Expert: Cathrin Mueller - 4/29/2006

Question
Hi.
Me & my partner are travelling to the caribbean in March/April 2007 and have a few questions for you.
We are travelling/backpacking on a tight budget and are looking for accomodation in Bridgetown. Do you know of any places or websites?
We will be starting our caribbean trip in St Kitts. We then have about 2 weeks to make our way to Barbados. Can you recommend ways of doing this? We are finding it hard to find anything on the net apart from small charter planes.
Also can you recommend any good stops along the way that would be worthwhile. Any info would be much appreciated.

Answer
Hello Aaron and partner,

You two have chosen the worst time to travel the Caribbean on a budget.  If you can alter your time frame and go two months later, do this.  The Caribbean is host to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 from March 5th until April 28th.  You are not only going to find it difficult to locate inexpensive accomodations, but travel between the islands will be impossible to book.  

The British, Australian and Indian cricket fans literally swarm to the Caribbean and anyone who has a spare room rents it out.

Here is the schedule so you can see which islands are affected:

www.definitivecaribbean.com/GenericArticlePopup.aspx?i=176

If you decide to go later, I can supply you with a few good places to stay on Barbados cheaply.  Bridgtown is the capital.  Take the number 11 mini-bus to go visit it but live on the south coast in the St. Lawrence Gap area.  The Gap is where most of the fun restaurants and clubs are, great beaches and it is halfway between the airport and Bridgtown.  You can travel by bus from the airport to the gap as well and save some money.  

Here are three budget suggestions:

www.barbados.org/apt/cherrytree/index.htm
www.barbados.org/apt/bluedolphin/index.htm
www.barbados.org/apt/bajanflamingohouse/index.htm

These are all three very basic places but charming and really all you need.  Cherry Tree is more a motel, the last two are small guest houses.

You can only travel to Barbados by air.  Since some of the smaller airlines are not IATA, they don't show up in the Amadeus booking system.  Look for their direct web-sites.  Your best bet is LIAT (Leeward Islands Air Transport) and Caribbean Star.

I did get stuck on Guadeloupe once during a LIAT strike and took a speed ferry all the way down to St. Lucia.  From there I had to fly to Barbados.  Express des Iles covers a chunk of the Caribbean (Guadeloupe, Marie Galante, Illes des Saintes, Dominica, Martinique and St. Lucia).  All places worth visiting especially Dominica and Illes des Saintes.  The entire run takes a full day on this high-speed catamaran (huge).  You can probably buy a pakage that allows you to stop on each island and spend a day or two.  The trip to Ille des Saintes is not along the route.  But, go there on a day trip.  Very different than most other places.  

www.express-des-iles.com

Another must see are the Grenadines that belong to St. Vincent.  These tiny islands are just all so wonderful.  My favourites are Bequia and Mayreau.  Again, there is a local ferry service through Unon Island.   I am a sailor when I can afford it and have traveled to all of these islands many time by yacht.  Call the marina at Blue Lagoon and see if any private boat is leaving in your direction.  Maybe someone is sailing on a budget and will take you two along down island.

Further north, you will also find ferry services but none as large as this.  Google to find the local ones.  

Change your dates and have a grand trip!

Cathrin in Berlin, Germany