10 reasons to get back to brilliant Barbados – the world's newest republic
Flying on Concorde to Barbados felt a bit like riding in a vast super-charged sports car. It was all layered metallic whines and raw, tumultuous power – and thunderous speed, particularly at the “lurch” as the afterburners cut in. It’s a thrill the Queen herself experienced when she flew back on the aircraft after a visit to the island in 1977.
The supersonic jet had just a handful of scheduled routes, but such was the winter season clientele of Barbados that between 1985 and 2003 (when Concorde finally retired from the skies) it flew there each Saturday. On approach the aircraft would cruise down the glitzy west coast of the island and sunbathers would stand to applaud (Lord Marshall, BA’s chairman at the time, was reputed to salute). One of the aircraft remains on display at Grantley Adams International Airport on the island (although, in a sign of our times, the exhibition is currently closed because of Covid).
Barbados, long Britain’s favourite Caribbean destination, will be back with a bang this winter. Eighteen months of pent-up desire for a winter break in the tropics has burst like a watershed. Tour operators have been swept off their feet and the island, already busy, is sprucing itself up in anticipation.
Once, Barbados was known as Little England, or “Bimshire” (Bim being a nickname for the island), and even had a statue of Admiral Nelson in the island’s own Trafalgar Square in 1813, some 25 years before the one in London.
But things are changing. Nelson’s statue was removed back in November 2020 as a result of his opinions about the slave trade. And on Tuesday November 30, Barbados’s Independence Day, the country will finally make the change to a republic, 55 years to the day since it took its independence from the UK. In the presence of the Prince of Wales, the Queen will be replaced as head of state by a president.
Visitors from Britain, nearly a quarter of a million in 2019 (with a similar number again arriving by cruise ship), make up the island’s largest proportion of tourists (about a third), particularly at the high-spending top end. This loyal following is for a good reason. The island has a huge range of accommodation, headed by some of the region’s best-known hotels, such as Sandy Lane and Coral Reef Club, both of which sit serene in palladian coral-stone splendour on the west coast. It has some of the best restaurants in the south-eastern Caribbean, many now rising anew from the ashes of the pandemic – the Cliff has been rebuilt and Positano has revitalised the lovely site of the former Daphne’s.
And there’s more to keep you busy there than on any island of its size: Bajan gardens, public and private, are the finest in the region, bursting with tropical colours; tours range from visits to limestone caves to jungle hikes; and water activities from sunset cruises to scuba and full-on surfing.
So what makes Barbados unique? Ask locals from other Caribbean islands and they might murmur about a renowned Bajan self-esteem, while some refer to the island as “small, crowded and flat” – which in comparison to several others it is, although it’s a slightly hollow statement when faced with the geographical drama of the Atlantic coast from 600 or 700ft. But then there is an element of regional rivalry here.
Of course, relics of the past remain: Bajans play cricket with a passion; they have the world’s third oldest democratic parliamentary system (in the Westminster model) and share the English language (you can even hear West Country vowels in speech – Bristol was England’s second port in the early days of colonial rule).
The island’s 330-year history of colonisation included 200 years producing and exporting sugar, with all the pain and misery that entailed for enslaved people brought there against their will, and it supplied the coffee houses and taverns of Britain with hogsheads of brown sugar and casks of rum, before the product was superseded by beet sugar from Europe.
In the middle of the last century, tourism began, and here Barbados has a longer association with Britain than any island except Jamaica. Wealthy Britons began to escape the cold northern winters on planes that hopped around the Atlantic (BOAC first flew direct in 1968). They built hotels and homes. You can still stay in beautiful limestone villas created by Oliver Messel, the leading stage designer of his day.
The jet set appeared early on. The west coast of the island has seen a roster of big names – Joan Collins, Sidney Poitier and Omar Sharif visited. Mick Jagger escaped here; Oliver Reed tested the local rum shops. Jodie and Jemma Kidd come from Barbados. Simon Cowell owns an apartment there. The celebrities have given the island a shine of glamour, but for every famous visitor, Barbados has a hundred less-known but wealthy devotees.
In the 1980s, as elsewhere, a wave of mid-range hotels rose mainly along the south coast, giving the island greater depth of accommodation and a broader appeal.
Then in the 1990s, spurred by Bagatelle restaurant and La Cage aux Folles, an international gastronomic scene also took off. Peter “Huggie” Harris, originally from Guyana, has been the GM of the island’s most famous restaurant, the Cliff (now Quattro Passi at the Cliff), for most of its 24 years: “The hotels set the standard [...] and restaurateurs followed suit. It created a competition, to see who could out-do the last restaurant, producing the best food with the best wines. The quality went up and up.” At Lone Star and La Mer, reservations would chunter in by fax a year in advance.
