Hi all,
I just saw this Daily Telegraph article online and thought you may be interested to see their "top 10" list as shown on August 30th 2008. I've also put the link to the entire article at the bottom of the list. If this has been posted already, then ignore it, I've been away all summer so am a bit out of the TA loop at the moment! : )
Ten essential experiences in Barbados
1. Have a drink at Groots, outside Holetown. Barbados’s Cheers, run by a Liverpudlian; regulars start taking their seats at about 6pm.
2. Have lunch by the sea at The Tides, Holetown. The chef, Guy Beasley, makes sensational seafood and rich puddings. About £40 a head without wine (432 8356, www.tidesbarbados.com). Note: The international dialling code for the island is 001 246.
3. Have dinner on the west coast at The Cliff (432 1922, www.thecliffbarbados.com). Spectacular by night, and Paul Owens’ sauces are world-class. About £50 a head for three courses, excluding wine.
4. Eat sushi overlooking the sea from the rooftop restaurant at Little Arches, one of the new hotels on the south coast (420 4689, www.littlearches.com).
5. Watch the entrancing black-and-white film of plantation life shot in 1935 at St Nicholas Abbey (422 8725, www.stnicholasabbey.com).
6. Cruise along the coast on one of the Silver Moon catamarans (438 2088, www.silvermoonbarbados.com). These South African-built craft are by far the smartest, with 12 on board for group trips rather than the 40 often squeezed on other boats. About £140 an hour for private charter .
7. Tour the new George Washington House museum (228 5461, www.georgewashingtonbarbados.org), near the Barbados Museum in Bridgetown, with Adrian Loveridge, an entertaining and knowledgeable volunteer guide.
8. Stay at Cobblers Cove (422 2291 www.cobblerscove.com) for a taste of the old, genteel Barbados. Quiet and delectably old-fashioned, it’s also a very comfortable, convenient, well-thought-out hotel. The two-storey blocks of 40 suites, none more than a minute’s walk from the beach, open on to a central little garden. In the beach-front restaurant, food is good to very good, service slow to very slow but charming — one venerable waiter could have stepped straight out of Rick’s in Casablanca. It has free internet access, a good masseuse, Marisa, on site and an outstandingly well-stocked library.
9. Self-cater, at the new apartments at Little Good Harbour (439 3000, www.littlegoodharbourbarbados.com), opposite the Fish Pot restaurant (same owner). Built on a hillside with two elegant pools on the quiet north-west coast (too quiet and remote for some, though), the apartments are outstanding, with four-poster beds, big twin-basin bathrooms, brilliantly equipped large kitchens and large terraces set with sofa and dining table. Buy fresh fish from a local fisherman’s stall and shop at the excellent supermarket in Warren.
10. For glamour and fun, check into Sandy Lane (444 2000, www.sandylane.com). Its pink marble floors are so slippery it’s amazing they’re not constantly delivering guests to the local hospital with snapped off arms and legs. But, insane choice of flooring apart, this is a glorious hotel. Yards from a lovely beach, with a big, breezy, always much cooler pool area, really good children’s and teen's club (pool tables, old jukebox, computers, etc), famously great golf (three courses) and beautifully designed, very efficient spa, it really has everything anyone could want for a luxurious week in the sunshine.
The 112 rooms are much more international than Caribbean, but big and comfortable, with a wonderfully lavish bathroom and a large terrace. The food is good to excellent. And in comparison to Christmas, when you have to book for two weeks and even standard rooms are a stratospheric £2,000 a night, rates at this time of year are almost a bargain.
“Grand, grand hotel. I’m surprised the Queen don’t come,” said the taxi driver on the way back to the airport.
