Incentive winners trip to Barbados
On our arrival in Barbados we were met by the tail end of Hurricane Maria so the first 24 hours was overcast and rainy but hot and humid with temperatures of approximately 30C).
We were guests of Elegant Hotels and the Barbados Tourist Office. We stayed at the Tamarind on St James Beach. We were made very welcome by the management team. The room was a junior suite with a pool/ocean view and it was a good size with a large balcony. The beds were very comfortable. The other room types are standard rooms and one bedroom suites with 104 rooms in total. There is also a children's club.
The hotel is right on the beach and there are free non-motorised watersports, standard at all the Elegant Hotel properties. There is also a lovely spa where I had a back, neck and shoulder massage and a facial, the therapists were excellent.
The food was excellent and the breakfast buffet had wide selection of hot and cold options, with a choice of freshly cooked egg options - omelettes, poached, fried eggs. There was music most evenings and a weekly manager's cocktail party and barbecue. The grounds are spacious with plenty of sunbeds.
We visited other hotels in the Elegant Hotels chain. I was particularly impressed with The Colony Club, again situated on the beach at St James. This is a very elegant hotel that was once a colonial property and that is reflected in the decor. There are 96 rooms consisting of garden, pool or ocean view rooms, junior suites and four, one bedroom suites. We did a yoga class at the hotel and had a delicious lunch in lovely surroundings.
The next hotel we visited was the Crystal Cove, an all inclusive property on St James Beach. This has 88 rooms with 3 lagoon type pools. One has a swim up to bar and cave bar. The property is on a hill so it would not be suitable for people with walking difficulties. It is an ideal family property and has a children’s club. We had a very good lunch at this property.
The other all inclusive property we visited was Turtle Beach at Saint Lawrence Gap to the south of the island. This is a spacious property with 88 rooms consisting of junior suites and one bedroom suites. The facilities are very good and as well as a children's club there are tennis courts and watersports. We ate dinner in the Asiagos Italian Restaurant and the food and service was superb. This is a very good family property.
The final property we visited was The House, a beautiful boutique property on St James Beach, adjacent to the Tamarind. This would be ideal for a honeymoon. There are 34 junior suites and one bedroom suites with both ocean view and garden view options. Some of the garden view ones have a plunge pool. The decor is beautiful! There are two restaurants, one of which is the famous Daphne's, where we had an excellent three course dinner in beautiful surroundings by the beach. There are complementary champagne breakfast, afternoon tea and evening canapes. This is an adult only hotel, which shares the spa with the Tamarind Hotel.
During our stay we had a day on a catamaran which sailed up the west coast. Unlimited alcoholic and soft drinks plus a tasty lunch were included and there were 2 snorkelling stops to see the turtles. All in all it was an excellent day out. We also had a day on an island safari which took us on the Atlantic side of the island. Our driver was very informative and gave us lots of information about the island. We stopped at an old plantation house for lunch. This was a fantastic day but the lunch was very disappointing.
Our final day was de Action Beach House, a colourfully painted building on the south of the island. Here, Brian Talma, a windsurfing champion gives lessons in windsurfing, kitesurfing and body boarding. We were provided with a tasty barbecue lunch. The facilities are limited here as there were only a couple of sunbeds and very little shade but it is an ideal location for surfing activities and it is only about a 15 minute drive from Turtle Beach.
Another venue worth visiting is Ostins fish market for a seafood meal in a local atmosphere.
Barbados is an ideal destination for everyone.