Sources of supply improved out of all recognition and chefs were able to innovate. By the millennium, Bajan fishermen, armed with mobile phones, were calling in their catch in advance, enabling daily menus to be printed in good time. Add to this the sensational west-coast locations, with glorious sunsets, the sub-lit sea and inky night skies picked with stars and you had something spectacular. These days, where possible, there has also been a move towards a more “farm to table” approach, notably at PEG Farm café, but steadily seeping into restaurants such as La Luna at Little Arches Hotel on the south coast.
By 2000, tourism constituted a huge industry, as sports and excursions mushroomed. Gayle Talma, multi-property GM at the Elegant Hotels group, sees this continuing to develop: “The island has so much to offer: there’s a good mix of great hotels and local culture – the beaches and sports and restaurants, from simple rum shops to fine dining, in which visitors can immerse themselves.”
While offering significant employment, the island’s tourism industry has historically directed much of its profits overseas and emphasised international cuisine and decor above Bajan culture, but this too is changing. A new generation of hotel and hotelier is blazing a fresh trail that benefits both local people and the planet. See more on this here.
Though the republic will be new, the idea for it has been around since independence. While we had our waltz with the EEC, the EC and the EU, Barbados gradually grew away from the UK: the Queen’s head disappeared from stamps and bank notes, and for its final court of appeal Barbados looked beyond our Privy Council to the Caribbean Court of Justice. A republic was seriously considered in the 1990s: Trinidad and Tobago, and Dominica, had done it already.
“It’s gotta happen,” said a patron of John Moore’s Bar on the west coast. “The head of Barbados needs to be a Bajan.”
The current government, the Barbados Labour Party, led by prime minister Mia Mottley, has seized the moment and is pursuing a progressive agenda.
Perhaps more important than the titular change will be the island’s new constitution and form of government, to be voted on next year, probably.
Other proposed changes include the enabling of civil union (including legalising same-sex partnerships) and the decriminalisation of user quantities of marijuana. However, there are no plans to remove Barbados from the British Commonwealth.
There’s no telling how long it will be before technology enables an electric aircraft to fly as quickly as Concorde’s three-and-a-half-hour dash from London to Barbados, but one thing is for sure: when it finally does, it won’t be short of passengers.
The 10 best holidays in Barbados for 2022
1. Classic West Coast
The west coast of Barbados, the winter retreat of socialites and celebrities, gave itself the moniker the Platinum Coast. It is the site of the island’s top hotels, beach bars and restaurants, including the Cliff, the Tides and Lone Star.
How to do it: Elegant Resorts (01244 757639; elegantresorts.co.uk) have been arranging holidays in Barbados for 30 years. They offer seven nights in a garden room/cottage at Coral Reef Club from £2,365 per person; includes B&B, economy flights from London on Virgin Atlantic, private car transfers and UK lounge passes. Valid July 1-August 13 2022, book by February 28 2022. Read Telegraph Travel's full review here.
2. Romantic retreat
The most romantic spot on Barbados simply must be the veranda of a waterfront suite with a view through the casuarinas and palms onto the calm waters of the west coast… Do very little, undisturbed and in extreme comfort, with the west coast beaches and restaurants as backdrop.
How to do it: Cobblers Cove has two principal suites, upstairs in their waterfront Great House, where Caribtours (020 7751 0660; caribtours.co.uk) offers seven nights from £3,550 per person sharing the Camelot suite; includes breakfast, return scheduled flights, transfers and access to a UK airport lounge. Valid April 25-September 30 2022, book before February 28 2022. Read Telegraph Travel's full hotel review here.
3. High style
There are all-inclusives and there are all-inclusives: some offer just buffet meals and an open bar; others are stylish and include good quality food, wines and watersports. At the House, a hip enclave on the island’s west coast, lit at night by flaming torches, they include daily champagne for breakfast and an excellent Italian restaurant Positano.
How to do it: Tropic Breeze (01752 880880; tropicbreeze.co.uk) offers seven nights in a garden view junior suite, all-inclusive from £2,045 per person (based on two adults travelling); includes private transfers, Virgin economy flights from Heathrow. Based on travel in June 2022. Read Telegraph Travel's full hotel review here.
4. The serene south
It’s not just the west coast that offers romantic seclusion. The livelier south coast also has some lovely spots to hide away. Then you can emerge into the fray of beach bars, the restaurants along the boardwalk and the bars of St Lawrence Gap.
