Barbados luxury holidays | Bespoke Caribbean hotel holidays

An Expressions tailor-made holiday to Barbados is highly recommended as a destination for a first-time visit to the Caribbean, for those looking for excellent standards of accommodation, or if you want a tropical beach holiday with plenty of sightseeing activities and places to visit around the island. Perched in the sea to the east of the Windward Islands, Barbados is an immensely satisfying luxury holiday destination. The best hotels and resorts in Barbados are mainly found along the west coast, including The Sandpiper, a hotel offering a relaxing environment with a wide range of activities available; and The Coral Reef Club, an elegant and refined hotel with an old-world colonial feel amid beautiful gardens. Without the mountainous tropical rain forests of the Windward Islands, Barbados has natural attractions of its own: acres of rolling green sugar cane fields, exotic trees and shrubs such as banyan, mahogany and flamboyant poinsettia, a breath-taking coastline of soft sandy beaches lapped by the calm turquoise waters of the Caribbean on the west and expanses of wild surf crashing onto the wide sandy beaches of the Atlantic east coast. As you drive across Barbados you glimpse fine colonial-style plantation houses and come across villages brightly painted in classic Caribbean colours, surrounded by gardens of frangipani and hibiscus.

Frequently Asked Questions

Barbados combines high standards of hotel accommodation with more to see and do than most Caribbean islands. Alongside calm west coast beaches, it has plantation houses, gardens, rum distilleries, a UNESCO-listed capital and a restaurant scene that draws visitors out of their hotels in the evening. It suits first-time Caribbean visitors and returning guests who want variety as well as rest.

Most visitors stay on the west coast or the south coast, and each has a different character.
• The west coast, sometimes called the Platinum Coast, has calm water, most of the island's leading hotels and many of its best restaurants. Coral Reef Club, The Sandpiper, Colony Club, Fairmont Royal Pavilion, Treasure Beach and The House are all here.
• The far north-west, around Speightstown, is quieter and more local in feel, with Cobblers Cove and Little Good Harbour.
• The south coast is breezier and livelier, with a wider choice of informal bars and restaurants. Turtle Beach and Little Arches are on this coast.
• The Atlantic east coast is wild and dramatic. It is best visited for the day rather than as a base, as the sea is generally unsuitable for swimming.

Barbados is compact, about 21 miles long, so most of the island can be reached within an hour or so from the west coast. Popular visits include:
• Bathsheba and the east coast, for Atlantic surf, rock formations and a long coastal drive.
• Harrison's Cave, a limestone cave system in the centre of the island, toured by tram.
• St Nicholas Abbey in the north, a 17th-century plantation house with its own rum distillery.
• Bridgetown and its Garrison, together a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Hunte's Gardens, Andromeda Botanic Gardens and the Flower Forest.
• A catamaran trip along the west coast, often with a chance to swim with turtles.
Expressions can arrange private guides and drivers for any of these, or suggest routes for clients with a hire car.

Yes. Barbados has a long colonial and plantation history and is well provided with places to visit. St Nicholas Abbey, dating from the 1650s, is one of the oldest Jacobean houses in the Americas. Sunbury Plantation House shows period furniture and plantation life. Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Gun Hill Signal Station gives wide views across the island's interior.

Three gardens are worth a visit, each quite different. Hunte's Gardens is a private garden planted in a deep gully in the centre of the island. Andromeda Botanic Gardens, on the cliffs above Bathsheba, has collections of orchids, palms and tropical plants with views over the Atlantic. The Flower Forest, in the hills of St Joseph, combines planted walks with views of the east coast.

Eating out is a central part of a Barbados holiday, and many guests choose a hotel on room-only or bed-and-breakfast terms so they can try different restaurants. The west coast has a concentration of well-regarded restaurants, including The Cliff, Lone Star, The Tides and Cin Cin. Champers on the south coast and The Fish Pot in the north are also popular. Tables at the better-known restaurants should be booked well ahead in high season, and your Expressions consultant can reserve them before you travel.

Flying fish and cou-cou is the national dish, and fish cakes, macaroni pie and fresh mahi-mahi appear on menus across the island. Oistins, a fishing town on the south coast, holds a lively Friday night fish fry where locals and visitors eat grilled fish at open-air stalls. Roadside fruit stalls, beach bars and village rum shops give a more informal taste of Bajan life.

Yes. Barbados is widely regarded as the birthplace of rum, and several distilleries welcome visitors. Mount Gay, which dates its history to 1703, has a visitor centre near Bridgetown. St Nicholas Abbey distils rum on its estate in the north, and Foursquare in the parish of St Philip is well known among rum enthusiasts. Tastings are best arranged with a driver rather than a hire car.

For most visitors, hiring a car for part of the stay works best. A car for three or four days in the middle of the holiday gives freedom to explore the east coast, the gardens and the plantation houses at your own pace. For the remaining days, and for evenings out at restaurants, taxis are inexpensive and easy to arrange through your hotel. Expressions can arrange car hire with delivery and collection at your hotel.

