West Coast

Barbados’s east and west coasts offer two entirely different beach experiences. On the west coast, where most of the high-end hotels are located, you’ll find the calm turquoise waters of the Caribbean. The less crowded Atlantic coast, on the east,...

A trio of top-notch course designers have, in the past decade, transformed Barbados into one of the Caribbean’s premier golfing destinations. Robert Trent Jones Jr. completed the Royal Westmoreland’s super-challenging eighteen-hole course in 1995; in 2001, Tom Fazio designed two of Sandy Lane’s three...

With weekly polo matches, horse races and National Trust cocktail parties, winter months in Barbados provide plenty of opportunities to schmooze and hobnob. The biggest event on the social calendar is Holders Season, an annual, two-week-long performing-arts festival typically held in late February/early...

St. Lawrence Gap, on the south coast, is party central, but the northern section of Holetown (known locally as First and Second Street) has a number of spots for more sophisticated night owls. These include Lexy Piano Bar (Second Street; 246-432-5399; www.lexypianobar.com),...

Cobblers Cove has a quaint, cozy little spa, and the Royal Westmoreland opened one on Mullins Beach, but the Coral Reef Club and Sandy Lane take center stage here. Sandy Lane's 47,000 square foot spa facility has multiple treatment suites—each either a private pool or...

For water-sports enthusiasts, there’s surfing on the east coast, water-skiing and snorkeling on the west coast and windsurfing in the south. Most hotels and villa rental companies work with a handful of instructors and catamaran companies. Some of the latter...