Building the Itinerary
This trip is the easiest trip I’ve planned in a long time. We’re only going to one place, and it’s a place we’ve been before.
This trip is just before our Portugal trip, which was much more challenging to plan, being new to us. I countered that with this very simple beach trip to escape the snow. We don’t plan anything more than walking on the beach, sitting on or near the beach, and catching the sunset.
I thought about adding another island but island hopping isn’t always as glamorous as it sounds and I just couldn’t come up with another island that appealed right now.
So, Barbados it is, for about a month to escape the snow.
- St Lawrence Gap (10 nights)
- Holetown (22 nights)
Holetown will be the longest we’ve stayed in one place while traveling. It will be interesting to see if we get bored.
Accommodations
Barbados is all about the beach so we want to be on the beach if possible.
We wanted to stay in the same places we did our first time here but alas we failed. One is in St Lawrence Gap on the south coast, which has a good selection of restaurants and a walkable beach nearby (Dover Beach). The other is in Holetown, on the west coast. Both have studios on the beach at a reasonable price. (For on the beach in Barbados.)
I thought I’d found a vacancy at our favorite place in Holetown — that’s it in the picture at the top of the page — but the new hotel next door is causing so much noise they don’t want to rent the unit. Which is disappointing because that is the reason we’re coming back here. Sigh. I found an alternative that’s farther from the beach — other places on the beach are three or four times as much as we want to spend. We’ll see how it goes.
In St Lawrence Gap we could only book our previous place for half the time we wanted, so I found a similar hotel nearby. That’s closed for renovations this summer so it will be interesting to see what changes they make.
None of the places we’re staying are under my $150 threshold, but I expect that in order to be on (or near) the beach. We are saving some money by using Chase points to pay for one of them. (I have points to burn that will devalue in October 2027.)
Transportation
The last time we were here we rented a car for a few days to explore the island. So this time we don’t need a car. We’ll get taxis to and from the airport and accommodations and take the bus to Bridgetown if we go.
We were able to use airmiles for our flights so that helps with costs.
Sights & Activities
Beyond the beautiful beaches the only things on the list are visiting downtown Bridgetown and Oistins fish fry, neither of which we did last time. Maybe a rum distillery. We may also scope out other options for long stays near Holetown, for future trips.
Food & Drink
We really like the Harlequin restaurant in St Lawrence Gap. Great food, great service, and a relaxed, festive atmosphere. We liked the flying fish sandwiches at Sharkey’s too.
We tried a few restaurants in Holetown on our first visit and will likely revisit some, plus some new ones, since we have more time on this trip. We’ll have cooking facilities but don’t plan on actually cooking. There is a good sized supermarket right in Holetown which is handy for breakfast, beverages, and snacks. (We can make a meal out of snacks.)