Bahamas

⚠️ Entry rules and local regulations change without notice. Before booking, check entry requirements and local rules — visas, access, nature reserves, visitor quotas — with the official authorities.

The Bahamas is an archipelago of 700 islands and islets in the North Atlantic Ocean, north-east of the Caribbean. With its crystal-clear turquoise waters, white-sand beaches and coral reef, the archipelago is one of the most popular destinations in the Caribbean. Nassau, the capital, and the Out Islands offer a complete change of scenery between diving, sailing and pure relaxation.

Seven hundred islands, thirty inhabited

The archipelago stretches more than a thousand kilometres off Florida, but only around thirty islands are inhabited. New Providence holds most of the population, with Nassau and Paradise Island; Grand Bahama and Freeport form the second centre. Everything else is the Out Islands, which Bahamians call the Family Islands — and that is where the country you came looking for actually is.

Each has its speciality: the Exumas and their swimming pigs at Big Major Cay, Harbour Island and its pink sand, Andros and its barrier reef — the third largest in the world — pierced with blue holes, Long Island and Dean's Blue Hole, one of the deepest on the planet, the Abacos for sailing, Bimini for big-game fishing.

Nassau (NAS) is the gateway, usually via the United States or London. Between islands you travel by light aircraft or fast ferry, rarely in a single day: the distances deceive. On the ground, driving is on the left, a British legacy, and the Bahamian dollar is pegged to the US dollar, both accepted interchangeably.

The dry season and the hurricane season

The good stretch runs from December to April: dry air, 25 °C, a calm sea — also the most expensive, and Nassau fills with cruise passengers. From June to November comes hurricane season, sharply peaking between August and October; prices collapse, but you accept the risk and take cancellation insurance. May and early June offer the best compromise: warmth, water at 27 °C and prices still reasonable.

Conch, Junkanoo and what lies underwater

The cooking turns around conch, the big shellfish served raw as a salad with lime or fried in fritters, and often ends on a rum cake. Twice a year, on 26 December and 1 January, Junkanoo takes to the streets of Nassau: crêpe-paper costumes, goatskin drums and cowbells, from before dawn until morning.

Underwater, the Bahamas play in another league: the reefs of Andros, wrecks, caves — including Thunderball Grotto in the Exumas, a James Bond set — and supervised shark dives off Grand Bahama. On budget, Nassau and Paradise Island are expensive; guesthouses on the Out Islands stay markedly more affordable, provided you accept an island pace and few shops.

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