DESTINATIONS BARBADOS | RESTARTING TRAVEL
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Travel to Barbados is back on, so what’s it like on the island right now? Tina Walsh reports
ince Barbados was moved to the green watchlist on June 30, bookings to the Caribbean island have surged – Virgin
Atlantic has reported a 300% increase – with visitors seemingly prepared to overlook form-filling and PCR testing for some yearned-for time in the sun. On my visit in early July, signs of normal life were
starting to show. Many of the bars and restaurants in tourist hotspot St Lawrence Gap on the south coast looked full (with most doing temperature checks), and there were at least three honeymooning couples from the UK in my hotel.
HOUSE RULES The entry process is pretty simple, if slightly time-consuming. I had to fill out a customs and immigration form, upload a negative PCR test and my vaccination certificate and download the Bim Safe App (
bimsafe.gov.bb), which links all the details. You then have to take another PCR test (costs vary) on arrival in Barbados and stay in government-certified accommodation until the results arrive, usually within 24 hours. Unvaccinated travellers have to quarantine for five days in an approved hotel or villa. Once you’ve been given the all-clear, you’re free to
enjoy all that this most ‘British’ of Caribbean islands – English settlers first arrived here in 1620 – has to offer, from its miles of golden sandy beaches to its wide range of accommodation and famed friendliness.
EXPLORING BRIDGETOWN “I’d normally be handing out my Bajan treats but we have to make sure everyone’s safe and we comply with the rules,” says our guide Dawn-Lisa, as she takes us on a walking tour of Bridgetown, the vibrant capital of Barbados.
A Unesco World Heritage Site, the port town has the beautiful beaches of Carlisle Bay on its doorstep and is known for its British colonial architecture, 17th-century garrison and horse-racing track. “We’re obviously very happy to see tourists returning, but it has to be a balanced reopening,
whether that’s fewer cruise ships or visitors wearing masks in public and using hand sanitiser,” she says.
ON THE WATER
On a speedboat ride along the west coast’s calm turquoise waters, our skipper Pompidou, from Yellowfin Watersports, points out five-star hotels (Sandy Lane and The Sandpiper are arguably the swankiest) and
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BARBADOS
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