How To Have The Most Luxurious Holiday In Barbados

If you’re looking for a truly opulent break, the best place to head is Barbados. The eastern Caribbean island is a beautiful, secluded spot to spend your holiday. From village cricket greens to wild sea-battered coasts, sweet rum cocktails to fields of sugar cane, it’s the ideal place to rediscover your inner peace.

We’ve teamed up with Sandals to show you just how easy it can be to experience pure tranquillity at the Sandals Royal Barbados Resort in St Lawrence Gap, Barbados. Read on to discover more.

You can’t go to Barbados without trying the island’s national dish, cou cou and flying fish. Succulent flying fish is cooked with a little salt and pepper and then either fried or steamed with sliced onions and cherry tomatoes, and served with cou cou, a combination of cornmeal and okra. Another classic dish is pudding and souse. The pudding is sweet potatoes mixed with onions and seasoning, stuffed into a clean pig intestine and tied up before being cooked in boiling water. Souse is pickled pig feet, snout and ears. If that isn’t quite up your street, the waters around the island are teeming with lobsters, crabs, tuna and other fish, so prepare yourself for a seafood feast.

Perhaps most importantly, you must try Barbados Rum Punch while on the island. The recipe is a ditty, which you might forget after a few glasses: one of sour, two of sweet, three of strong and four of weak.

Sandals Royal Barbados has six restaurants, so you’ll be spoiled for choice and are sure to find your perfect dish there. On top of that, you’ll also have access to the 11 additional restaurants at the neighbouring Sandals Barbados resort.

Barbados is famous for its beaches, and for good reason. They are the platonic ideal; the beaches you see when you close your eyes and dream of soft white sand, blue sky, dozing lovers and gently swaying palm trees. You can live out your beach fantasies here, whether they involve sleeping, swimming or sailing.

You can swim with turtles, explore deserted coves and surf to your heart’s content. All water sports are included in the cost of staying at Sandals Royal Barbados Resort, and you can even take part in the brief introductory PADI Resort Certification programme for a nominal fee, which gives you the chance to scuba dive that same day. For divers that are already certified, Sandals offers guests up to two free dives per day throughout their stay.

To up the luxury factor, head to the spa afterwards to rinse off the sand. The spa at the Sandals Royal Barbados Resort will help you to drift off into a place of complete relaxation. From massage to facials, they’ll make sure that you glow when you head to dinner that night.

When you’re tired of having an amazing time lazing around doing nothing, you’ve got plenty of luxurious activities to choose from around the island. Visit St Nicholas Abbey in Central Barbados, one of the oldest plantation houses on the island, to discover the history of Barbados and sample one (or all!) of the four rums the house produces.

It’s definitely worth trekking to Animal Flower Cave in St Lucy Parish to see its natural coral floor, floating sea anemones and naturally formed rock pools. The Flower Forest, a 53-acre botanical garden, is also worth a trip. You’ll get to see the island’s beautiful flora and fauna in a meticulously crafted fashion.

The Sandals Royal Barbados Resort also has plenty of activities to keep you entertained on site, and it’s all included in the price! Choose from the selection of gorgeous swimming pools, a four-lane bowling alley and enough entertainment to shake a glass of rum punch at, from live shows to cocktail parties.
Heading to Barbados on your honeymoon? Discover our guide to the most romantic resorts in the country and book now on Culture Trip.