Long Weekend in Bermuda

In recent years, Bermuda has become the go-to babymoon capital for east coasters! It’s just a quick hop and a skip away (2-hour flight) from Boston, and even though it’s an island with white sandy beaches, it’s located well north of the Caribbean with no known risk of Zika. This was our first trip there, so I wanted to share some highlights from our short visit and also some things I wish we knew beforehand!

Getting Around on the Island

There were so many little areas that we wanted to explore, like various beaches, caves, and other sights, but we didn’t plan ahead in terms of transportation. The island is small (~1 hour drive from end to end) but the attractions and major towns are fairly spread out. If you’re a “sit on a beach all day with book & drink in hand” type of traveler, then this is no issue! But if you want to hit up several attractions around the island, then I recommend renting a means of transit for a day of exploring. Visitors cannot rent a regular car in Bermuda, so the choices for getting around are taxis (pricey due to gas being over $8 / gallon), public bus, ferry, or scooter / electric minicar rentals. We would’ve loved to rent a minicar, but they were fully booked for a month out!

Attractions

Some of the top spots everyone kept recommending to us include Jobson’s Cove Beach, Turtle Bay at Clearwater Beach, the Crystal & Fantasy caves (admission starts at $22 per adult), Aquarium & Zoo, and the Naval Dockyard. We didn’t make it to any of those, but did get to explore Admiralty House Park in Hamilton (a short $10 cab ride from our hotel), and thought it was a GEM! Almost all the locals we spoke to during our visit had fond memories of going to Admiralty with their families / friends and cliff jumping. There were cliffs of various heights for thrill-seekers, a shallow calm bay area where kids were swimming, and several caves to explore with striking vignettes like this one below. Note there are only a few port-a-potties there in terms of “facilities.”

Lodging

We stayed at the Hamilton Princess on a press visit – thank you to the hotel for providing accommodations over the weekend. It’s located right in Hamilton (Bermuda’s capital) on the harbor, and within a 10-minute walk of the ferry, several restaurants, and some shops. The hotel has two pools on-premise and also a private beach club 20 minutes away (via a complimentary shuttle), so I’d recommend staying there if you want to have access to town and some nightlife options, and also a beach!

Note most restaurants in Hamilton (especially by the waterfront) were pretty pricey. We ended up eating at our hotel twice on the harbor, and walked into town once for some yummy Indian food at Ruby Murrys (note this restaurant is pretty dark inside, ambiance-wise).

The hotel’s beach club is about 10 minutes down the road from the island’s most popular attraction, Horseshoe beach – it looked very busy when we drove by in the shuttle, so we didn’t head over. While at the beach club, we did follow some other guests on a walk along a little path (that goes behind the row of cabanas for rent) and found this spectacular view from above!

Those of you who’ve visited Bermuda, what areyour favorite beaches, restaurants, or hidden gems?