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Grenada and Carriacou map
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Embassies & Consulates
The following countries are represented in Grenada:
British High Commission, t 440 3536, f 440 4939, bhcgrenada@caribsurf.com
United States Embassy, t 440 1173, f 444 4820, usemb_gd@caribsurf.com
French Consulate, t 440 6349, f 443 2155
Consulate of Germany, t 443 2156, f 443 2155, caribtechno@caribsurf.com
Consulate of Guyana, t 440 2031, f 440 4129, Huggins@caribsurf.com
Consulate of Jamaica, t 440 2452, f 440 4985
Consulate of the Netherlands, t 473 440 3459, f 440 6605, grantjo@caribsurf.com
Consulate of Spain, t 440 2087, f 440 4008, Hubbards@caribsurf.com
Consulate of Sweden, t 440 2765, f 440 4183, Twonderss@caribsurf.com
Embassy of Cuba, t 444 1884, f 444 1877, grenadaembacuba@caribsurf.com
Embassy of the Republic of China, t 440 3054, f 440 4177, recemgnd@caribsurf.com
Venezuelan Embassy, t 440 1721, f 440 6657, embavengda@caribsurf.com |
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Emergencies
POLICE/FIRE – EMERGENCY ONLY - 911
FIRE – 440 2112
COASTGUARD – EMERGENCY ONLY - 399, 444 1931
AMBULANCE -434
GENERAL HOSPITAL – 434
PRINCESS ALICE HOSPITAL – 724
PRINCESS ROYAL HOSPITAL - 774 |
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Flights/Getting There
Grenada does not have very extensive direct services, but if you cannot get a direct flight on the day you want there are many options for transitting in the region and making the link on the same day.
From Britain and mainland Europe
British Airways, t 444 1664 fly twice a week, Monarch Airlines, t 439 3485, once a week contact Golden Caribbean) and Virgin Atlantic, t 1800 744 7477 once a week. Air Jamaica, t 1800 523 5585 via Jamaica. Condor, t 444 4363, flies weekly from Frankfurt in Germany during the winter season.
From the USA
Air Jamaica, t 1800 523 5585, flies from New York. You can also fly to a number of American cities via their hub in Montego Bay. It is also easy to make connections through Barbados with a number of US carriers. As of 20 November 2008 American Airlines will be offering an afternoon flight from Miami to Grenada every day in summer and winter and five days a week in spring and autumn. American Airlines route most of their Caribbean services via their hub at San Juan in Puerto Rico, from where there are inter-Caribbean flights on American Eagle, t 444 2222.
From Canada
There are no scheduled services from Canada, but charter flights including Air Canada Vacations are available during the winter.
It’s worth noting that if you have difficulty finding a flight to Grenada, or there is no flight on the day that you want to travel, then it is possible to fly via Barbados, a regional hub from which there are many flights each day, including evening flights that leave after the scheduled arrival of the international services. If you are flying from North America it may be a more pleasant place to change planes anyway than San Juan. Turn-arounds can be tight, however, if there is any delay on the international leg, so be prepared to abandon your luggage if necessary and carry a spare set of clothes and your swimming costume in your hand baggage.
South America
There are links twice a week to the island of Margarita off Venezuela onward connections to Caracas through Convisas, c/o DOP Co. Travel Agency, t 444 2732.
From within the Caribbean
LIAT, t 440 2796, flies along the Caribbean island chain from as far north as Antigua and down to Tobago and Port of Spain. There are also plenty of connections to Barbados.
Getting to Carriacou and Petite Martinique
The main routes are via Grenada, by plane or on one of the many ferries, which leave a couple of times each day from St George’s, see Island Hopping. The only scheduled flights between the islands are on SVG Air, t 444 1474, which makes the run three times a day. Of course it is possible to sail or take ferries through the Grenadines. Carriacou is linked twice weekly to Union Island.
The other option is to transit in Barbados and take one of the local airlines that offer ‘share charter’ flights direct to Carriacou. Try SVG Air and their sister company Grenadine Airways. These flights are not scheduled and therefore not listed on any of the international computer systems. Also be aware that no flights can go into Carriacou after dark, so if there are any delays with the international leg of your journey then you will probably end up over-nighting in Barbados.
For more details and schedules, please see Getting to Carriacou. |
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Flora & Gardens
Grenada, like so many of the Windward Islands, is covered with a mantle of green, from its sea level mangroves, up through pastures and plantation and dry Caribbean forest, to mountainous, rain forested heights. And everywhere this greenery is dotted and punctured with bright tropical colours. The island has is a fantastic array of tropical plants, from the orange-red immortelle trees that shade the cocoa trees to cultivated orchids in specialist collections. And the island is particularly fertile for certain types of plant, notably herbs and certain tropical spices. Besides Jamaica, Grenada is the only island in the Caribbean where allspice grows well. The island calls itself the Spice Isle. See Spices. There are plantations around the island and it is fun to visit them to see how the spices grow and are processed.
