TRAVEL POINTERS Flying time from London to Barbados is about 8 hours . British Airways has direct flights from London Gatwick to Barbados daily , offering World Traveller , World Traveller Plus , Club World and First . Virgin Atlantic has direct flights from London Gatwick to Barbados daily , offering Economy , Premium Economy and Upper Class .
TWO-CENTRE RECOMMENDATIONS Grenada , Antigua , Grenadines , Tobago .
LOCAL HIGHLIGHTS Fish dishes including flying fish , dolphin fish and kingfish . Banks beer and Mountgay rum . Eating out - Barbados has numerous restaurants of a very high quality , many of them along the west coast , including The Cliff and Carambola . Mullins beach bar south of Speightstown . Bathsheba and the east coast with its miles of sandy beaches and ocean surf . Barclays Park beach and beach bar on the east coast north of Bathsheba . The brilliance of the orangered flamboyant trees in summer and the dark red of the poinsettias in winter . Fruit stalls for pineapples , coconuts and bananas by the road side . Local cricket matches on pitches surrounded by palm tree-clad hills . Deep sided lanes between the sugar cane fields with glimpses of gracious plantation houses here and there . Wooden houses of shocking pinks , mauves , blues and yellows . ‘ British ’ post boxes , road signs and bus stops . Plenty of sports available to play and watch ; golf , horseracing , cricket , riding , polo , walking , tennis . Early in the morning it ’ s as if the whole nation is out jogging . Cropover festival in August .
GETTING OUT AND ABOUT For short distances or dining out , use a taxi . It ’ s well worth hiring a car for most or at least part of your stay to have the flexibility and independence . The quality of the roads is fine , bar a few potholes in the country and confusing road signs ( be prepared to get lost , keep your petrol tank topped up and just keep asking the way ). Barbados is very well developed for places of interest and houses , plantations , mills , gardens and parks . For architectural interest visit
13
St Nicholas Abbey , Drax Hall and Francia . For exotic gardens visit Andromeda and the Flower Forest . If you want to get away slightly from the main tourist areas , travel into Scotland north of Speightstown . A drive across the interior provides beautiful scenery , with valleys and gulleys and ridges , acres of sugar cane fields and the grey-green leaves of palm trees rustling in the breeze .
FACTUAL INFORMATION Capital : Bridgetown . Airport : Grantley Adams International . Size of the island : 21 miles by 14 miles . Population : About 265,000 . Average temperature : 31 degrees Centrigrade .