For those of you who have been to Bermuda, please tell me your experience. Where did you stay? Great things to see and do, places to eat?
The Reefs, most recently. It was great.
I haven’t been in last few years, but used to go there few times a year because it was so close. I used to like to stay at (Fairmont) Southampton Princess. One of my favorite restaurants is the Waterlot Inn, which is part of the Princess’ fine dining. There is the Hamilton Princess, which is a sister hotel and is in the town of Hamilton. I used to take the hotel’s private, free ferry between those 2 hotels. It was an easy way to get to Hamilton without taking a long bus ride or expensive taxi. The rooms in Southampton were very big/airy, and rooms in Hamilton were more colonial. The Princess also had its own private beach, and a 9 hole golf course.
A fun afternoon for me was to take a ferry ride around the island. It was inexpensive and good way to do sightseeing. Taxi was very expensive. Even though the island wasn’t that big, but the roads were winding, so it would take longer than expected to get any where.
You won’t be able to rent a car there, so you will need to rely on public transportation or cabs to get anywhere that is not near your hotel. We actually rented a couple of Vespas one day (a kid on each back of us) and went exploring. It was a lot of fun. We stayed at the Grotto Hill Beach Resort which was out closer to the airport and the couple of times we went into Hamilton, we just took a cab or the bus. Mostly we just wanted a resort to hang out at that wasn’t near a lot of busy attractions and tourists. We were actually there over a Thanksgiving holiday, and they prepared a very nice U.S.-style Thanksgiving dinner, which was great, and they had the place already decked out for Christmas and it was beautiful. But mostly, we just wanted a place to hang out at the beach/pool, and this fit the bill.
I think we stayed at Grotto Hill (Bay?) too. Is that the one with the caves on the grounds? That was fun, though the water is cold in the caves so we were glad to have wet suits. Also liked the Rum Swizzles.
My parents also used to stay at the Fairmont Southampton Princess. I’ve been there only as a cruise port stop. The beaches in Bermuda are G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S. PINK sand beaches and oh so soft! We also got to see where Michael Douglas & Catherine Zeta Jones had their home. (I think they’ve sold it since) The Pink sand beaches were my absolute favorite thing on the island.
@LBowie - yes, that’s the place that has the caves. My kids went in, but I didn’t… too cold for me!
Bermuda is not the most exciting place in the world. I used to find it relaxing to go for a long weekend. I would go to the old town, have lunch, hang out in Hamilton for a day, and be back at the resort for dinner.
I used to chat up the taxi drivers, so I found out few interesting things about the island. Each household could have only one car, and everyone knew what kind of car people had. When we drove around the island we would see our driver honking and waving at everyone. We were told it would be hard to have an affair because people would get suspicious if an unknown car was parked at someone’s driveway.
My H is from Bermuda and we still have family there. It is not an exciting place to visit and I agree it is more of a relaxing vacation. As far as hotels go Cambridge Beaches is amazing. We have family with boats so when we visit the island we go out and raft up with other boats and enjoy the water and our friend’s private island.
You will have to take taxis, rent mopeds or take the bus or ferry to get around. The island is beautiful. Visit the forts, the perfume factory and dockyard.
I have stayed in town at the Princess, it is a nice location to the city etc. But I loved staying off the path in Salt Kettle. A nice little place called Greenbank. Totally different experiences, easy on the pocket and simple access to ferry. I’m not a beach person typically, but fell in love with Horseshoe area. I would like to stay in St Georges…but that one hasn’t happened yet
Another vote for The Reefs. My husband and I honeymooned there back in 1985 and returned for our 25th anniversary. Lovely and wonderful food.