Driving is on the left, as in the UK, and roads are generally in fair condition. Inland lanes can be narrow and winding through the sugar cane fields, signposting is inconsistent, and some roads have potholes, so allow extra time and use a navigation app. Many junctions are roundabouts. Visitors drive on their UK licence, and the hire company arranges any local formalities when you collect the car.

The driest and most popular months are December to April, with temperatures in the high twenties and steady trade winds. May, June and November can be good value, with fewer visitors. Crop Over, the island's main festival, builds through July to its finale on the first Monday in August. The hurricane season runs from June to November, although Barbados lies east of the main hurricane track and is affected less often than islands further north.

Yes. Barbados has good air links to the islands to its west, which makes two-centre holidays straightforward. St Lucia adds rainforest and the Pitons, and the Grenadines add small-island seclusion at hotels such as Petit St Vincent. Grenada is another option. Expressions arranges two-centre itineraries with connecting flights, transfers and hotels throughout.

Our bespoke, luxury holidays can be

● Single centre or multi-centre
● Long or short stays
● Combine a number of different hotels in different regions
● Utilise a variety of transport arrangements to the Caribbean and within the Caribbean, combining flights and private transfers

Our special interest holidays to Barbados

● Watersports holidays
● Spa holidays
● Honeymoons and weddings
● Family holidays
● Sailing holidays

Included in all our holidays

● Concierge service
● Handcrafted helpful hints and local information provided with all our holidays
● Personal service by your sales consultant who looks after all aspects of your holiday

Call us on 01392 441245

Highlights of Barbados

Local cuisine including Fish dishes such as flying fish, dolphin fish and kingfish. Banks beer and Mountgay rum. Barbados has numerous restaurants of a very high quality, many of them along the west coast, including the Cliff and Carambola. Mullins beach bar south of Speightstown. Bathsheba and the east coast with its miles of sandy beaches and ocean surf. Barclays Park beach and beach bar on the east coast north of Bathsheba. The brilliance of the orange-red flamboyant trees in summer and the dark red of the poinsettias in winter. Fruit stalls for pineapples, coconuts and bananas by the road side. Local cricket matches on pitches surrounded by palm tree-clad hills. Deep sided lanes between the sugar cane fields with glimpses of gracious plantation houses here and there. Wooden houses of shocking pinks, mauves, blues and yellows. ‘British’ post boxes, road signs and bus stops. Plenty of sports available to play and watch; golf, horseracing, cricket, riding, polo, walking, tennis. Early in the morning it`s as if the whole nation is out jogging. Cropover festival in August.

Cultural highlights of Barbados

For short distances or dining out, use a taxi. It’s well worth hiring a car for most or at least part of your stay to have flexibility and independence. The quality of the roads is fine, bar a few potholes in the country and confusing road signs (be prepared to get lost, keep your petrol tank topped up and just keep asking the way). Barbados is very well developed for places of interest and well-preserved houses, plantations, mills, gardens and parks. For architectural interest visit St Nicholas Abbey, Drax Hall and Francia. For exotic gardens visit Andromeda and the Flower Forest. If you want to get away slightly from the main tourist areas travel into Scotland north of Speightstown. A drive across the interior provides beautiful scenery, with valleys and gullies and ridges, acres of sugar cane fields and the grey-green leaves of palm trees rustling in the breeze.

Barbados travel information

Flight time from London to Barbados is about 8 hours

By air

British Airways has direct flights from London to Barbados every day of the week offering World Traveller, World Traveller Plus, Club World and First. Virgin Atlantic has direct flights from London to Barbados every day of the week and direct flights from Manchester to Barbados on Sundays. BWIA has direct flights from London to Barbados on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. BMI fly from Manchester to Barbados.

Our bespoke, luxury holidays can be

Our special interest holidays to Barbados

● Watersports holidays
● Spa holidays
● Honeymoons and weddings
● Family holidays
● Sailing holidays

Included in all our holidays

● Concierge service
● Handcrafted helpful hints and local information provided with all our holidays
● Personal service by your sales consultant who looks after all aspects of your holiday

Capital Bridgetown

Airports Grantley Adams International Airport

Currency US Dollars

Size 166 sq. miles

Population 285,000

Average temperature 31°C

Call us on 01392 441245

Here you will find a map of Barbados showing the locations of the hotels that we offer

Our bespoke, luxury holidays can be

Our special interest holidays to Barbados

● Watersports holidays
● Spa holidays
● Honeymoons and weddings
● Family holidays
● Sailing holidays

Included in all our holidays

● Concierge service
● Handcrafted helpful hints and local information provided with all our holidays
● Personal service by your sales consultant who looks after all aspects of your holiday

Capital Bridgetown

Airports Grantley Adams International Airport

Currency US Dollars

Size 166 sq. miles

Population 285,000

Average temperature 31°C