Having already seen much of the island of Barbados a year ago, spending time on many beaches and staying at the Accra Beach Hotel, I knew that the location of the Southern Surf Apartments was prime. So, trusting the many glowing reviews here on Trip Advisor, I booked a stay with them this year. I had learned how expensive the island can be and the consensus seemed to be that Southern Surf was a great find for a reasonable price.

Put simply, it's all true – the location of the apartments provides for both privacy and convenience. While the building is not directly on the beach, it's literally a 30-second walk, across a two-lane road. The kitchenettes are equipped with everything you could possibly need (and if you want to do Barbados for a reasonable price you really do need to cook some of your meals). The rooms are more spacious than I imagined, and spotless. The main building has 12 suites - 3 on each floor, 4 stories high. For those who aren't prepared to walk the stairs, take a room on the 1st or 2nd floor. However the 4th floor provided for a great view from both sides of the suite. There are also 2 overflow suites in the second building where the office is located.

Lara, Tony et al are the coolest: helpful, friendly and fair. The fact that Lara stocks fridges in advance according to guests' grocery lists and refuses to take a service charge above the price of the food is an indication of the type of above-and-beyond attention guests get. Instead of room phones, there's also a well-thought-out cell phone arrangement: borrow a phone free and buy pay-as-you-go cards as required. However each floor of the hotel has a phone that can be used by the guests as well. Wireless internet is available. A 13" television with satellite access had more stations than were available at other places in Barbados.

By contrast, The Accra Beach Hotel–which is situated right on this same beach–is a much larger, somewhat impersonal operation that is 2-3 times more expensive, has smaller rooms and does not afford you the option of cooking for yourself.

Needless to say, I'll go back to Southern Surf!

Value-wise, my wife and I agree that the Southern Surf is untouchable. First and foremost our room was very clean and spacious. We stayed in the street-level "overflow" section of the older building that was a little noisier than the rest of the complex but was still very private. Although the overflow rooms are slightly inferior to those in the main building, everything was to our satisfaction. Being on the ground floor and so close to the busy main street, we were pleased that a security guard patrols the premises at night.

Location-wise, at first I was a little skeptical of Rockley Beach and the surrounding area. The beach seemed a little seedy and the surrounding area too busy and crowded. Then we started to explore the island by bus and beachfront bar (Holetown and Mullins Bay on the fancier but very quiet west coast, remote and beautiful Bathsheba on very dead east coast, crowded Bridgetown Area, and finally touristy St. Lawrence Gap and Oistens) and came to appreciate the quality of Rockley Beach itself and its excellent overall location and conveniences. And almost all the beaches on Barbados seem to have some seediness going on at their edges that adds to the Caribbean adventure. My conclusion is that unless you want to lock yourself up in an all inclusive resort, Rockley is one of the very top locations in Barbados.

Being someone who finds it challenging to look for low-cost high-quality deals (ok – I’m a cheapskate, but one that appreciates value), I would highly recommend using the Barbados bus system. For $3.00 U.S., you can take a round trip to anywhere on the island. And you really get to see the island and interact with the very helpful, friendly and courteous locals. Beware: riding the bus is not for the squeamish since the buses go extremely fast and the streets are very narrow and crowded. Also, we ate three times at Just Grilling in the Quay Plaza just up the street that serves quality local food at a very reasonable price. The fish fry in Oistens was okay but very crowed and touristy. We ate twice in St. Lawrence Gap but it was a little bit pricey for what you got.

What can we say that others haven't said. We picked this hotel on remarks posted on TripAdvisor. We couldn't have been satisfied. Southern Surf is close to everything that you could possibly want. The gorgeous Rockley Beach is right across the street - you can sit on your balcony sipping Rum Punches and watch the waves rolling in. You can rent a beach chair from 'Junior' for the whole day for $5.00 Barbados. Junior's chairs are located right beside the Life Guard Hut. There are also food and beverage kiosks at Rockley Beach. Because you have a kitchen in your apartment, we ate breakfast and lunch in our unit and then we went out to dinner every night. The staff at Southern Surf are absolutely amazing - it was my husband's birthday when we were there and I wanted to surprise him with a Birthday Cake. I went to the office and asked if they could arrange to have a cake delivered to our room - well they did even better than I could imagine. Rachael (who works on the front desk) is a pastry chef and she made the cake for me. It was wonderful !!!
This was our 4th trip to Barbados, and Southern Surf is by far the nicest place that we have stayed. We never once saw a bug in our room while we were there - everything is so clean. We loved Southern Surf so much that we have already booked for next year.
Restaurants - all within walking distance. We ate at Bert's Bar (right next door to Southern Surf), Champers, Just Grillin' (located in the Quayside Centre). We also discovered an amazing restaurant called 'Shakers Bar & Grill'. It's in Browns Gap (also within walking distance). You can get a terrific main meal that includes fish or chicken or ribs and coleslaw, salad and grilled potatoes for $25 Barbados dollars. We ate there 4 times in 2 weeks because the food was so good and was such an excellent value. You have to make reservations to get into this restaurant (288-8855) . The only drawback is that they don't accept credit cards.
The 99 Convenience Store is located in the Quayside Centre and the Big D grocery store is about a 10 minute walk away. They all accept credit cards.

Lara, Tony and Rachael from Southern Surf made our vacation so enjoyable. Thanks guys - we can't wait to get back !!

What can say other than this place is fantastic. We booked 3 rooms in this small appartment complex. Its cosy, the location is superb for all amenties, close enough to St Lawrence gap and Bridgetown, but away from the club revellers. There are many bars and restaurants in walking distance, with lots more in driving distance. The staff cannot do enough for you, they were full of knowledge and were happy to provide help on locations and bookings.
Yes it is on a main road across from the beach, which was not a problem for us as drivers happily stop to let you cross over. It can be a little noisy at night but it really depends on your noise level tolerance, we were totally fine and my family occupied 3 different floors so we feel we can give a balanced overview of this area.
The rooms are clean and I would say above basic standard, with the joy of having a kitchen.
This is really a superb accommodation, you will not be dissappointed.