How to do it: Little Arches is a magical spot just beyond Oistins and above “Miami” beach. Tropical Sky (01342 395295; tropicalsky.co.uk) offers seven nights at Little Arches Boutique Hotel from £1,179 per person based on two adults sharing a standard garden room; includes B&B, flights from London Heathrow and transfers. Available in May, June and September 2022. Read Telegraph Travel's full hotel review here.
5. East Coast escape
The undeveloped eastern, Atlantic side of Barbados, where Bajan families escaped a century ago, is getting its cool vibe again. Inland there are hikes and gardens to visit, and on the dramatic shoreline, battered by ocean rollers (there’s full-on surfing at Bathsheba), there are bars and restaurants to hang out in. The Atlantis, with its dramatic, cliff-side setting, has been stylishly restored.
How to do it: Tropic Breeze (01752 880880; tropicbreeze.co.uk) offers an “East Meets West” package, with three nights at Atlantis Historic Inn in a one-bedroom, coastal-view room and four nights at Little Good Harbour in a one-bedroom garden suite, from £2,120 per person (based on two adults travelling); includes half board, economy flights from Heathrow on Virgin Atlantic and private transfers (plus the transfer between hotels). Read Telegraph Travel's full hotel review here.
6. Villa life
Barbados regulars have been coming to the west coast villas since the 1960s. Villas offer more privacy and don’t have the constraints and meal times of hotels. They can turn out less expensive, too. Many villas have a pool and staff, some with a butler, and can provide children’s equipment and babysitting.
How to do it: Prestbury Worldwide Resorts (01625 858158; prestburyworldwideresorts.co.uk) offer seven nights in the four-bedroom Villa Alila on the Sandy Lane estate from £13,400 (£1,675 per person travelling in a party of eight): includes cook and maid/laundress, return economy flights from Heathrow on Virgin Atlantic, VIP arrival at the airport and private transfers. Mid-April to mid-December 2022.
7. Independent living
The south coast has a different character from the west – it’s lower key, less expensive and, well, a bit more fun… St Lawrence Gap, heaving after dark, is its centre, but there are beach bars, restaurants and bars all along the stretch. So if you expect to spend your days out, eat out and then spend nights out, try an apartment.
How to do it: James Villa Holidays (0800 074 0122; jamesvillas.co.uk) offers seven nights in a two-bedroom apartment in Oistins Bay View Apartments from £1,599 travelling as a party of four (£399 per person). Includes villa rental only (not flights or transfers).
8. Golfing greats
Barbados has six golf courses – from Sandy Lane’s lovely, mahogany-lined Old Nine to the wide coastal views of Royal Westmoreland. Most courses are attached to hotels or real estate developments, which means preferential tee times and free rounds for long stays. Non-golfers can exchange rounds for spa treatments.
How to do it: Island Golf Holidays (01655 887087; islandgolfholidays.com) offers a Golfer & Non Golfer package with an 11-night stay at Sandy Lane Hotel for £7,995 per person; includes B&B, dinner, Club World flights from Heathrow and luxury transfers. Golf includes six rounds at the Country Club and one on the Green Monkey, limitless on the Old Nine, with GPS buggy and caddy (tips not included). Read Telegraph Travel's full hotel review here.
9. Family fun
Children are welcomed in Barbados and the island is well geared to families, in hotels, independent accommodation and sights. Hotels in all price brackets have children’s clubs, menus and equipment. Almost all can offer high chairs and buckets and spades, and all will arrange babysitting.
How to do it: Take the Family (020 3633 0653; takethefamily.com) offers seven nights for two adults and two children (11 and under) sharing a junior suite, all-inclusive, at Turtle Beach Hotel on the south coast, for £1,079 per person; includes direct flights from Heathrow, transfers and a complimentary children’s club for three-12 years with full activity programme. Read Telegraph Travel's full hotel review here.
10. Just the cricket
The England cricket team will be visiting Barbados in the second half of January for five T20 matches and from March 16-20 for the second Test in the three test series.
How to do it: Elite Sports Travel (01920 330750; elitesportstravel.co.uk) can offer a 10-night stay for the T20 series from January 21-31, staying all-inclusive at Barbados Beach Club for £3,995 per person sharing a room (single supplement); includes return economy flights from London or Manchester with Virgin Atlantic, hotel transfers, official guaranteed tickets in premium seats to all five T20 matches and match-day transfers.
For more recommendations, see Telegraph Travel's complete guide to the best hotels in Barbados.
