Transportation is a very important part of every holiday. When visiting Barbados like everywhere in the world there are several options to choose from.
There is the first mode lol I will call it "Two foots" or Walking 😊
Walking is a wonderful way to explore everywhere even your own home town. In the business of life we can often miss so many wonderful experiences by zooming by people and places.
Walking is the best way to experience beaches, gardens, cities and towns and its good for your health too 😊. There are some pretty great walking tours and experiences in Barbados. Hikes of Coco Hill Forest, Walking tours of the Garrison, Bridgetown & Speightstown. Years ago they used to offer phenomenal walking tours at night at the Garrison with actors in costume depicting the stories the narrator was telling. It was awesome and spooky especially the part in the graveyard 😊.
Another somewhat easy and convenient way of transport are Bus's and ZR's
There are two types of buses in Barbados. Blue buses with yellow stripes that are government-owned; some of which are now electric busses which is fabulous for the environment and those who are green loves like me will enjoy and smile knowing they are not polluting the air whilst traveling on them. There are also the mini buses which are somewhat smaller to the blue buses, they are yellow with a blue stripe and are privately-owned. Fares for both types are $3.50 Barbados (equivalent of $1.75 US) but use the local currency; no foreign coins are accepted on the bus and exact change is required. Here is a link to the transport page to help you decide whether the bus is for you: http://www.transportboard.com/index.php/bus-schedules/
The main difference between the two types of buses found on Barbados is that the privately-owned minibuses tend to have shorter routes, enabling them to pick up passengers more frequently. On the other hand, government buses take riders a little farther from the central hub of town - ideal for travelers interested in doing some sightseeing.
ZR Vans (so called because their license plates begin with the letters "ZR") The ZRs (pronounced "Zed-Rs"), are privately-owned mini-vans that run on specific predetermined routes. They are recognized by their white exterior and maroon stripe down the sides. ZRs are independently owned but have a fixed fare of two Barbados dollars per person for one way. ZRs move quickly and stop frequently to pick up the maximum number of paying passengers in the shortest amount of time. Therefore, ZRs have a reputation for loud music and cramped spacing.
A relatively new mode to Barbados but gaining great popularity is Ebikes. Bikes are motorised bicycle with an integrated electric motor used to assist propulsion.
Ebike Island Adventure offers many different tours that you can join them on in exploring Barbados. This is a great option for fitness and out door enthusiast.
A very popular mode of transport for many visitors to Barbados especially repeat visitors is to rent a vehicle. I recommend Stoute's Car Rentals. They are the best for a long list of reasons; quality, reliability, family owned and run business with years and years of experience. I always think its good to support a company that supports its community and its staff and they do that!
With things like Google Maps its pretty easy to get around where ever you go. When I travel I use google maps. I even planned my two week trip to Ireland and England using it and chose all my accommodations that way. I stayed a different place every night and it was awesomeeeeee.
Yes I know this is supposed to be about Barbados but oh boy what a trip that was and its always good to share tips with fellow travellers. 😊
I also use street view on google maps to familiarise myself with the area I am going before I travel, it's quite handy.
Renting a car of course gives you more freedom to start, stop and go as you please but you do miss out on some of what really makes for the most enriching holiday experience and that is having a awesome tour guide to share the history, culture and stories of pirates, love affairs and battles. Ask about the treaty of roast pork and turkey! What I recommend is to take at least one guided Island tour and rent a car from Stoute's Car Rental and yes also take some of the available walking tours.
The best tour to take would be one familiarising you with the island. We at Beautiful Barbados Tours & Excursions Ltd. have many, many tours but the one that would give you the best overview to familiarise you with the whole Island would be our Beautiful Barbados Tour .
This tour is THE most extensive 360 island tour offered in Barbados. I am pretty proud of it to be honest and it is becoming our signature tour. The tour also gives you a free bottle of Mike's Fresh Bajan Rum Punch 😊 I mean how can you beat that 😜.
The tour visits : Bridetown, The Garrison, Miami Beach, Foul Bay, Codrington College, St Johns Church, Bathsheba, Photo stop at Morgan Lewis, Cherry Tree Hill, Lunch at Animal Flower Cave Restaurant, North Point, Speightstown stop with treats & Holetown.
