A first-time guide to Barbados

28.10.2024 - 16:09 / lonelyplanet.com

Oct 25, 2024 • 6 min read

If you’re visiting Barbados for the first time, expect to slow down.

This is not the place for hustle and bustle. In Barbados, life is lived at a laid-back and leisurely pace. It’s a place where you might spend so long lounging on the beach, sipping on rum punches, that you might end up missing your dinner reservations. And you won’t even mind. 

That doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty to do here. We like to say that Barbados has a place for every kind of traveler – foodies, history buffs and nature lovers alike. 

You can come to the island and learn to surf or free dive, or spend your days at some of the finest golf courses in the Caribbean. Or get a bit tipsy, as you sip on the some of world’s best rum. 

Indeed, there's a lot to do here – but you mustn’t try to rush as you pack it all in. For while Barbados is many things – romantic, friendly, tropical, even idyllic – it’s first and foremost very, very chill. 

There isn’t necessarily any one “best” time to visit Barbados, a tropical destination that’s pretty much sunny year-round, with very little temperature variation (with an average daytime high of 30°C / 86°F). 

June to December is the rainy season, when the weather tends to be wetter and the chance of a hurricane hitting the island increases.

This doesn’t mean it’s a bad time to visit, though: travel between April and November, the long low season, can be more affordable. From December through March, expect significantly higher flight prices and accommodation costs as the country welcomes the most visitors of the year.

Consider planning your trip around seasonal events. From late July to early August, you can experience the exciting and vibrant Crop Over festival, while the tasty Barbados Food and Rum festival takes place every year in late October. 

Running enthusiasts might want to plan their trip around the first weekend in December for Run Barbados, the Caribbean’s biggest marathon weekend. If you’re a lover of motor sports, late May  and early June in Barbados is known as Rally season.

I always recommend five days as the perfect amount of time. If you jet in for just two days or a weekend, you’re sure to leave wishing you spent more time here. 

This is due to our slower, less-structured pace of life. (That again.) Maybe that restaurant that you’re dying to try is only open Wednesday through Sunday, with limited hours.

Or perhaps you planned to pack in a bunch of different activities in one day, but you end up only making it to one because…you fell asleep on the beach. Or the bus you planned to catch was 30 minutes late. It happens.

Nonstop flights serve Barbados from many major cities, including New York, Miami, Boston, Atlanta, Toronto and even London. Grantley Adams International