Barbados cruise port: what to do in 6 hours
Your ship is in port for 6 hours or so? Once you subtract getting off, the way back and a margin before all aboard, you have roughly 4 to 5 hours to enjoy. This is what a 6-hour stop makes possible.
Best use of 6 hours
- Harrison's Cave (3.5 h, 30 min away): An electric tram takes you through a limestone cave with stalactites, streams and pools in the middle of the island. Often combined with a short island tour.
- Catamaran with turtles and shipwrecks (4 h, 10 min away): Sail along the west coast to swim with green and hawksbill turtles, then snorkel over the shallow wrecks in Carlisle Bay. Lunch and drinks are usually included. The most popular excursion in Barbados.
- Crane Beach (4 h, 35 min away): A cove of pink-tinted sand below cliffs on the south-east coast, with real Atlantic waves. Strong swimmers will enjoy it; families are better off at Carlisle Bay.
- St. Nicholas Abbey (4.5 h, 45 min away): A 17th-century plantation house in the north with its own rum distillery and a heritage steam railway up to the view at Cherry Tree Hill. Far from the port; best on a guided tour or with a taxi that waits.
- Bathsheba and the east coast (5 h, 45 min away): Huge rock formations in the surf, fishing villages and wide views over the Atlantic. Swimming is dangerous here because of the currents; Andromeda Botanic Gardens is on the hill just above.
Also fits, with time to spare
Historic Bridgetown (2 h), Mount Gay rum tasting (2 h), George Washington House and the Garrison (2 h), Carlisle Bay beaches (3 h). You could combine two of these.