Elsewhere the Grenadians use their extraordinarily fertile volcanic soil to create superb gardens. Your hotel garden will probably give a small introduction to tropical plants but there are a number of public gardens, which you can visit independently or on a tour, and also many other private gardens of great interest to horticulturalists which can be visited only by appointment, through an introduction. In addition to their regular tours, Caribbean Horizons are able to take you to visit. The owner of the company is a horticulturalist in her own right and has been part of a team that has won a Gold Medal at the Chelsea Flower Show in London. For Carriacou, see below.
The Grenada team at the Chelsea Flower Show in London has been successful in recent years - they were awarded silver in 1998, 1999 and 2000 and 2006 and gold in 2001, 02, 03 and 2004 - but the most poignant award, another gold, came in 2005, just over eight months after the devastation caused by Hurricane Ivan in September 2004. The display in the Great Pavilion, which was put together by growers and designers living in Grenada and in the UK, was created around the theme of 'Paradise Reclaimed'. It was centred around a depiction of the roofless cathedral in St George's with much use of the island's fragrant nutmeg shells - a reminder of the damage sustained by the island's nutmeg crop.
In 2005 Grenada also announced the naming of a new heliconia after Private Johnson Beharry VC, who is from the island. Beharry was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest order for gallantry awarded by the British Army, for two separate acts of outstanding bravery while serving in Iraq. The ‘Heliconia Johnson Beharry’, a new variety, appeared after a spontaneous mutation in St Andrew Parish in Grenada. For more information and images, see Grenada at Chelsea
Gardens that can be visited in Grenada include:
Sunnyside, St George’s, t 444 1594, by appointment only
A superb tropical garden set inland from the capital at around 600 feet, a colonial house with views of both the Caribbean and Atlantic and, in addition to the many flowers, every imaginable fruit tree – sugar apple, star apple, golden apple, soursop, bay leaf and clove - laid out beautifully among lawns. There is very little evidence of Ivan, except for a couple of sheets of wriggly tin purposefully left in the trees. The flowers are back in bloom and the garden is in the best condition of those that are open.
Bay Gardens, St Paul’s (just on the left after the police station), t 435 4544, thebaygardens@aol.com
The closest garden to St George’s, set on a hillside with eight acres given over to a fantastic variety of rainforest plants and foliage, shrubs and tropical blooms. Bay Gardens was used as the basis for Grenada’s Gold Medal stand at the Chelsea Flower Show 2004. They offer an easy opportunity to see giant heliconias and other species without venturing into the rainforest proper, as well as local fruit juices as some light snacks on their pretty veranda. The gardens suffered considerable damage during Hurricane Ivan, particularly to their big trees and their pond, but there is so much there that there is still a lot to see, even for horticultural specialists. Repairs are in progress but it is usually open from 7am-6pm. Advisable to call and check.
The Tower, St Paul’s, by appointment, usually Tuesdays and Thursdays
A garden of tall trees surrounding lawns and informal borders and herbaceous banks. Lovely koi pond and Japanese garden. Rare forms of Hibiscus the size of saucers. They also offer visits to the house. In Hurricane Ivan, the Tower lost its gazebo and some of its large trees, and many of its fruit trees lost limbs. The repairs to the house are almost finished and replanting is underway.
Joydon, St Paul’s, t 440 1568
A cracking setting at 800 ft, with views of both the Atlantic and Caribbean. Lots of exotics among extensive trees.
Balthazar Estate, St Andrews, by appointment only
Balthazar Estate, situated in the heart of the rainforest, once produced sugar cane, bananas, cocoa nutmeg and citrus. Now it is a commercial flower-growing business that also produces lemongrass tea and the popular ‘Nutmed’ athletic spray. It also supplies the bulk of the flowers and foliage that make up Grenada’s gold medal displays at Chelsea Flower Show. The estate suffered some damage to large trees and an orchid house but many of the flowers are back in bloom.
St Rose Nurseries, Beaulieu
Commercial nurseries with greenhouses that cultivate a good variety of interesting and unusual plants and flowers including water lilies, exotic bamboos, eucalyptus, gingers, cacti and aurelias. Also a small, well laid out garden with a pond in which the fish colouring mimics the surrounding plants in orange and blue. The nurserymen are familiar with the botanical names, so it is fun to discuss things with them. The garden lost all their greenhouses, which are currently being rebuilt, but the plants inside them were in reasonable shape. They also lost some of their larger trees.
