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  "path": "/2026/04/18/first-barbados-trip-island-safaris-fried-fish-bum-bum-sally-27837119/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-18T12:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://metro.co.uk",
  "tags": [
    "Lifestyle",
    "Travel",
    "Barbados",
    "The Caribbean",
    "Travel Inspiration",
    "Travel Reviews",
    "Caribbean",
    "Albion Aberteifi",
    "enter your details into the form before midnight on Sunday, April 19",
    "The Getaway Expert",
    "Click here to enter",
    "here",
    "next stop for first-timers should be Oistin’s Fish Fry",
    "the culinary capital of the Caribbean",
    "walking food tour",
    "Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source"
  ],
  "textContent": "Barbados is a perennial Caribbean favourite (Picture: Getty Images)\n\nWe don’t know each other very well, but I do know one thing for certain.\n\nWe can both agree that Barbados belongs on every travel bucket list.\n\nThe breathtaking scenery and easygoing vibe will make you want to stay forever, but since that’s probably not possible, we’ve created a seven-day itinerary for this perennial Caribbean favourite.\n\nFor my virgin visit, I had a strict agenda: I wanted a tan, to experience as many Bajan beaches as possible and to eat whatever delicacies come locally recommended.\n\nI got two of three (I’m Irish, of course I don’t tan), and memories to last a lifetime. Here’s the best of what I did on my first trip to Barbados, and what you should, too.\n\n## The world’s best beaches\n\nWhile most guides advise you to start on the north or west coast, my journey begins in the south of the island.\n\nIn general, the south coast is better value than the western side of the island, with cheaper restaurants and more self-catering options.\n\n##  WIN a relaxing countryside getaway for two\n\nNeed a bit of R&R? We're giving you the chance to win a restorative break for two at **Albion Aberteifi** , a top-rated hotel in the beautiful coastal town of Cardigan, Wales.\n\nThe two-night stay includes Scandi-style breakfast, cocktails for two at the hotel bar, and a Nature Spa experience at nearby wellness retreat Fforest Farm, for two hours of basking in cedar saunas and wood-fired hot tubs. Blissful.\n\nWish you were here? Enter now below (Picture: Brook Aurora)\n\nFor your chance to win this gorgeous spring getaway, **enter your details into the form before midnight on Sunday, April 19**. And don't forget to sign up to **The Getaway Expert** , our seven-day guide to becoming a more confident traveller.\n\nClick here to enter \n\n_Full T &Cs apply, see **here**._\n\nCar hire can push up costs but there’s a decent island-wide bus service, which is a great way of immersing yourself in Bajan life.\n\n(Picture: Catriona Walsh)\n\nStill, I’m exactly slumming it. I stay at Sea Breeze Beach House (£414 per night), a charming resort that is a great jump off point for the island’s best beaches. Several are routinely named the most beautiful in the word.\n\nThere is Crane Beach with its pink-tinged sand, Carlisle Bay with its shipwrecks and world-class snorkelling, scenic Bathsheba with its choppy surf and Pebbles Beach, where you can often catch horses swimming in the morning.\n\nIn my view, that’s the best of them if you’re tight on time.\n\nThe hotel is expensive, but I give top marks for attentive staff and genuinely decent entertainment, from limbo contests and fire shows to Bum Bum Sally dancing, a tribute to Mother Sally, one of the most famous figures in Barbadian folklore.\n\nYou can (and you should) learn all about her at the Barbados National Art Gallery.\n\nFor more affordable options, check out Time Out Hotel on Dover Beach (from £98 per night) and Dover Beach Hotel on Maxwell Beach, from £102 per night.\n\n## The best food in the Caribbean?\n\nThe next stop for first-timers should be Oistin’s Fish Fry, the legendary fish market that morphs into a thumping party when the sun goes down.\n\nHeld on Friday nights, Oistin’s brings locals and visitors together for open-air grills, stiff rum drinks, and live music.\n\nDinner and a show (Picture: Catriona Walsh)\n\nBook a table in advance and once you sit, don’t move – it gets seriously busy, but the atmosphere is electric.\n\nBarbados is known as the culinary capital of the Caribbean, with hundreds of restaurants serving everything from pickled pork to cou-cou and fried flying fish with spicy gravy—the national dish.\n\nIf you’re brave enough, you can even try dolphin. Not that kind; it’s the local name for mahi-mahi or dorado, a flaky white fish. It’s good, but the flying fish is better.\n\nMaking furry friends in Bridgetown (Picture: Catriona Walsh)\n\nThe food scene here is influenced by a melting pot of cultures, which means you’re guaranteed the best ingredients and flavour combinations from Africa, India and even the UK.\n\nEven the water is good. Barbados’ tap water is not only drinkable, it’s some of the purest in the region as it is filtered through coral limestone. I’m told it’s something locals are very proud of.\n\n##  The best time to visit Barbados for a bargain\n\nIf you travel in the British winter, especially December and January, bargains are few and far between.\n\nLow season on the island, when prices drop significantly, tends to be from **the end of April to September**.\n\nYes, you might get a tropical shower, but days of constant rainfall are rare and you won’t find the mercury dropping below 25C.\n\n## Bridgetown’s billionaire\n\nOn to a day of exploring on an island safari.\n\nWe watch monkeys swing between banana trees and snap photos of the colourful houses in Bridgetown, slowing down to inspect every inch of Rihanna Drive,__ a backstreet on the outskirts of the city that was once the home of the multi-hyphenate Bajan billionaire.\n\nThe superstar spent her childhood in a flat-roofed green and yellow house, accented with red trimmings and bright blue pavements. From humble beginnings and all that.\n\nRihanna Drive, formerly known as Westbury New Road (Picture: Catriona Walsh)\n\nAppetite whetted, you can dive into local flavours on Bridgetown’s highly-rated walking food tour. Don’t miss Cuz’s Fish Stand which serves moreish fried fish sandwiches, and in general don’t leave without trying macaroni pie.\n\nThen head to Hunte’s Garden and the charming village of Bathsheba. Both are lovely for a leisurely stroll.\n\nWrap up the day with dinner and drinks in Saint Lawrence Gap, otherwise known as Barbados’ party central.\n\n## R&R\n\nBarbados is paradise, and if there’s anywhere to stop and simply soak up the scenery, this is surely it.\n\nI end my trip with two days of relaxation at the O2 Beach Club & Spa (from £480), a five-star all-inclusive with thats give ‘sea view’ new meaning.\n\nThe perfect ending (Picture: Catriona Walsh)\n\nThere are several rooftop restaurants overlooking the water and an award-winning spa where you learn how to make your own body scrub before being massaged on the shore. Bliss.\n\nIf you’ve got time and energy, book on to a snorkelling tour and get up close and personal with the native turtles.\n\nYou could also try Barbados’ famous (or infamous?) monkey zipline, but perhaps that’s best left for your next visit.\n\nI know I will return.\n\nComment now Comments \nAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source\n",
  "title": "How to do your first Barbados trip — island safaris, fried fish and ‘bum bum Sally’"
}