These attractions include Harrison’s Cave with its crystallised formations viewable from an electric tram, Flower Forest Botanical Garden with its lovely trail of colourful plants and trees and its café serving flying-fish sandwiches and home-made punch, submarine tours to see a shipwreck, and catamaran cruises including snorkelling, swimming near hawksbill, leatherback and green turtles, and scuba diving. Meanwhile, Friday nights see the laidback weekly Oistin’s Fish Fry, one of the best places in Barbados to try local cuisine – seafood cooked at stalls in front of you – to a soundtrack of Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican ska and calypso.

We’ve looked at some of our favourite family-friendly resorts in Barbados, both part of the iconic, long-standing Elegant Hotels group.

Turtle Beach by Elegant Hotels

This all-suite all-inclusive resort has direct access to a half-kilometre of stunning white-sand beach – one where you might be lucky enough to see sea turtles nesting their eggs, and where you can also enjoy boogie boarding, kayaking and Hobie cats as part of your package. There’s another kids’ club for ages 3–12 years, with outdoor fun on the sand, plus all sorts of fun experiences for all ages, including beach cricket, pastry-making demonstrations, dominoes contests, Calypso dance lessons and island tours.

Turtle Beach is in a plum position on the island’s lively south coast, less than a 10-minute walk from lively St Lawrence Gap and just 20 minutes from Bridgetown, the fascinating Bajan capital. Rooms here – some on the beachfront – are fresh, airy and bright; all have sofa-beds, and some have one bedroom for additional space. As at the Tamarind, you have the option of dining around at select sister hotels, or there’s the open-air Chelonia serving global cuisine at breakfast, lunch and dinner, The Waterfront Café for light snacks, lunch and dinner, and, with older kids aged 12 and up, the authentic Italian-style Asiagos in the evenings.