Meribeau Nursery, Grenville, St Andrews
This nursery is managed by the Ministry of Agriculture and is used to propagate mainly fruit trees and other alternate crops for farmers as well as private horticulturalists. The busiest time for the sale of plants is at the start of the wet season (May, June) when most planting is done, making use of the frequent rains to help young plants get established.
Hyde Park Garden, by appointment only
Grenada’s newest private garden in open to the public, but you will have to book in advance. The garden was rated one of top three gardens in Grenada by a group of UK and Canadian Garden Specialist Tour Operators on their visit in November 2005. US$55 per person (minimum 2 persons) with Garden Tour specialists, Caribbean Horizons.
Carriacou
Carriacou has a much drier climate than Grenada and the landscape becomes parched brown quite quickly in the dry season. In keeping with their long needed self-sufficiency, the Kayaks (as the Carriacouans are known sometimes) tend to keep large gardens in which they grow fruit trees and vegetables for their own consumption. Crops include corn, peas, okra, breadfruit, limes, oranges and grapefruit. Coconuts are also grown, and picked either green for their milk or brown for cooking. The leaves are used for making mats.
Hillsborough has a simple botanical garden set a couple of streets inland. It is a little unloved, but contains lawns and a variety of specimens found on Carriacou. |
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Food & Cooking
Local Grenadian food has legacies from all the island’s various influences including British, French and of course African, but it is also solidly West Indian. Meals can be unexpectedly heavy for the climate, with a sauce or even a stew accompanied by rice and exotic, sometimes starchy tropical vegetables, but island cooks make good use of local ingredients such as the local fish, and of course their food is always tasty, as the island’s famous spices are put to good use too.
The Grenadian national dish (a West Indian classic anyway) is oil down, or ‘ile dung’ as it is usually pronounced, which consists of breadfruit, dasheen leaves, root vegetables and some salt pork (optional) all steamed in coconut milk and spices. It bubbles away, simmering down, for several hours.
Stews can usually be found on local menus – stewed fish, stewed pork and beef – and soups are a favourite too, particularly on a Saturday, when households cook up fish broth, lambi waters and the delightfully named cowheel soup. Other weekend favourites are black pudding and salt fish souse, which are eaten with Johnny bakes. Lambi, the French creole name for conch, is often served up curried. A more delicate seafood is fried jacks, quite like whiting, which are delicious.
With Grenada's extremely fertile soil, the island's market stalls are piled high with vegetables, or ground provisions’, including sweet and ‘Irish’ potato, tannia, eddoe, yam, and many different varieties of plantain and fig (relatives of the banana). If you are cooking for yourself it is fun to head out into the market to buy all these things. Other side dishes include christophene, a pear-shaped vegetable that grows on a vine, and coocoo, which is made from corn. If you are feeling adventurous you might like to try farine (cassava flour), which is often eaten with pig souse or saltfish cakes.
Grenada uses its range of fruits to make some exotic ice-creams, including nutmeg, soursop and even avocado. Finally, if you hear of a mysterious drink called Bois Bande (pronounced as in bawbandy), beware of the quantities you drink. Made from the bark of a tree, it is touted as a natural Viagra. If you are not careful with quantities you could end up with longer lasting effects than you may wish.
If you are looking for a cookery course using local produce and flavours, Maca Bana Villas offers private cookery classes to guests. If you are staying in a private villa, you could ask your housekeeper to give you an informal lesson in Grenadian cookery and teach you some local dishes. They will gladly take you to the market to buy all the provisions too. See an article about Grenadian cooking.
Grenada has some good restaurants, some of them actually the beach bars, and there are some particularly lovely settings in which to eat out, often on a waterfront deck or above the sand. Interestingly, while it is Barbados that has seen most action on the celebrity chef front, Gary Rhodes (currently one of the most prominent English chefs) chose to open his only overseas restaurant in Grenada, at the Calabash Hotel. See under Restaurants.
If you would like to try local food on Grenada there are plenty of good options, including:
The Nutmeg, on the Carenage, t 440 2539/1950, inexpensive – moderate
A Grenadian classic, set on the first floor looking out across the Carenage. Very good Rum punches and non-alcoholic Bentleys. A variety of local dishes, good value, such as the Chicken Maryland, potato salad and creole christophene.
Deyna’s Tasty Foods, Melville Street (nr fish Market), t 440 6795, inexpensive
Local fare, very popular at lunchtime.
Creole Shack, St George’s, t 435 7422, inexpensive – moderate
On the Carenage, cafeteria style dining with big screen and karaoke
Little Dipper, t 444 5136, inexpensive
Perched on a simple wooden deck on the hillside on the south coast, with views of Hog and Calivigny Islands. Limited menu of lobster, lambie and fish. Advanced booking recommended.
