Things to do in Grenada
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Grenada
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months, late December to April, driest, calmest seas, best dive visibility, highest prices.
Excellent shoulder, May to early June, Chocolate Festival, turtles nesting, greener island and lower prices.
Spicemas season, hotter and wetter and the most alive Grenada gets, culminating in August.
Worst for a beach first trip, peak hurricane tail, highest rainfall, some businesses close and falls can be unswimmable.
Leatherback turtle nesting at Levera, March to July, hatchlings from May.
What's on
- Pure Grenada Sailing Week late January / early February
Regatta racing between Carriacou and Grenada with Port Louis Marina parties.
- Spice Island Billfish Tournament late January
Big game fishing fleet in town at Port Louis during Sailing Week period.
- Carriacou Carnival February
Kayak Mas, smaller and earthier than Spicemas, with Shakespeare Mas found almost nowhere else.
- Grenada Chocolate Festival 22-27 May
Tree to bar workshops, estate tours and pairings hosted around True Blue Bay, book workshops ahead.
- Carriacou Regatta Festival early August
Workboat racing and shore festival immediately before Spicemas, combine both in one trip.
- Spicemas 1-11 August, culminating 10-11 August
Grenada's Carnival, J'ouvert, Monday Night Mas and Parade of the Bands, book months in advance.
- Christmas December
Lights, parang and black cake season, peak prices by mid month.
Best things to do in Grenada
Grand Anse Beach
Two miles of pale sand and calm swimmable water, the baseline beach every other Grenada beach is judged against.
Molinere Underwater Sculpture Park
The world's first underwater sculpture park, with coral covered figures snorkellers can see clearly on calm mornings.
Market Square
The town market for nutmeg, cinnamon, cocoa and spice gifts, best on a Saturday morning away from terminal prices.
Fort George
The harbour fort with the classic Carenage panorama and a sobering place in Grenada's modern history.
Fort Frederick
The better preserved fort, with a wider 360 degree view south over St. George's to Grand Anse.
House of Chocolate
Town centre mini museum and tasting shop carrying all five Grenadian bean to bar chocolate makers in one place.
Belmont Estate
A working 400 acre plantation doing tree to bar chocolate, farm tours and a proper Grenadian estate lunch.
Grand Etang National Park
Montane rainforest around a crater lake, the accessible inland taster and trailhead for the interior hikes.
Where to stay in Grenada
Grand Anse
first trip, all-round base
The two mile beach, widest hotel range, restaurants on foot and the number 1 bus to St. George's.
Lance aux Epines
luxury-quiet and long-stay base
Residential peninsula with Calabash, villas, marina and small coves, calmer and more car dependent.
True Blue
divers, Chocolate Festival and value boutiques
Character base around the bay and university with dive shops, not a swimming beach base.
Morne Rouge
quiet-beach compromise
BBC Beach on your doorstep and Grand Anse a 10 minute walk over the hill, quieter at night.
St. George's
Spicemas, business or a night or two of town life
Charming by day and the place for Carnival, but no beach, thin hotel stock and daily hill and parking friction.
La Sagesse
nature and getting away on a second trip
Beach and mangroves on the windy Atlantic side, beautiful and local, 35 to 60 minutes from Grand Anse.
Think twice about
- Inland and central villages without a car
Basing around Grenville or the interior on a first trip means infrequent buses and 45 plus minutes to every beach and restaurant.
- Isolated villa rentals on the Atlantic east and north-east coast
Many beachfront stretches there are unswimmable from currents and surf, with no restaurant in walking distance and unlit roads.
- Cruise terminal and Esplanade in St. George's
Cruise day crowds, the most persistent petty crime reports around Market Square and the Carenage, and no beach.
Best restaurants in Grenada
Rhodes Restaurant
The island's fine dining peak, Grenadian ingredients through classic technique in an elegant open air room.
Oliver's Restaurant
Creole fine dining in an open beachfront pavilion, the peer alternative to Rhodes with polished service.
The Aquarium Restaurant
Toes in sand lunch and famous Sunday barbecue on Magazine Beach, with a reef for a post lunch snorkel.
Patrick's Local Homestyle Restaurant
A tapas style procession of 15 plus small Grenadian dishes, the single best introduction to the cuisine.
Andy's Soup House
Roadside soups, rotis and oil down in huge portions, the cheap standout of the whole brief.
Umbrellas Beach Bar
The Grand Anse beach bar that does real food, burgers, fresh fish and strong cocktails through to sunset.
