Island Drive on our own or taxi - Ideas?

[jbrentf]

My dad and I would like to do an island drive and visit the beautiful Atlantic coast among other things. Just curious if anyone had ventured out onto their own either in a taxi or car and drove around the island - what suggestions do you have?

[Aplmac]

Have you ever driven on the wrong/Left side of the road?

That's quite a factor.

 

Not only will you be driving on the left,

but the roads are crazily narrow and twisty-turny.

Easy to get lost,too.. if not for long.

 

If you have considerable experience driving in foreign third world countries

-on the wrong side of the road-

I'd say go for it - and there are car rental places at the Port,I'm told.

 

But if not.. then hiring a taxi is not a bad idea!

probably end up costing you about the same..

 

Since you're intent on the scenic East Coast

you'll be having Lunch at Atlantis. (tell the taxi driver - he'll understand)

If your day ashore in Barbados is a Wednesday or a Sunday

then Lunch at Atlantis will be a buffet affair

with more choice than their normal a la carte ordering.

[tango9]

yes, I did rent a car and drive in Barbados and had a great day. I had been in Bardados one other time and this may have helped me recognize some things. It does take some careful concentration to drive on the left side of the road, with the driver's seat on the right side of the car. And to top it off, the only car they had left was stick shift. I had a good book on Barbados and several good maps to help me get around. We made it up the west coast, through the island to Bathsheba area and the Botanical gardens, as well as the monkey wild life preserve. We swam in a great snorkeling beach on the west coast. Signs are not that good so you can get lost. There are a lot of great beaches there but not always easy to realize that you are there. We got stuck in a terrible traffic jam in town, getting back to the ship to leave allot of time to get back. I don't know how much a taxi would charge to take you everywhere. Another time, we did hire a taxi to take us to the monkey wild life preserve and it was $60 round trip for three of us. I will be in Barbados again soon and will need to decide what to do. I have not taken the snorkel with the turtle trips so may do that, but I think the island is great so I can't decide. Good luck with your decision

[luv2bcruzng]

Which car rentals are at the port?

[MrSchwump]

We rented a car in Barbados and really enjoyed it.

We rented a moke at Stoute's from a kiosk right at the cruise ship terminal. I think it cost about $90 for the day.

We drove north along the western coastline then cut across the northern tip of the island. We drove south along the Atlantic coast past Bathsheba then cut inland stopping at Gun Hill then back to Bridgetown.

It was really nice being on our own schedule and could stop when and where we wanted. We stopped at the windmill, which was kind of cool. We stopped at St. Nicholas Abbey but it didn't seem worth the time and cost of admission so we passed.

We had very little trouble navigating around the countryside. The roads were pretty well marked and while we made a few wrong turns, we never got hopelessly lost. In town was another matter! There were NO street signs that we could find in Bridgetown. We had to stop 3 or 4 times to get directions back to the ship. We finally spied it across the rooftops and just drove in that general direction.

Driving on the left was a little nerve wracking and the rotaries were exciting at times, but we're glad we did it. If you're adventuresome and your traveling companion isn't too nervous, I'd recommend it!

 

Your old pal,

Joe

[luv2bcruzng]

Thanks for the information, we will probably follow the same route you took. Should we reserve a moke in advance?

[Aplmac]

Should we reserve a moke in advance?

Good idea: during the winter months cars can be hard to come by

if not impossible.

 

Might be an idea to book a car rather than an open-sided 'moke' thing.

Sometimes local boys try to jump in, when you stop at intersections.

 

Not a dangerous island or anything

but we do have the odd 'mischievous incident' from time to time. ;)

 

If you have a Big Hairy Husband along, rent the moke and have zero worries!

 

But if it's just two or three of you cuties alone

get a car with doors, aircon and roll-up windows and you're cool....two ways. :)

[Darcy8]

Do you recommend any particular map of Barbados? Was the map you received from the car rental a good one, with points of interest marked? We want to rent a car, but I would like to have good information to guide us. Thanks,

darcy8

[islandgrandma]

Barbados- loved this island. This is one that I wish I had about 3 days to do all we wanted to do. We rented a car from Stoutes and was easy enough to do. Their Map was OK> We got a 7 passenger van since 6 of us and it was rather gutless but OK. Roads in Barbados do have signs but small and a challenge but OK MAP helped. We really did not get lost - just took wrong road once. Probably my favorite thing next to The Baths on Virgin Gorda would be Welchman Hall Gully in Barbados. We drove for about 30 minutes and found it with only one wrong turn. It is a 3/4 mile walk through lush tropical forrest. Enchanting, magical are the words that come to mind. We could hear the monkeys but never saw them. We could hear the birds. But the flowers and vines and root systems on the trees were awesome. They said could walk in 45 minutes but took us about 2 hours because we were having a terrific time taking pictures. You can type in Welchman's Hall Gully and see pics on line. We went early ( 9am) so had this lovely spot almost exclusively to ourselves. From there we drove about another 25 minutes to St. Nicholas Abbey. If you go there look it up on-line to see a bit of the history- it was built in 1650. They only show you about 3 or 4 rooms and then take you out to see the actual grinding of sugar cane. There is a fun 1930's movie to watch for a few minutes. The tour gal did good job. Family who owns the home are working there and that made it more interesting. We felt we did not have enough time to go to Sunbury house so we drove down the west coast and stopped in a supermarket to pick up sandwiches at a deli. We drove on down to Bridgetown but finding a place to park was not part of the day - town parking seemed out of the question- we drove around the city briefly and then returned the car by 4:30 since the boat left at 5pm. We are accustomed to driving on the left so that helped. BW:)