Cabier Ocean Lodge, Crochu, t 444 6013, moderate
Eveline Vogel offers Creole cooking classes using home-grown produce and freshly caught fish. Her speciality is one of Grenada’s national dishes, Oildown, or as the locals refers to it – ‘beach cook up.’
Kelly’s Hot Spot, Gouyave, inexpensive
Fresh fish and chips served in polystyrene dishes. Very popular with locals, washed down with a Carib in the bar next door, or in front of ‘Texas Ranger.’
Open seven days a week
Fish Friday Festival, Gouyave, inexpensive
Friday night street party fun, music and dance – sample local cuisine and culture, lots of fish and lobster fresh from the sea (kebabs, pizzas too) washed down with ice cold Carib. US$25 per person for return bus journey and a guide (minimum 4 people needed for the bus to operate). Book in advance with Caribbean Horizons.
If you are travelling around the island then there are a couple of classic stops in the north of the island where you can get a good lunch (they are on the tour bus route). You can try Morne Fendue, t 442 9330, which is set in an old stone house, call in advance.
Good places to stay if you are interested in food and cooking are:
| Bogles Round House
A secluded garden hideaway with three self-catering cottages in Bogles, a 5 minute bus ride to Carriacou island’s only town, Hillsborough. Bogles Round House offers great value bed and breakfast in relatively simple Caribbean family vacation cottages. Excellent restaurant | Bel Air Plantation
Romantic hideaway with heaps of old Caribbean charm, set in 18 acres in a secluded bay on Grenada’s southern shore. Villas and cottages ranged around the hillside overlook the shorefront with its small beach, each stylishly furnished with original artwork. Good for solo travellers, women alone and weddings, excellent restaurant, special diets catered for. | True Blue Bay Resort & Marina
A collection of colourful cottages set on a hillside above a calm bay on the south coast of Grenada. There are 39 rooms in apartments and villas, and two swimming pools, but the lively heart of True Blue is the restaurant and bar, which sit on a deck down on the waterfront. | The Calabash Hotel
One of the nicest, long established hotels in the Caribbean. Small and refined, with just 30 suites in modern two-storey cottages set in a semicircle around lawns and gardens and the beach. An enclave of calm and privacy in a lively part of the island. Understated beachfront elegance, with great food and wine. British owned and run. | Maca Bana
A lovely collection of one- and two-bedroom villas in bright Caribbean colours set on a secluded cove in the south of Grenada. Romantic and very comfortable, with all mod cons and a fantastic view from your private deck. Also the lively Aquarium Restaurant. Art and cooking classes, beauty treatments and massage therapy, yoga and pilates. |
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Golf
The Grenada Golf and Country Club has a fairly simple nine-hole course inland from Grand Anse. The dress code is smart casual. Shorts are accepted, but not sleeveless tops. Open daily except Wednesdays, 8am–2pm and until 7pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Green fees EC$40 for 9 holes, EC$60 for 18 holes and EC$25 for club rental. Members only on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons.
An 18 hole championship course was under construction at Levera in the northeast of the island, but it is currently on hold after the initial project went out of business.
There is no golf in Carriacou or Petite Martinique. The nearest course is on Canouan.
Please see below for accommodation with golf vacation packages: | The Flamboyant Hotel
A friendly independent hotel set above the excellent Grand Anse beach in the South of Grenada. Flamboyant has both hotel rooms and self-catering accommodation in an attractive hillside setting with lovely views of the island. Easy-going atmosphere with excellent service and value. |
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Health & Fitness
There are gyms in several of the large hotels in Grenada and there is one independent gym.
Body Image Health Club, Excel Plaza, Grand Anse, t 444 3254
Offers a good range of group activities including aerobics, body conditioning, kairobics, spinning, circuit training, and Shotokan Karate. Massages are available on request, there is a good selection of weightlifting equipment. Short membership is available. Open Mon–Fri, 5am–9pm, Sat 10am–3pm, Sun 10am–1pm. Closed on public holidays. |
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Hiking
There are good opportunities for hiking in Grenada. There are trails leading all around the rainforest and to many of the summits in the centre of the island. The Forestry Department has cut some trails to the lake in the Grand Etang area, which are clearly marked and well used. Other trails lead from here to other points on the island, including Concord Falls, Fedon’s Camp and Mount St Catherine, for example. Some of the remoter trails have not been reopened since Hurricane Ivan, when they were all blocked because of fallen trees.
If you are going off the beaten track like this, you are advised to use a qualified guide as the trails can be easy to lose, but also because a good guide can explain the forest, bringing it alive with extraordinary stoies of the flora and fauna. Guides can be contacted direct below, through the Forestry Department at Grand Etang or through Caribbean Horizons. The forest can be wet and slick underfoot (February to May are the driest months) so you will need a pair of walking boots or trail shoes with a good sole. Recommended guides include:
Mandoo, t 440 1428, mandoo@grenadatours.com, www.grenadatours.com
Telfor Bedeau, t 442 6200
Takes walks all over the island and gives an extremely revealing commentary about the local wildlife and the flora and all its uses.
