car rental

[lhoch]

I am thinking about renting a car for the day we are in port. Can anyone help me with finding info on the island to see? Is it worth renting a car or taking a cab? Is there places to park and how difficult to get around?

[barbados]

Paradise isn't always what we perceive it to be.

 

Traffic can be a challenge during rush hour(s) on the West coast.

 

First time visitors usually find an organised tour or a taxi tour suits them better than a self-guided tour in a rental car.

 

Come back for a week and rent the car. Use your precious few hours on this trip to be good to yourself. :):):)

 

(sorry, but it's not always perfect :()

 

[Dutch Diver]

We visited Barbados about a month ago. We'd been to the island one before, but just for scuba diving, so we hadn't seen much of the island itself. On this visit, we wanted to do a full island tour. Being comfortable with left side driving and armed with a good map, guidebooks and GPS, we could tour the island on our own.

 

On the plus side, it was cheaper than a tour company and we could explore in our own time. Parking was never a problem. However, we found the following drawbacks: road signage is practically nonexistent, driving times are much longer than GPS or tour map indicated, roads are quite bad in some places. And - if you like that sort of thing - you'll miss the narration of a local guide.

 

A full size car at Stoutes (they have an office right at the pier) will set you back around $100 ($85 rental plus $15 gas), still cheaper than regular tour ($60 per person, which might not take you to all the sights) or custom tour (starting at $40/hour).

 

After a quick stop at a supermarket (supplies), we visited the Andromeda Gardens, Bathsheba (beautiful), North Point (stunning!), Gun Hill Station (interesting). We saw lots of local island life (small town and villages) along the way. We also wanted to visit Mount Gay Rum, but we arrived too late for the tour (poor signage!) so we headed back to port.

 

Maybe we'd be able to see more of Bridgetown and its museums if we'd been on a tour, but we'll leave that for our next visit (whenever that may be).

 

All in all, I wouldn't recommend a rental car unless you know *exactly* where to go and how to get there. If you're going, I would recommend visiting the remote sites such as North Point as they are quite beautiful.