The tour was recently featured by Matt James Cristian MJC
From the North West UK, Cristian MJC made a name for himself in the music industry following the success of his debut single 'True Colours' which peaked at 22 on the official UK charts. The single was premiered by The Sun newspaper and was play-listed on BBC Radio 1Xtra.
Watch his experiences with us below.
I hope you enjoyed the video . I have also posted the one he did of the Taste of Barbados below 😊
He really did an awesome job, he is a very talented individual 😊.
We offer many different tours that cover a wide variety of intrest and they can all be found listed on our website at Beautiful Barbados Tours & Excursions Ltd .
Some of the attractiosn we visit in various combinations are.
Harrisons Cave, Hunte's Gardens, Flower Forest, Barbados Wildlife Reserve, St Nicholas Abbey, The Heritage Railway, Earthworks Pottery, Mount Gay Visitor Centre, Andromeda Botanical Gardens, Animal Flower Cave Restaurant & North Point, Tranquility Cruises Swimming with the turtles & Snorkeling at the shipwrecks Miami Beach, Foul Bay, Codrington College, Bathsheba, St Johns Church, Cherry Tree Hill, Morgan Lewis Windmill, Bridgetown, Holetown, The Garrison & Speightstown.
Then last and certainly not the least way I will mention about getting around Barbados is by Taxi. It is actually the reason for my post today and I wanted to start my post more upbeat before I mentioned this.
There are lots of really really wonderful Taxi drivers and tour operators and businesses in Barbados who have contributed so much to the tourism industry in Barbados, they have done wonderful jobs at providing visitors to the island with memorable experiences. Beautiful Barbados Tours & Excursions Ltd. my company is only one of many, some of whom have been established long before us and for the most part I would have to say try to provide you with great experiences in Barbados. What I will say next is what lead me to write this post today, I will share with you a recent experience that I had and ask that visitors to Barbados to please only use taxi services and tour companies that are legally operating.
Before you get in a vehicle that you are paying to transport that is not a public bus please look at the registration number plate, it should be white with blue letters. They should be licensed as Z, ZM or BTHired Limousine are HL. There are some person operating out there that are using privately registered cars with the black registration plates that start with the Parish letter X, M, J, P, O, L, G, T, A
These are private vehicles that are not licensed to do what they are doing and not insured to do it and are in fact breaking the law. I will not name names as some are advertising as legitimate businesses and some do operate some legitimate business but mostly use vehicles they should not be using.
I recently had an altercation with one who initiated the altercation. They continually trespass on property that is not their own and last week they approached me on property owned by my partner and threatened my life and property. The incident has been reported to the police who take it as a serious matter. PLEASE be careful and follow the laws of Barbados. Like every country in the world they are people that will try to scam you and break the law.
Covid was financially hard for the legitimate Taxi men and women in Barbados. They have to pay more to operate their vehicles than private vehicle owners. There is a process to go through to apply for the correct permits and yearly inspections are done by the government to ensure the vehicle is fit to operate. Owners of the taxis also pay permit and roads tax fees. Licensed taxi men also have to provide a police certificate of charter. All of these things cost money and the insurance that has to be paid is much more than a privately registered car so that it covers paid passengers. We do not have Uber or Lift in Barbados because of our laws it can not function in Barbados.
Please do not support persons who are operating illegally because if you get in an accident the insurance companies don’t have to cover you and what these persons are doing is wrong. I have seen it for a while and never reported it to the police and never approached them about it but after having my life and property threatened because they wish to continue to trespass on land not their own it has become a more serious issue. It is never wise to encourage breaking the law and its unnecessary because there are ample modes of safe, reliable, reasonably priced and legal modes of transport in Barbados.
Thants it for today folks. I hope that you enjoyed the post and that you remember to please use authorised transport only. Whatever you do be happy and enjoy Barbados to the fullest 😊😊😊
For more helpful tips about Barbados, visit Lois Swansons Travel Tips, Barbados Tips