Caribbean Horizons, t 444 1555, info@caribbeanhorizons.com
They offer a number of hikes, with experienced guides, lasting 4-5 hours. Their most popular hike is the 45 minute ‘Hike and Spa tour’ to two of St Margaret’s seven waterfalls. Moderate - advanced.
Some sample hikes include:
Seven Sisters/St Margaret’s Falls
Approached from near Grenville, a nice place to walk for a swim. Easy.
Mount Gozo, in the south
A nice trail with lovely views of the southern peninsulars of Grenada. Easy.
Concord Falls
A series of three waterfalls that can be approached from the west coast. A single-track road gives access to the first waterfall and from here you can walk to the second and third waterfall. Easy – moderate. The higher level path down from the Grand Etang (moderate – advanced) has not yet re-opened.
The trails to Mt Qua Qua, Mt St Catherine and Fedon’s Camp and the upper two Concord Falls are open, but we would recommend taking a guide.
For social Hiking and running, contact the Hash House Harriers, www.grenadahash.com, who go every other week on a variety of trails. They range from short to treacherous!
Carriacou
Old tracks and trails criss-cross every part of the island and it can make interesting hiking. The countryside, open land and dry tropical forest, is very steep in places, but it is worth the effort because of the ancient ruins and the breath-taking views of the Grenadines to the north and south. Tropical flora is also endlessly fascinating and so it is worth having a guide. A nature hike can be taken in the proposed National Park in the north of the island, where a guide can be arranged through the KIDO Project, t 443 7936.
If you’re feeling adventurous why not head out on your own like Adriana Rowswell and her friends who went out on early morning walks to discover new beaches, historical markers and trails.
Limlair Nature Trail, Tibean
Newly established nature trail in the north east of the island around Windward. Expect to see Ningo Well, the first well built on Carriacou, Hugh Munro’s mausoleum and a huge variety of indigenous birds, from zenaida doves to maricou, black-faced grassquits and Caribbean elaenia. There is a small eatery at the entrance (just down the road from Bayaleau Point Cottages), which offers simple West Indian food and tamarind sweets picked and rolled from the trees around the trails. Guides are on duty, Monday to Friday from 8am-4pm, cost from 5US$ per person, depending on the length of the tour and the number of people in your party. Easy to moderate. |
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Horse Riding
Amstead Horse Stables, St Andrews, t 440 4175, cells 456 2067, 417 2410
They offer rides along Hope Beach in the Parish of St Andrews in the east of the island. |
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Island Hopping
Situated at the foot of the chain of the beautiful Grenadines, Grenada is ideally positioned for island hopping, by yacht of course, see Sailing, but also by ferry. There are ferry links the whole way along the chain of the Grenadines between Grenada and St Vincent. You can pause for a couple of nights in a selection of islands along the way. It is a wonderful journey.
The obvious place to visit from Grenada is Carriacou, which is politically attached to the larger island but has a completely different atmosphere. Just eight miles by five it is extremely laid back and retains a very natural, unhurried air. It is classic, delightful small-island Caribbean. It can be reached by air or by the many ferry services (on the high speed ferry in just over an hour). If you want to go on a day trip, by sailboat, see Day Sails.
To the North of Carriacou there is a whole series of options in the other Grenadines (which are politically attached to St Vincent), any of which would make an equally good foil to Grenada. Consider the delightful Bequia, sophisticated Mustique and tiny, dozy islands such as Mayreau, even private island resorts such as Palm Island or Petit St Vincent. Again there are plenty of day sails to the Grenadines.
Finally Grenada, lively but relatively undeveloped, makes a good foil to more sophisticated islands in the area, to Barbados for example. And, if you have been staying in the low-lying south-west of Grenada then you might consider a rainforest retreat, for instance around Soufrière in St Lucia.
Local airlines that make inter-island flights from Grenada to larger islands nearby (eg Barbados, Tobago, St Vincent) include LIAT. If you want to hop farther afield then Air Jamaica goes to Jamaica and Barbados and American Eagle flies to Puerto Rico.
FLIGHTS FROM GRENADA TO CARRIACOU are covered by SVG Air, t 444 1475, with three flights a day. The schedule changes from time to time but there is always a flight in the morning to catch the day tours and a return before sunset. Seats are limited and must be booked well in advance. SVG Air also fly on to the other Grenadines farther north, or they can be booked as a charter airline if you want a private transfer, for instance to Tobago, the Grenadines or St Vincent.
Ferry services
Several ferries make the run from St George’s to Carriacou (and beyond to Petite Martinique).
