Europe.

The people of Barbados, known as Bajans, take great pride i

n their tiny island of 430 square kilometres and 250,000 people. Literacy is as high as you’ll find in any European nation, and Bajans have a deserved reputation for being well-informed and articulate. In writers like George Lamming and calypsonians like the Mighty Gabby the island has produced some of the finest artists in the English-speaking West Indies, while around the world its cricket players – including the great Sir Gary Sobers – have for decades had an influence way out of proportion to the size of their home country.

Tourism of course plays a major part in the country’s economy and, in a mature and flourishing democracy, it is obvious that the revenues have been put to good use. The infrastructure is first-rate, with excellent roads, schools and public transport, and there is no sign of the poverty that continues to bedevil some Caribbean islands. Critics of development argue that the island has sold its soul for tourism but, in many ways, Barbados has been a model of how to cope with the new role of tourist mecca suddenly thrust upon many West Indian islands since the 1960s. Development has mostly been pretty discreet, many of the facilities are Bajan-owned, there are no private beaches and no sign of the American fast-food franchises that blight other islands in the region.

Admittedly, there are areas on both the south and west coasts where tourism is utterly dominant and Bajans massively outnumbered by European and American visitors. But, if you want to, it’s easy to get away from it. Jump in a bus or a rental car and see the rest of the island: the sugar-growing central parishes, the thinly populated and little-explored north, and the ruggedly beautiful east coast, where you can hike for miles along the beach with only seabirds and the occasional surfer in sight.