Things to do in Bermuda
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Bermuda
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months overall: warm sea, full services, and lower rates and thinner crowds in May and October.
Peak summer: warmest water and longest days, but highest prices, humidity and rising hurricane risk.
Winter is the golf and value season, not a beach season. Sea is too cold for most swimming.
Spring shoulder: whales, golf and gardens, no swimming crowds, and a still cold sea.
Hurricane season runs 1 June to 30 November, with risk concentrated August to October.
What's on
- Good Friday Kite-Flying Good Friday, March/April
Bermudians fly elaborate homemade kites island wide, with Horseshoe Bay the famous gathering.
- Bermuda Day fourth Friday in May
Heritage Parade in Hamilton, the Half Marathon Derby, dinghy races and the unofficial first swim.
- Harbour Nights Wednesday evenings, roughly May to September
Front Street closed for Gombey troupes, food stalls and makers' stalls. Free and weekly in summer.
- Cup Match Thu-Fri around the end of July / start of August
Bermuda's biggest holiday, a two day cricket match marking Emancipation, with island wide partying.
Best things to do in Bermuda
Horseshoe Bay Beach
Bermuda's famous pink sand crescent with a sheltered Baby Beach cove for small children.
St. George's
A UNESCO listed town founded in 1612, among the oldest English towns in the New World.
Fort St. Catherine
Bermuda's largest fort, above Achilles Bay, with the best east end views.
Crystal and Fantasy Caves
Underground limestone caves where a pontoon crosses a lake so clear the formations show far below.
Jobson's Cove
A tiny rock ringed inlet, calm and photogenic, a family and snorkel float favourite.
Warwick Long Bay
The South Shore's longest beach, with pink sand and offshore coral gardens for snorkellers.
Church Bay
A small boulder framed bay at the west end of the South Shore beach chain.
National Museum of Bermuda
Maritime history inside the Keep fort, explaining shipwrecks, privateering and Bermuda's naval role.
Where to stay in Bermuda
Hamilton & Pembroke
first trip, all-round base
Walk to the best restaurants, bars and ferry terminal, with buses radiating both ways.
Paget/Warwick South Shore
beach-plus-centre compromise
Resorts and guesthouses along the Elbow Beach corridor, 10 minutes from Hamilton and near the sand.
Southampton
pure resort and golf base
Horseshoe Bay, Port Royal and Turtle Hill on the doorstep, with beloved mid size resorts.
St. George's & St. David's
history, quiet, repeat visitors
UNESCO streets, Tobacco Bay and the airport 10 minutes away, with the quietest evenings.
Sandys/Somerset
cottage-colony seclusion
A removed feeling peninsula base with Great Sound sunsets and a 20 minute ferry to Hamilton.
Think twice about
- North Hamilton / Court Street
The island's one late night edge. Enjoy by day or early evening, take a taxi late, and do not wander drunk at 2am.
Best restaurants in Bermuda
Barracuda Grill
Bermuda's benchmark fine dining room for nearly 20 years, small, dark and intimate off Burnaby Street.
Wahoo's Bistro & Patio
The east end's essential lunch, a waterside patio serving wahoo tacos and fish sandwiches.
Art Mel's Spicy Dicy
The fish sandwich legend, thick fried fish on raisin bread, routinely called Bermuda's best.
Mama Mia's
One of the two finalists in every fish sandwich argument, wahoo on toasted raisin bread.
Café Olé
The other fish sandwich contender, near Crystal Caves, pairing perfectly with a caves visit.
Intrepid Steak, Seafood & Raw Bar
The Hamilton Princess splurge table, a harbour view steak, seafood and raw bar room, dinner only.
1609 Bar & Restaurant
Open air and marina side at the Princess, the sunset drinks to dinner pick.
Tom Moore's Tavern
Bermuda's oldest eating house, from 1807, candlelit and the island's most romantic historic interior.
Outdoor things to do in Bermuda
Port Royal Golf Course
Bermuda's premier public course, a Robert Trent Jones design with a par 3 across a cliff edged cove.