The Osprey, t 440 8126, osprey@caribsurf.com
St George’s to Carriacou, departing the Carenage at 9am Mon-Sat and 8am on Sundays and daily at 5pm except Saturdays. Two Ospreys run during peak season. The larger one takes one hour between islands. The smaller one (two hours) runs alone in the off season. The outward journey can be a bit bumpy at times as you head up into the wind and weather, but sitting on the upper deck will give you the fresh air you need. The return trip leaves Carriacou at 3.30pm and at 6am every day and is relatively calmer as you are not fighting the waves and current. Both journeys give you fantastic views in and out of St George’s Harbour, of the fishing villages along the western coast of Grenada and the small islands around Carriacou. Day return EC$90.
Schedule
Buy tickets in advance from office on the Carenage especially on public holidays. 6am leaves Petit Martinique, gets to Grenada at 7.30, leaves at 9am and arrives at Carriacou for 10.30. Heads to Petit Martinique for lunch, comes back to Carriacou at 3pm and leaves Carriacou at 3.30 to arrive in Grenada at 5pm. It then leaves between 5.45 and 6pm for Carriacou and Petit Martinique. Opsrey leaves at 8am for Carriacou on Sunday, otherwise it’s 9am. No Saturday evening service from Grenada to Carriacou.
There are other (slower) ferries that make the run, from the Carenage, usually in the morning. One or two crossings leave each day.
It is possible to make the ferry link from Carriacou to Union Island in St Vincent and the Grenadines, from where there are daily mailboat and other ferry services to the islands further north.
For more information and schedules, please see Getting to Carriacou from Grenada and Barbados.
Charter airlines that serve the Eastern Caribbean include:
| | Island BirdsIsland Birds is a small and reliable charter airline that is based in the BVI. It has a small fleet of 5 and 7 seater Piper aircraft that are used for transfers, island hopping, day trips and sightseeing from the air. They make regular passenger and sometimes cargo transfers to the BVI, but they are licensed for almost every airstrip between San Juan and Grenada, including St Barths. | | St Barth CommuterA local airline based in St Barths, which offers scheduled flights from there to St Martin/St Maarten and Caribbean private aircraft charters to islands all over the Eastern Caribbean. They have a fleet of five twin-engine planes and five specially trained (STOL) pilots with permission to land in St Barths. | | SVG AirA local Caribbean airline that offers charters to the Grenadines from around the region, often from Barbados, but also from St Lucia and Grenada, even from as far as Puerto Rico. SVG Air has around a dozen 5-19-seater planes and also offers island hopping and air ambulance services. |
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Local Organisers
Local organisers, or ‘ground handlers’ as they are known in the travel industry, can make all the difference to a holiday. They are ‘fixers’ that can arrange anything from a tour to a special request, like a special dinner or a surprise, or a wedding. They offer the best quality excursions and can use their contacts on the island to tailor-make something special for you.
They are a good point of contact for any traveller, so if you are travelling independently and would like to have something organised for you, from advice about a dinner reservation to a surprise party for fifty, then it might be worth taking up a Concierge Service. Holidaymakers that book a flight-inclusive holiday from the UK/Europe should have the services of a ground handler included in their package anyway.
If you are travelling independently (including to Carriacou and Petite Martinique), please follow the link to read about the services offered by our recommended local organiser on Grenada:
| | Caribbean HorizonsCaribbean Horizons Tours and Services is one of the leading local organisers in Grenada. Set up in 1992, the company offers island tours around Grenada, island hopping (to the Grenadines) and specialist excursions like hiking and garden visits. Also concierge services and wedding co-ordination, incentive travel and conferences and finally destination management services for foreign travel organisers. |
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Local Transport
The local buses in Grenada, mostly privately owned mini-vans identifiable by their H number plates and their nicknames - Obsessive, Assassin, Menace and the suitably named Access - provide a frequent service on all main roads from 6am–6pm on Mondays to Saturdays, through there are minimal services after 6pm and on Sundays and public holidays. There are bus stops, but drivers will stop anywhere if you flag them down. Check the destination before you jump in (buses for designated routes will have a registration sticker on display). To get off, bang on the bus, otherwise they’ll keep on driving. Drivers are very confident of their driving skills and the roads so be prepared for an exciting ride! You will also get a good exposure to Caribbean music, often at high volume.
You can reach almost anywhere on the island by bus, eventually. Unfortunately though, there are very few services into the tourist areas, particularly L’Anse aux Epines and the Point Salines area, though if the bus is almost empty, you can try negotiating with the driver to take you off the route to your destination. Grand Anse is well served from St George’s but you will probably have to walk from the main road. The hub of transport is in St George’s and so if you are travelling to the north or east of the island then invariably you will have to get a bus into town before heading onto your final destination. Fares are good value. St George’s to Grand Anse is EC$1.50, La Sagesse and Grand Etang $3 and Grenville $5.
