Landing in Barbados is a tease. From the air, endless fields of
sugarcane unfurl in every direction with little to break the visual
monotony. Drive out of the airport left side, please and into the
thick of bustling traffic. There are people everywhere (the island
is one of this hemisphere’s most densely populated countries),
cruise ships dominate the harbor and a British residue blankets the
island with an air of formality. This is the relaxed tropical
vacation your clients wanted?
Well, yes. Barbados brims with sleek, comely beaches, abounds
with restaurants that prepare swank and pricey Euro cuisine and is
chock-a-block with tony hotels. However, I think the real reason to
come to this island is for the Bajans, your savvy, exceedingly
courteous hosts. For example, owing to the island’s intricate
tangle of unmarked roads, sooner or later, your clients will
misplace their destination and pull over in the rental car to
reconnoiter with a map. Tell them to glance at their watch and note
the time. Within five minutes, I can virtually guarantee that
someone will pull up alongside to ask, “Can I help you find where
you’re going?”
And that’s the Caribbean
sojourn your clients want: warm and friendly.
It could be said that Barbados started entertaining visitors in
1751, when George Washington visited the island to convalesce with
his tubercular brother Lawrence. Two-and-a-half centuries later,
Bajans have practiced the art of tourism long enough to get it
right.
Unlike adjacent volcanic islands, Barbados is a muted limestone
massif and lacks the lofty summits that would otherwise regularly
seduce rain clouds to its shores (a location outside the
traditional hurricane belt ensures tempests are few and far
between). So, sunny days are a virtual given, and the limestone
slowly erodes along the coasts to create a loamy halo of sand with
but a couple of exceptions, every one of the island’s 70-odd hotels
is within 100 feet or so of a beach.
The accommodations are on the west and south coasts. Sometimes
referred to as the Platinum Coast, graceful casuarinas pines and
lanky beaches line the island’s western shoreline, attracting big
spenders to places like the rebuilt 122-room Sandy Lane, where the
rooms average 900 square feet and $1,200 a night. The resort’s
47,000-square-foot spa is perhaps the Caribbean’s most lavish, and
the golf courses are & well, Tiger Woods chose this hotel for
his wedding vows. The 73-room Coral Reef Club has been run by the
O’Hara family for five decades and features a quintet of
third-floor Plantation Suites, elegant colonial-style abodes with a
plunge pool on the private sundeck.
Barbados’ busy south coast caters to travelers of more moderate
means, with a long roster of hotels where each has less than 100
rooms. Two noteworthy resorts bookend the coastline. Just outside
the capital of Bridgetown is the Hilton Barbados, which was
recently torn down and rebuilt, reopening in 2003 to much acclaim.
At the quiet east end of the coast is The Crane, overlooking a
spectacular beach. With 120 years of operation it is perhaps the
Caribbean’s oldest hotel and recently saw the addition of 128
modern rooms and a sushi bar.
Visitors will find little in the way of accommodations on
Barbados’ east coast generally referred to as Bathsheba but it
boasts the island’s most resplendent scenery. Catch it early, as
the morning mist is lifting from the shore, and clients will
probably spot the surfers that ply the rolling Atlantic, dodging
bulbous rock outcrops that pose like giant mushrooms planted along
the coast.
Unlike Jamaica and a few other outposts, Barbados is not an
all-inclusive island nor would you want it to be. Local food means
“oil down” (breadfruit and pork stew), “cou-cou” (baked cornmeal
pudding) and the ubiquitous “pepper pot.” The real specialty is
flying fish little darlings that flit over the seas and onto
virtually every restaurant menu in a variety of preparations.
(Bajans have a particular knack for de-boning these flyers.)
It should be noted that the overall dining scene is refined and
energetic enough that the tourist board hired Zagat Survey to
produce a guide just for Barbados. At venues like The Cliff, a
romantic dining terrace becomes a stage for superb meals served in
front of a shimmering moonlit backdrop of sea and stars. (Do your
clients a favor and book ahead for this prime venue.) Another
favorite is Lone Star, tucked behind an art deco-era filling
station converted to a chic beach eatery.
Yes, the island is somewhat more dressy than most of its
Caribbean neighbors. But for travelers seeking a happily upscale
tropical vacation, Barbados delivers the goods.
