Get your fest on at Crop Over
Over 100,000 people gather in Barbados each year for the lively Crop Over Festival (above), which traditionally marked the end of the sugar cane season. Festivities kick off in June with the Opening Gala, igniting two months of street food markets, live soca and calypso music, art exhibitions and carnival displays. It culminates on Grand Kadooment Day (in early August) when masquerade bands parade down the Spring Garden Highway, accompanied by wing-wearing, sequin-bejewelled revellers, dancing and playing music. As you’ll hear the Bajans say: “Crop Over, it sweet fuh days!”
Go bar-hopping in St Lawrence Gap
You can’t visit Barbados without spending an evening in The Gap. Just south of Bridgetown, this low-key neighbourhood is home to a clutch of open-air bars, decked out with vibrant weatherboarding and neon lights. Watch the sunset with a rum punch in hand at Mimosas Trattoria and Bar, before wandering across to Hal’s Carpark Bar for karaoke or Cocktail Kitchen for a more refined affair. Finish the night at McBride’s; their reggae nights are renowned across the island (doors close at 4am).
Enjoy the chilled out charms of John Moore Bar
Enjoy delicious rum and fried fish in the relaxed surrounds of John Moore Bar
(Visit Barbados)
Rub shoulders with locals at this legendary beach bar and rum shop, perched on the water’s edge near Mount Standfast. It’s a little out of the way but worth a visit for its rustic charm, friendly service and postcard-perfect views of the paradiscal Weston Beach. If you’ve worked up an appetite, order the fresh-off-the-boat fried fish; the bar sits just metres from the local seafood market. Wash it down with a Mount Gay XO rum on the rocks – and take a bottle back home as a souvenir.
Have a beer on the beach at Carib Beach Bar
Stroll north of The Gap and you’ll find the quieter Worthing Beach, home to Carib Beach Bar. Swaying palm trees and sun loungers dot the white sand, backed by crystalline blue waters. Grab a seat and within minutes, you’ll be sipping an ice-cold local Banks beer, paired with a platter of fish cakes. Keep an eye out for turtles bobbing up for air in the bay.
Sing karaoke at TML One Love Bar
On first glance, One Love looks like an unassuming yellow-and-blue watering hole. However, after 9pm, the party really gets started; the music cranks up as locals and tourists spill out onto the pavement, Banks beers in hand. Expect seriously reasonable prices and a lively…
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