Gold Rock Beach

Gold Rock Beach

Gold Rock Beach
5
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This beach is as pretty as a postcard, with smooth white sands and clear blue waters.
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Best nearby
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Attractions
3 within 6 miles

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

5.0
5.0 of 5 bubbles573 reviews
Excellent
502
Very good
54
Average
12
Poor
4
Terrible
1

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Maxave1966
Caserta, Italy240 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2023 • Family
I am a connoisseur of the Caribbean, but Gold Rock is actually one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen, the beauty is impressive, it makes your skin crawl, it is worth a 3/4 hour visit. Bring water, there is nothing, and to admire the beauty of the shallows, I recommend staying until 2pm.
Greatest experience in Grand Bahamas.
Google
Written August 7, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

sunninglizard
canada36 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2021
Here's the facts: Many huge beach-side trees came down on the beach in Hurricane Dorian September 2019, and not so pretty. check the date of the reivews you read.
Re: snorkeling.: The reef is 1/2 mile to a mile offshore so this is not a snorkelers site unless a strong swimmer. good snorkeling and spearfishing if you are. the water is shallow for 100yards, so great for toddlers.

I am puzzled by someone saying there are often yachts in the water. I don't think i have seen one (14 years on the island) there.
The full trip -- Lucayan National Park, caves, boardwalk, racoons, beach, is worth the trip. .If you have a car, carry on to Bishop's at High rock. Bishoop has a restaurant and the most amazing collection of old RnB at the beach bar.
Written May 16, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Allen B
Muskegon, MI1,282 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2024 • Couples
This beach is amazing. The water is crystal clear and the white sand is so fine and soft. Mostly tourists, so it would be great to visit in the afternoon when cruisers head back to the port. Just wish there wasn't such a long walk carrying chairs.
Written December 28, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

TrueTexasTraveler
Amarillo, TX979 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2019
Gold Rock Beach features beautiful sand and water. The beach can get crowded with cruisers, but is a great prize at the end of the short, humid hike through Lucayan National Park. Watch for the raccoons, originally brought to the island as pets, escaped, and now scavenge for leftover food around the beach.
Written June 28, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

MaggieMae324
Magnolia, TX34 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2023 • Couples
We visited twice during our recent Bahamas trip. The first time we visited the caves and then crossed over to the beach. We loved this beach on our first trip in 2017 and it is still one of our favorites. The tide was low and we were able to walk out very far into the water. We saw 4 dolphins playing in the water. We found several sea biscuits and some very pretty shells. We even had a raccoon come and see us while walking from the road to the beach.
Written May 22, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

SWF111111
Baltimore, MD1,492 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2023 • Couples
LOVE this beach! We visited in mid May 2023 and had the beach to ourselves. It was a windy day, and we got here as the tide was coming in. This beach is best explored at low tide, but when we were there, low tide was 8:30 AM and PM. 😆 it’s shallow and we did a lot of relaxing on the beach and dipping in the water. We brought everything with us - chairs, a cooler with drinks and sandwiches etc. There is a vendor renting lounges and some refreshments. We stayed all day - it was so quiet and relaxing. It’s a 10 minute walk from the parking lot to the beach, along a boardwalk, so make sure you can carry all you want to bring. There is a trash can. Make sure you have plenty of gas in your car because there is nothing nearby. It’s beautiful- we will go back!!
Written May 15, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Lisa F
Waukegan, IL15 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2022
You have to do the caves across the road, it is amazing. The beach is a little way but you get to see the sponsors of the bridge. I love the beach because compare to some there isn't the sea weeds and over roughness of the beach. The place is gorgeous.
Written April 27, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

snoss93220
New Jersey5 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Was sailing on Carnival's Sensation June 28-July 2nd. Was looking for a nice beach to go to on our own, since most of the cruise excusrsions were expensive. I had reserved a car with Avis, as they reported that they had a rental car station at the port where the cruises drop off in Freeport. Learned very quickly, that Avis is about 10 minutes away and shuttles come to pick up (supposly every 10 minutes). After waiting for about 30 minutes and calling Avis, we got frustrated. We had seen a small local car rental car place within the shops right at the port. We were able to get a compact car, which fit 4 adults and one child for a total of $70, including insurance. The lady gave us a map and highlighted the routes to get to Gold Rock. She advised that it would take approx one hour. I had read on this site and other cites that most people made it there in approx 40 minutes from port. It took us 35 minutes. The main highways are EMPTY and the drive is mostly through heavily wooded pine areas.

Word of caution if you are renting, you will be driving on the left side of the road if you go. However, there are cars that we saw that had steering wheels on the left side, but we got stuck with one on the right. My husband was a little nervous, but he did fine, especially since there were hardly any cars on the road!

When you enter the park area on the left, you will pull into a small gravel parking lot which does not look like much and there you will park and someone should greet you and will ask you for park fees. I think we paid $3 per adult and our 6 year old daughter was free. There are bathrooms in the parking lot area and then the caves, ect are up a path past the bathrooms. We did not do the caves.