CARRIACOU
There are a few private minibuses in Carriacou that run the regular routes needed mainly by islanders (to an entirely unpredictable schedule). Largely they go between Tyrell Bay and Hillsborough, or Hillsborough and Windward on the east coast, but they will also drive the extra mile or two to drop you where you need to go. Fares are EC$1.50 for a mile or less, $2.50 for a longer journey. |
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Medical
Generally Grenada is pretty benign and there are only a couple of issues that you can encounter here that are not in Europe or the States. Check that your coverage for polio and tetanus is in date but no vaccinations are necessary for entry to the island. There is no malaria in Grenada, but there are very occasional outbreaks of dengue fever – another mosquito-borne disease – and so if there is an alert then you need to make sure that you don’t get bitten.
If you get ill your first port of call should be the hotel front desk, which will refer you on or call in a doctor to visit. For minor ailments you are probably best to go to a private clinic (to avoid the wait and queues in the general hospital), but in a bad case the general hospital may have equipment and expertise that the private hospitals do not have. Make sure that your insurance is up to date because medical evacuation is expensive.
HOSPITALS
The General Hospital, St George’s, t 440 2051
Princess Alice hospital, St Andrew’s, t 442 7251
St Augustine’s Medical Clinic, t 440 6173/4/5, f 440 6176
Eighteen bed private hospital on St Paul’s main road
Old Trafford Medical Clinic, Tanteen, t 440 7780
Private hospital
Carriacou
The Princess Royal Hospital, t 443 7400, is on the hill above Hillsborough. There is a clinic in Hillsborough, Hillsborough Health Centre, t 443 7280, as well as the Carriacou Health Services, t 443 8247, cmcmd@aol.com and one in L'Esterre, L'Esterre Clinic, t 443 6414. |
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Music
In the hotels you will find that you are offered a good mixed diet of international music and local Caribbean sounds, particularly reggae from Jamaica and calypso, which originates in Trinidad but which has become the rhythm of the whole south-eastern Caribbean. It is always worth asking around what is happening in the hotels because some of the best entertainment happens there.
Reggae is popular with the Grenadians themselves and can be heard in the buses and local clubs (also in some of its harder versions, such as dancehall), but the main tradition of music in Grenada at the moment is calypso and its faster off-shoot soca. Calypso tends to include social and political commentary, and scurrilous innuendo sometimes, but soca is a faster, more dance-oriented sound, the rhythm of the street parades at Carnival. Carnival season is early August and in Grenada they play songs by their own calypsonians as well as songs from the wider region (Barbados holds its carnival, Cropover, the week before).
Interestingly, one of the greatest ever calypsonians, the legendary Mighty Sparrow, is from Grenada, though he made his fame in Trinidad, where he has lived for many years. Home-grown calypsonians include Talpree, who has competed in the Trinidad Soca Monarch competition, Randy Isaac, Scholar and Super ‘P’, Inspector and Ajamu, who are also popular. Most big music events are held at the National Stadium at Queen’s Park (when it reopens after reconstruction) or Seamoon Pavilion in St Andrews. Seamoon also holds the Calypso semi-finals, held every 1st weekend in August. This is a good opportunity to see and hear about twenty artists, including the outgoing Monarch of the year before. The annual Calypso competition culminates with the Calypso finals at the Dimanche Gras show on Carnival Sunday night. See Carnival.
The bars and particularly the clubs in the north and east of the island are more local affairs and they tend to play more Caribbean music, so if you would like to experience that then head north. See under Bars and Nightlife. The busiest nights are Friday and Saturday, and mid week Wednesday, unless it is the holiday season of course, when the clubs are busy for the rest of the week as well.
Carriacou
In Carriacou there is an interesting phenomenon in the Big Drum Dance. If you get a chance, go along and see it. It is a descendant of ceremonial African dancing and is held at key moments for the community. Backed by a thunder of drums there is dancing and the dancers sometimes become possessed as they would in a voodoo ceremony.
At Christmas time you will also hear parang, a special style of local music (also heard in Trinidad and Tobago) that is played on a string band. The lyrics of the songs, which are specially written, highlight social issues and scandals and are rehearsed in private prior to the inter village competition. A festival is held on the weekend before Christmas starting with carol singing on the Friday night |
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Nature
Like most of the Caribbean islands, Grenada is limited in its animal life and the biggest species, goats, donkeys and cattle, are all introduced. There are however some exotic land creatures living up in the bush, including the nine banded armadillo, a nocturnal animal that lives in rainforest areas, the manicou, a type of possum found in wooded areas, and the iguana, a giant lizard that haunts seaside scrub and can change colour for camouflage. Unfortunately all three of these also feature as delicacies on island tables and so they are hunted, during certain seasons.
