Renting a car in Barbados

[luvocean9]

Has anyone rented a car to tour the island? Do you recommend it? What did you do.......where did you drive?

[loisswanson]

Stoute's cars has the best vehicles and they have someone at the Cruise Ship terminal where you can pick it up and drop it off (assuming you are there on a cruise). Even if there longer, Stoute's is THE BEST.

 

Contact Ann Stoute (owner) at: ann@stoutescar.com

Tell her Lois Swanson recommended and she'll give you a nice discount as well. We've done business with them on our 24 visits (all 1-2 weeks), and the cars are great, reliable, new and good service.

 

Their website is: http://www.stoutescar.com

 

Lois

[luvocean9]

Thanks Lois for the recommendation!

[MrSchwump]

We rented a moke from Stoute's when we were in Barbados last Nov. We were very satisfied.

 

We didn't make a reservation but did e-mail them for info. I don't think they ever replied. I noticed that we were the only ship in port that day so we decided to trust our luck. It worked out fine.

 

They have a kiosk just outside the terminal on the side farthest away from where the ship was docked. The only downside was, we had to wait over an hour for the guy to arrive and open up, which was about an hour after the posted opening. The "island time" thing holds true! :)

 

If you're not familiar with a moke, picture Fred Flintstone's car with a small engine and floorboards. No sides and a cloth top. They gave you a pretty good map or the island and we were able to navigate pretty well.

 

We drove pretty far north along the coastal road past the swanky resorts (Sandy Lane, et al) then turned inland and cut over to the east coast. There are some spectacular views from the top of the ridge leading down to the coastline. A definite photo-op. We found the working sugar mill which we stopped at and toured, then when on down to the east coast road and meandered down to the town of Bathsheba. Again, more spectacular photo-ops!

 

With a little backtracking we made our way up to Gunsite (?) Hill and had some great view of the southern half of Barbados.

 

Driving on the left was probably more terrifying for my wife and the other motorists than for me. I've had a little experience with "roundabouts" in New England but going the "wrong way" (from my American perspective) into a traffic circle was a little unerving the first time.

 

The worst part was driving in Bridgetown. It's streets are laid out in what seemed like a pretty haphazard manner and I swear, I did not see one street sign anywhere. We stopped 4 or 5 times asking directions back to the harbor and ended up spying the ships funnel and drove toward it. That last mile or two took us about an hour. We finally located the entrance to the terminal and were able to fill the car up with gas just outside and turned it back in.

 

I think it set us back around $90 for the day but it was well worth it. If you're a little plucky and have patient and brave passengers, I'd do it. If you e-mail me, I can send you some photos if you'd like.

 

Your old pal,

Joe

[luvocean9]

Thanks Joe. that's fantastic information. I would LOVE to see your pictures.

[MrSchwump]

luvocean,

 

I thought my e-mail address attached automatically, sorry! Send me an e-mail at jmckib@cinci.rr.com and I'll e-mail you the link to my photos.

 

Your old pal,

Joe