Mid Ocean Club
By most rankings Bermuda's number one course, a 1921 Macdonald design famous for its fifth hole.
Tucker's Point Golf Club
A par 70 course with Castle Harbour views and a dramatic downhill short par 4 seventeenth.
Turtle Hill Golf Club
An immaculate 18 hole par 3 course, among the world's best par 3 layouts and ideal for mixed abilities.
Ocean View Golf Course
Locals' government run nine holes with north shore ocean views at a fraction of resort fees.
Belmont Hills Golf Club
The mid tier golf step up from Ocean View, in Warwick near the south shore corridor.
Constellation and Montana Shipwreck Snorkel
Two wrecks in about 30 feet of water, the signature beginner wreck snorkel trip from Dockyard.
HMS Vixen and Sea Gardens Glass-Bottom Boat
A glass bottom cruise over Sea Gardens reef to a scuttled gunboat whose bow breaks the surface.
Best hotels in Bermuda
Rosewood Bermuda
Definitive Bermuda luxury above Castle Harbour, with the island's largest private pink sand beach club.
Hamilton Princess & Beach Club
The Pink Palace, a harbour front luxury hotel with serious art and a walk to Front Street.
The Loren at Pink Beach
Modern design luxury on South Shore cliffs above its own pink sand beach, a honeymoon favourite.
The St. Regis Bermuda Resort
The east end's luxury pick on St. Catherine's Beach below the fort, quiet and beach led.
Cambridge Beaches Resort & Spa
The original cottage colony, adults oriented, on a peninsula with four private beaches and two coves.
The Reefs Resort & Club
A beloved South Shore resort on cliffs above its own pink sand cove, with fierce repeat loyalty.
Pompano Beach Club
A family run feel above a shallow sunset facing waterfront near Port Royal, a golfer's base.
Newstead Belmont Hills
Harbour view suites, many with kitchens, across from Hamilton with a free harbour shuttle.
Is Bermuda expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | $220 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | $450 a person |
| Splurge | $900 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Crystal and Fantasy Caves: a few days ahead
- Port Royal Golf Course: weeks ahead
- Mid Ocean Club: months ahead
- Tucker's Point Golf Club: weeks ahead
- Turtle Hill Golf Club: a few days ahead
- Belmont Hills Golf Club: a few days ahead
- Constellation and Montana Shipwreck Snorkel: a few days ahead
- HMS Vixen and Sea Gardens Glass-Bottom Boat: a few days ahead
- Hotels in May to September and Cup Match week: book months ahead, inventory is finite.
- Barracuda, Intrepid, Tom Moore's, Coconuts and Wahoo's in season: reserve days ahead, a week for sunset tables.
- Port Royal and Tucker's Point tee times, and any Mid Ocean visitor window, should be arranged before you fly.
- Crystal Caves on cruise or rainy days: go at opening. Whale tours and private catamarans: book early in the stay.
Is Bermuda safe?
- Roads are the danger: scooter crashes, narrow roads after dark and left side driving confusion. Look right first.
- South Shore rips, especially at Warwick, unmanaged cliff jumping and winter cold water are the water risks.
- Swimwear belongs on the beach only and decorum is conservative. Importing cannabis is a criminal offence at the border.
- Medical costs are high despite high standard care, so travel insurance is not optional.
Bermuda travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Horseshoe Bay at midday on a cruise day is the island's one true tourist trap experience. The same beach is superb at 8am.
- The mall and excursion layer around the Dockyard is the most tourist forward part of Bermuda. Visit the museum properly and stroll the rest.
Getting around Bermuda: public transport and more
- Visitors cannot rent cars. Use pink and blue buses and public ferries, and buy a multi day Transportation Pass for both.
- Driving is on the left, the speed limit is 35 km/h island wide, and roads are narrow, walled and winding.
- Taxis are metered and many drivers are licensed tour guides. Hitch is the local ride hailing app.
Who Bermuda suits
| Solo travellers | OK |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Good |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Good |
Make Bermuda your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
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