In the Grand Etang Forest Reserve you may also catch sight of the Mona monkey, which was introduced from Africa. Make sure you see them before they see you because they are known for nicking pairs of glasses and cameras. There are two non-poisonous snakes on the island, a tree boa and a grass snake, but you are very unlikely to see them. Much more likely is that you will see a mongoose skittering across the road. These were introduced from India to rid the island of poisonous snakes.
Grenada has many different ecological environments (coastal, dry forest and rainforest) and so there is a reasonable variety of bird-watching, about 150 species in all. Several species will be visible in the hotel grounds, some from your breakfast table, some even on it, as they fly in to steal the sugar. Birdlife that you may come across includes white cattle egrets (you see them standing sentinel by cattle, waiting for grubs to be unearthed in the grazing), the hook billed kite and a kestrel known locally as the chicken hawk. The endemic Grenada dove is endangered and lives in only 2 habitats on the island. Before Hurricane Ivan there were approximately 80 in the Mt Hartman area and twenty at Perserverence, but there are no reports as to their numbers since.
It is possible to go turtle-watching on certain beaches in Grenada. Leatherback, hawksbill, loggerhead and green turtles all come to lay their eggs on the island between March and July. Turtles are being monitored and tagged by a team of Grenadian guides and UK scientists, working in conjunction with the Ministry of Fisheries, and there have been awareness and education programmes with schools in an effort to protect them. Also there has been cooperation with the Tour Operators and local villagers, who provide food. Tours are at night, most of the sightings occur at the Levera National Park. Shoppers please be aware that products made from turtle shell still surface in the market and some shops. They are illegal and the trade should not be encouraged.
For a private tour by a self-taught enthusiast, contact Caribbean Horizons.
Finally you can go dolphin and whale watching. About fifteen species of whale pass Grenada and in the season between December and April there is a good chance of seeing them. Occasionally dolphins join in the fun and dance at the prow of your yacht as you cruise along. See under Day Sails.
Carriacou
Carriacou has relatively little wild animal life, there are opossum or as they are known locally, manicou, red legged tortoises and a boa constrictor (a small snake that lives in trees). There are also iguanas. Known to grow to a length of five feet, they also live most of their lives in the trees, except during their nesting season. Birds that you will see on the island include frigatebirds, pelicans, terns and boobies.
Hawksbill, leatherback and the occasional loggerhead turtle make their nest sites on Anse la Roche and Petit Carenage beaches in the north of the island. Monitoring and education, to prevent the theft of the eggs or even the taking of the turtles themselves (for their meat and shells), is carried out by the KIDO Trust, who also tag the turtles for tracking purposes. Hanzel Patrice also offers turtle watching tours.
Kido Ecological Research Station (Kido Project), t 443 7936, kido-ywf@caribsurf.com
Guided Eco Tours and nature trails and whale and dolphin watching. All tours are US$30 per person except the whale and dolphin watching, which is $80 for a day sail. Two-day sails are available, US$200.
Hanzel Patrice, t 415 5353
Turtle watching tours during nesting season from April to August. Guided night tours from 8 pm. Also Mangrove Tours of Petit Carenage Bay, starting in Windward. To take this tour you need to wear either old footwear that you don't mind getting covered in mud or go barefoot (loose shoes get stuck in the mud).
Limlair Nature Trail, Tibean
Newly established nature trail in the north east of the island around Windward on which you can see a huge variety of indigenous birds, from zenaida doves to maricou, black-faced grassquits and Caribbean elaenia. Guides are on duty, Monday to Friday from 8am-4pm, cost from 5US$ per person, depending on the length of the tour and the number of people in your party. Easy to moderate.
Accommodation in Grenada and Carriacou which is particularly good for nature is as follows: | Ginger Lily
A two-bedroom villa with a private swimming pool set on its own headland overlooking Hillsborough Bay on Carriacou, Grenada's largest Grenadine island. Ginger Lily is a comfortable and modern holiday home that uses some quite grand traditional Caribbean design. Fascinating Iguanas live in the grounds. | Maca Bana
A lovely collection of one- and two-bedroom villas in bright Caribbean colours set on a secluded cove in the south of Grenada. Romantic and very comfortable, with all mod cons and a fantastic view from your private deck. Also the lively Aquarium Restaurant. Art and cooking classes, beauty treatments and massage therapy, yoga and pilates. | La Sagesse Beach Resort
A classic Caribbean hideaway set under huge palm trees in its own lovely secluded cove on Grenada’s southern shore. Just a handful of rooms in a traditional Great House and a new block with a beach bar (which sees a passing trade of people in the know), on a very pretty light grey sand beach. A designated nature reserve. |
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