Nassau hotels – recommendations?

[pbcold]

Having booked some flights yesterday, I am now looking for hotels in Nassau. Ideally, I would like somewhere cheap and cheerful for the first and last nights and somewhere luxurious for the 5 nights in between. Any thoughts would be much appreciated, thank you.

[redlilly]

Hi – OH and I went for 10 days in February this year and had a fab time. We stayed for 5 days in New Providence and then 5 days in a tiny hotel on Cat Island.

In terms of Nassau/New Providence, we stayed at The Island House. I actually did a pretty detailed review of it on tripadvisor. My review is still quite high up on the platform (I.e. one of the more recent), and I gave it 4 stars. My tripadvisor username is lillywr.

We are not in to AI, or resorts as a general rule (hence the trip to the very quiet Cat Island). Island House had its perks (“remote” location on Island, away from the resorts, peaceful and access to the Old Fort Bay Beach Club), but likewise there were some cons.

Overall would however recommend. I would say it is up there in luxury, but you might want something higher. Depends what your needs are (I.e. AI or not, independent hotel etc?!)

[NorthernLass]

There is a HI and a Courtyard in Nassau itself, and whatever the Hilton is being re-branded as. I noticed Breezes on Cable Beach has some hefty discounts at the moment if you did fancy AI. Years ago we stayed at the Radisson which was very nice, though I think it’s now a Melia. The new Baja Mar (?) looked impressive from the glimpse we caught on the tarmac en route from GCM last month. (Think Rhys might have been there, or was that Atlantis?)

@redlilly, how did you find inter-island travel? I am hoping to go to Bimini next year as my OH wants to do the shark diving and looking at options either via the US or from NAS. Both seem complicated/expensive or both though!

[redlilly]

Yes – Inter Island travel is a nightmare, especially if arriving in the afternoon from London on the direct flights. Travelling between the islands (not including New Providence) is bordering on impossible unless you’re a millionaire/are a big group.

We arranged the flights from Nassau through our Cat Island hotel. It was on a tiny (6 seater including pilot) propeller aeroplane, which left from the smaller “airport” (loose description, as a normal sized Bus Station is bigger) next to NAS, and arrived on to an airstrip with nothing more than a boarded up shed. It was expensive, at $400 return each. The airline was called BAM. They don’t have a website, only an email address: bamscharter@gmail.com

It was all done via word of mouth, I.e. no tickets, or passports etc. needed to be shown at the “airports”. One of those great travel experiences that I absolutely live for. OH less so!

One way to overcome it is to just fly via MIA or FLL, but that’s painful. I am not sure on Bimini. As it is much closer to the USA, it doesnt surprise me that it re routes you that way. Shark diving sounds great!

Otherwise, there are a few companies I came across after a lot of research, who you could approach:

Stellar Maris Air: stellamarisresortairservice@gmail.com
Someone called Marty Fox at: flyislandwings@gmail.com
Westin Air (have a website)
Gull Air
Bahama Hoppers
Dove Wings

I also know that Air Caraibes (French carrier) did fly from Paris to San Salvador in Bahamas pre covid. Not sure if the flights are back on their schedule yet. Again, not sure on connections from San Salvador up.

Love the Bahamas outer islands and cannot wait to go back sometime.

[NorthernLass]

Thanks – there’s company called Western Air which flies from NAS to various other islands, including Bimini and Cat Island but I need to do a bit more research as their website looks like a child designed it!

[pbcold]

Thanks so much for invaluable contributions.

[NorthernLass]

And thank you, @pbcold, re Venice. It’s all very Bond 😂

[iamlost]

For cheap and cheerful, I’m spending a few nights in Baha Mar next April. The ‘super resort’ is only 15 mins from the airport and has Grand Hyatt, SLS and Rosewood hotels (I got a cheap corporate rate at the Hyatt). It looks good enough for a short stay.

[SteveJ]

iamlost wrote:

For cheap and cheerful, I’m spending a few nights in Baha Mar next April. The ‘super resort’ is only 15 mins from the airport and has Grand Hyatt, SLS and Rosewood hotels (I got a cheap corporate rate at the Hyatt). It looks good enough for a short stay.

Wouldn’t have put those brands and baha mar into the cheap and cheerful category! Are you one of Rob’s billionaire banker readers?

[redlilly]

NorthernLass wrote:

Thanks – there’s company called Western Air which flies from NAS to various other islands, including Bimini and Cat Island but I need to do a bit more research as their website looks like a child designed it!

I know the one! Complete nightmare of a website to navigate… I think the timetables were updated in the 2010’s if I remember correctly! They fly on alternate days, or at least did when we were on Cat Island.

There is of course Bahamasair, but it doesn’t fly to a lot of the smaller islands, which would be useful.

[pbcold]

@redlilly I read your comments on TA and have booked The Island House. Thank you.

[pbcold]

@redlilly I read your comments on TA and have booked The Island House. Thank you.

NorthernLass wrote:

And thank you, @pbcold, re Venice. It’s all very Bond 😂

My pleasure. Another little tip is the you should go to the roof of the shopping mall by Rialto Bridge for the most stunning view of Venice. Stunning photo opportunities.

[redlilly]

pbcold wrote:

@redlilly I read your comments on TA and have booked The Island House. Thank you.

That’s great! Enjoy the hotel. Make sure you book dinner at the Old Fort Bay Club for one evening. It was smashing.

If you do ever make it in to Nassau, Cafe Mattisse was also great. We went there for lunch on our last day just before heading to the airport. Ask for a table outside in the back. We also went to Social House Sushi and Grill after a snorkeling trip, which was great for a Japanese fix, and La Caverna for an Italian fix from 2 Argentinians living on the island. The OH loved La Caverna so we went twice, once for lunch and once for dinner.

The food at the hotel restaurants was great too. Enjoy.

[pbcold]

Wonderful ideas, thank you.

[iamlost]

SteveJ wrote:

Wouldn’t have put those brands and baha mar into the cheap and cheerful category! Are you one of Rob’s billionaire banker readers?

Ha it’s all relative. The corporate rate I got there for April is $239 a night. I call this cheap and cheerful compared to the cash rates at my Key West and Miami hotels of $1000 and $600 a night respectively (if I wasn’t staying there on points…)

[NorthernLass]

@redlilly, I will steal your restaurant recommendations as we plan to have a week on New Providence after the shark excursion. La Caverna sounds right up our street! We were last there for any length of time in 1998 so I imagine it’s changed a bit.

What’s the best way to be able to access these pages once they disappear from sight? Email a link to yourself?

[redlilly]

NorthernLass wrote:

@redlilly, I will steal your restaurant recommendations as we plan to have a week on New Providence after the shark excursion. La Caverna sounds right up our street! We were last there for any length of time in 1998 so I imagine it’s changed a bit.

What’s the best way to be able to access these pages once they disappear from sight? Email a link to yourself?

Great! The guys at La Caverna were super lovely!

I normally bookmark all my restaurant and place recommendations on Google maps… its a good way to see them when you’re out and about. You just do this by pressing on the restaurant/place name and “save” on your phone. You can even put them in categories. I have a sea of them for London!

Otherwise, if you don’t like this way, you can also bookmark this thread in your favourites on your search engine to come back to in the future.