Esther's Bar
The smaller rum shop alternative by the craft market on Grand Anse, for a Carib and a lime.
Dodgy Dock
Dockside restaurant bar with live music and Wednesday Street Food stalls mixing students, locals and visitors.
Outdoor things to do in Grenada
Bianca C
A 600 foot sunken Italian liner, the Caribbean's largest divable wreck and Grenada's signature advanced dive.
Seven Sisters Falls
A muddy rainforest descent to a chain of cascades and swimmable pools, the island's classic waterfall hike.
Mount Qua Qua
A steep muddy ridge climb from Grand Etang visitor centre to a 360 degree panorama over lake and both coasts.
Tobago Cays Marine Park
Turtle sanctuary reef and Horseshoe Reef snorkelling reached by private charter on a long day or overnight.
Flamingo Bay
A marine protected coral garden with turtles, one of the best boat snorkel stops on the west coast.
La Sagesse Beach
East coast lagoon and mangroves for naturalist guided kayaking, birdlife and a completely different Grenada.
Sandy Island
A sliver of sand in a marine park off Carriacou with the clearest water in the Grenadian Grenadines.
Petite Martinique
Grenada's third island, one road and one hill, with extraordinary views back and almost no tourism.
Best hotels in Grenada
Spice Island Beach Resort
Family owned all inclusive on Grand Anse with Oliver's and a spa, the ultra end even within the luxury tier.
Calabash Hotel
Relais and Chateaux quiet luxury on L'Anse aux Epines beach, the consensus couples pick, breakfast on your terrace.
Silversands Grand Anse
Modern design luxury with a 100 metre infinity pool running to Grand Anse beach and a younger crowd.
Silversands Beach House
The smaller clifftop sibling of Silversands Grand Anse, on Portici Beach.
Laluna Boutique Hotel & Villas
Sixteen barefoot luxury cottages and villas with plunge pools, spa and yoga, strongly honeymoon coded.
Sandals Grenada
Adults only all inclusive with many restaurants and included scuba, for travellers who want the Sandals system.
Mount Cinnamon Beach & Wellness Resort
Hillside suites and villas above Grand Anse with a beach cabana club, spa and Dive Grenada on site.
Coyaba Beach Resort
Grenadian owned gardens resort directly on Grand Anse, the mid range with the most local character on the strip.
Is Grenada expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | EC$200 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | EC$540 a person |
| Splurge | EC$1,350 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Molinere Underwater Sculpture Park: a few days ahead
- Belmont Estate: a few days ahead
- Bianca C: a few days ahead
- Tobago Cays Marine Park: weeks ahead
- Balthazar River: a few days ahead
- Levera Beach: weeks ahead
- Port Louis Marina: a few days ahead
- Rhodes Restaurant: a few days ahead
- Spicemas hotels, flights and fetes book months ahead, and Christmas to Easter and Sailing Week hotels sell out.
- Rhodes and Dexter's need days ahead, Levera turtle tours and Bianca C dive days should be booked early in the trip.
- Carriacou ferry on Fridays and festival weekends, Belmont and River Antoine tours in high season, Chocolate Festival workshops in May.
Is Grenada safe?
- Grenada is among the safer Caribbean destinations, risks are mostly opportunistic theft around Market Square, the Carenage and after dark.
- Use licensed taxis after dark, keep valuables in the safe, leave nothing on an empty beach and do not resist a robbery.
- Atlantic side beaches have dangerous currents, swim only where locals swim and only inside the Bathway reef pool. Emergency number 911.
Grenada travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Cruise terminal and first row Market Square pricing, walk a street back, compare and bargain politely.
- Bianca C envy, dive your certification, the shallow wrecks are superb.
- Annandale at cruise peak hour, go before 10am or after 3pm or choose Concord or Mt Carmel that day.
- Island tours that are mostly shops, insist the tour names Belmont, River Antoine, Grand Etang and a falls with time at each.
Getting around Grenada: public transport and more
- Airport is 10 minutes by taxi from Grand Anse, fares are government set and unmetered, agree fare and currency first.
- Route 1 minibuses run St. George's to Grand Anse every few minutes in daytime for about EC$2.50 to 3, cash, service thins after 7pm.
- Driving is on the left on steep narrow mountain roads, a temporary local licence is needed, rent for inland and north days.
- Osprey ferry to Carriacou takes about 90 minutes, the flight about 15 to 20 minutes, take motion sickness precautions.
Who Grenada suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Good |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Grenada your trip
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