Our first trip to Barbados was in September 1979! We stayed in a self-catering apartment at the Silver Sands Hotel for 3 weeks at the tail end of the hurricane season - and it was fantastic!
We recently returned for a couple of weeks self-catering in an apartment near Hastings and, guess what - it was fantastic!
The essence of Barbados hasn't changed. It remains totally laid back yet modern. Everyone has smartphones and multiple TV channels but the traffic has increased by about 1000% and some of the vehicles wouldn't pass an MOT, even with a hefty bribe. Very few roads have unbroken surfaces, there are meaningless signposts and the road maps are not exactly accurate. Advice: just chill. The west coast area is mostly navigable but don't expect an easy journey inland or towards the east coast. After realising that we'd driven through the same village a couple of times, we gave up.
We failed to find Eddy Grant's place but succeeded in finding the underground water caves (well worth it) and the nearby gully/nature walk that Ainsley Harriott likes.
There are monkeys that occasionally roam around and we were lucky enough to witness a baby turtle rescue operation. Turtles from newly hatched eggs are collected for their own safety and released in a safer environment where there are fewer predators. This was amazing as, a few years ago in Tobago, we had witnessed a giant turtle burying her eggs on the beach.
Shopping in Barbados isn't cheap and eating out costs more than our local pub in the UK (there's a price to pay for a fabulous setting). However, everyone we met was friendly and polite, crime rates are fairly low and we had a fantastic time.
Our favourite thing to do was to walk along the boardwalk at the edge of the beach, starting just before sunset. Wow!
