Areas of Barbados...
Destination guide

The capital of Barbados is a busy commercial city set on Carlisle Bay, the island's only natural harbor. It's short on must-see sights but certainly worth sauntering around for half a day. It's an architectural hodgepodge of modern and colonial, with side streets leading off into residential neighborhoods sprinkled with rum shops and chattel houses. True to the island's British heritage, there are monumental obelisks, gothic parliament buildings, and a large Anglican cathedral. More surprising perhaps is Bridgetown's distinctive 19th-century synagogue; the first synagogue on this site was built in the 1600s, when Barbados had a Jewish population of more than 300.

Bridgetown's outdoor attractions include the Careenage, a finger-like inlet lined with recreational boats that cuts into the heart of the city; and Queen's Park, which has good picnicking lawns and a huge old baodab tree for shade. Military history buffs should head to the Barbados Garrison, the 17th-century base of the British Windward and Leeward Island Command.  It has a Museum, fortifications, brigs and cannons a-plenty.  The Barbados Museum has engaging exhibits, and for a quick immersion in the island's history you couldn't do better than to spend an hour or two here.

Holetown

It's the oldest town in Barbados, but you'd hardly know it from its modern appearance. Founded in the 1620s, Holetown is now a major cog in the island's tourism machine. You can absorb some of the town's history at St James Church, a 19th-century structure that still has traces of its 17th-century past, including a bell inscribed with the name of King William. The monument in front of the public library commemorates the arrival of the pioneers in the 17 th century; some of them are buried in the graveyard at St James Church, just north of Holetown. Folkestone Park fronts a narrow beach where you can picnic, snorkel (there's a sunken barge nearby) when the water is calm or surf when the waves are up. There's a marine museum in the park with exhibits on fishing and boat building.

St Peters

In St Peters, Mullins Bay stretches out in all its splendour, edged by soft, white sand of Gibbes Beach where you will see visitors and locals enjoying all types of water sports.

The South Coast

The south coast around Christ Church is livelier compared to the west coast, from the Garrison to Oistins, shopping malls, hotels and restaurants all running parallel with the sea.