Gold Rock Beach path is directly across the street from parking lot, there was a local woman parked outside path who was selling cold drinks, snacks. Waters were like $2 and gatorade and soda were $1.50. The drinks were cold. Previous reviews have said that the path is not really marked and you can easily miss it. The path now has like this little wooded fence thing in front of it and a sign. So even if the woman is not sitting there with her drinks, you can see the path quite easily.

There are two paths you can take, as it splits. Take the left split and it is the most direct and will take approx 5 minutes to get to the beach. The right split will take about 15-20 minutes and brings you through the mangroves.

Gold Rock Beach was abosulutley beautiful. It was everything like the photos which are posted on this site. The day we got there, low tide was around 8:30 am and high tide at 2:30. We arrived at the beach around 11:00 and the water was already pretty high and most of the sandbars that Gold Rock is known for were already covered by water. Regardless, the water was still very shallow and you had to swim quite far to get to a point where you were standing and completely covered by water.

The water was warm, clear and beautiful.!!! There was some very slight waves which were prob being caused by a small storm approaching. Unlike other reviews I have read on this beach, we were lucky and did not have any run-ins with baracuda's or stingrays. We saw one little crab, thats it. I was hoping to see starfish, but did not see any of them either. My daughter did have fun collecting coral from the shore area. We did end up having a heavy down pour of rain which lasted approx 10 minutes. We ran under the covered hut that the kayaking excursion people use from the cruises. The kayakers were not there yet, so we just hung out until the rain stopped.

Beacuase of the tide issues, there is very little places to sit on the beach once the tide is high. You can move east on the beach about 100 feet, but we had so much stuff with us, that there was no way we were walking that far. We had to bring chairs, umbrellas, ect with us, because as I researched Gold Rock, there is nothing there.

The great thing about this beach is prob the seclusion and its beauty of course. We were the only ones at this beach for 80% of the time. Other people who will be there will be the kayakers from the cruise ship excursions. They will come and eat lunch as a group under the covered hut area and then they will swim a little.

We were only able to spend a couple of hours at Gold Rock. Mainly due to the car rental issue of wating for Avis, who never showed up and then the rain and thunderstorms we had, we lost another 30 minutes. Since the weather was so so and we were running out of time before we had to be back at ship, we decided to eat at Bishop's, which I also researched.

There are signs for Bishop's out ont he street by the parks parking lot. The lady selling the drinks will tell you its 7 miles on the right. Those directions were AWFUL. If you are going to goto Bishops to eat, continue down the road, as if you were going to drive past the park, and at one point the road will kinda split....keep to the right. Once you split, you will be on road for a few minutes and you will see a small police station on right side in High Rock. When you see the police station, turn right on the street right before the police station parking lot. Follow that little street all the way down, (there will be this small round about) and when u get to the end of street, make a right. You will follow this down the coastline for about 45 seconds. It will lead you straight into Bishops parking lot. You can either eat in the inside restaunt which is to the right or the outside tiki hut bar on the left. You can reseach Bishops Bone fish restraunt on the web. It gets mainly great reviews. It is mostly seafood, and they had hamburger/chicken fingers. It is worth going if you like seafood, all fresh, and really good. They have conch dishes and my husband got snapper, which is served with the head on. Bishops has a hotel as well. which also gets raves reviews even though it does not look like much. You will most likely be one of the few at this restaraunt, we were the only ones!!!! One note of caution, do not eat in the inside restaraunt unless u are covered up. If you want to sit around in your bathing suit, go outside and eat. My daughter decided to take off her cover up in restaraunt and Bishop walked over and told her to put her beach cover up on.

The car rental return was quick and easy, we made it back to ship within one hour after leaving Bishop's. The day was cheap for us, as we split the car rental costs with our friends. For me and my husband and child, the car rental was $35, park admission $6 and lunch was approx $40 which included 3 seafood meals, 2 sodas, one Bahama Mama and tip and gratuity. We also put in $7 for gas into car. Total cost for our own cruise shore excursion was $88 for a family of 3. Considering that most people do not even leave the ship at Freeport or complain that there is nothing to do...we had a GREAT time and we were able to do whatever we wanted and were not stuck on the hustle and bustle of a shore excursion schedule!!

I hope that I can go back to Gold Rock Beach again one day and experience it at low tide and without cloudy and stormy skies. It is truly a beautiful and peaceful place!!!!
Written July 2, 2009
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Ambassador10164
Rochester, NY1 contribution
5.0 of 5 bubbles
If you go to Grand Bahama, you should not miss Gold Rock Beach, I was there last weekend, the beach is peaceful, very little people, miles of turquoise waters and white sand beach, the water is crystal clear, just marvelous. I hope you have a great time in the Bahamas, just don't leave without seeing this marvelous beach.
Written September 23, 2003
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Jet36087
Boston, MA4 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Gold Rock beach seriously had to be the most gorgeous beach I've ever seen.

It was peaceful, serene and almost deserted. The water was calm and clear almost all the way up to your waist. After that the different shades of torquoise waters were utterly amazing.

Bring your snorkel because we saw fish, coral and a HUGE starfish, just sitting at the bottom of the ocean.

Its a little hike to get there but believe me, its worth it.
Written June 17, 2004
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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Gold Rock Beach - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2025)

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