--- title: "Bahamas travel guide: which island, and when to go | Wimup" description: "The Bahamas on Wimup: how New Providence, Grand Bahama and the Family Islands differ, which island suits which trip, when hurricane season actually bites, what to eat, and how to move between them." url: https://wimup.com/country/bahamas type: Country guide updated: 2026-10-05 publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com) --- # The Bahamas, choose the island first Three quarters of Bahamians live on **one island**, and most of the water people fly in for is nowhere near it. The first decision here is not the hotel. It is which of the roughly thirty inhabited islands the trip is actually about. ## Quick answer Pick by distance from Nassau. **New Providence** has the only real city, with Nassau's museums, Junkanoo and the big resorts. **Grand Bahama** is the short hop from Florida. Past those are the Family Islands. **The Exumas** have the swimming pigs and a no-fishing marine park, **Harbour Island** pink sand, **The Abacos** sailing, **Andros** blue holes and bonefish flats, and **Inagua** flamingos. A week does Nassau and one Family Island. A fortnight does three. ## Quick facts - **Best months:** Dec–Apr - **Ideal length:** 7–10 days - **Budget per day:** $150–350 - **Language:** English, with Bahamian dialect everywhere - **Getting around:** Inter-island flights through Nassau, mailboats and ferries, a hire car or golf cart on the islands - **398,165** People - **700+** Islands The Bahamas is an archipelago of about 700 islands and 2,400 cays spread over 13,878 square kilometres of land and a great deal more sea, and almost every planning mistake comes from treating it as one destination. New Providence is where the country concentrates: the 2022 census put 296,522 of 398,165 Bahamians on it, and Nassau holds the capital, the cruise berths, Bay Street, the Junkanoo season, the big resorts on Paradise Island and Cable Beach, and the airport almost every other island connects through. Grand Bahama, an hour by air and a ferry ride from Florida, is the other developed island: Freeport and Lucaya, the caves and mangrove creeks of Lucayan National Park, and a recovery from Hurricane Dorian in 2019 that is still visible in places. Everything else is what Bahamians call the Family Islands, and each one is a different holiday. The Abacos are the sailing chain, a string of Loyalist settlements founded in the 1780s around Marsh Harbour, with Hope Town on Elbow Cay and its candy-striped Elbow Reef Lighthouse, one of the last kerosene-burning hand-wound lighthouses left anywhere. Eleuthera is a long thin ridge with farmland on it, Governor’s Harbour in the middle and the Glass Window Bridge at the point where deep Atlantic blue and pale bank water sit either side of one narrow road. Harbour Island, off its northern tip, is the pink sand beach and Dunmore Town, and it is a different price bracket from the island it belongs to. The Exumas are the postcard: 365 cays running southeast from Nassau, the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park established in 1958 as the first marine reserve in the Caribbean, the swimming pigs on Big Major Cay, and George Town at the southern end where the cruising boats gather. Andros is the biggest island in the country by area and the least visited for its size, with the Andros Barrier Reef offshore, the highest concentration of blue holes anywhere, and bonefish flats that people plan whole trips around. Bimini is 80 kilometres from Miami and is the big-game fishing island. Further south the map thins and gets better: Long Island for Dean’s Blue Hole, 202 metres deep and the site of the free-diving world records, Cat Island for the highest point in the country, San Salvador for wall diving and the strongest claim to being where Columbus made landfall in 1492, and Inagua at the bottom for the largest breeding colony of West Indian flamingos on earth. Three practical things shape any route. Nassau is the hub, so an island-to-island move usually means going back through it, and the inter-island flights that make it painless are short and not frequent. The mail boats are the cheap alternative and the slow one, running on a schedule that assumes cargo matters more than passengers. And the calendar is not negotiable: December to April is dry, cool and busy, hurricane season runs from June to November with the risk concentrated in August and September, and a lot of Family Island lodges simply close for part of the autumn. ## Know before you go - **Population:** 398,165 - **Area:** 13,878 km² - **Density:** 28.7 / km² - **Capital:** Nassau - **Major cities:** Nassau, Freeport, Marsh Harbour, Governor's Harbour, George Town - **Tourism board:** Official site - **Currency:** Bahamian dollar, pegged 1:1 to the US dollar The Bahamian dollar trades at par with the US dollar, and both circulate. Spend Bahamian notes before leaving. Cards work in Nassau, Freeport and resorts. Small islands are often cash only. - **Language:** English English is official. Day to day you will hear Bahamian dialect, an English-based creole with its own grammar and speed. Haitian Creole is common in New Providence and Abaco. - **Entry:** Passport, and no visa for most short visits Most US, Canadian, UK and EU visitors enter visa-free for up to three months with a passport and onward ticket. Check the government's own pages. A digital immigration card is filed before travel. - **Value added tax:** 10 percent on almost everything VAT is 10 percent since 1 January 2022, on rooms, meals, tours and most goods, often quoted separately and never refunded. Expect bills 10 to 25 percent above the menu price. - **Tipping:** A 15 percent service charge is usually already on the bill Restaurants and hotels often add about 15 percent service, so read the bill. If not, 15 percent is normal. Tip boat crews, guides, taxis and housekeeping separately, in cash. - **Calling code:** +1 242 - **Power:** 120V, 60Hz, US-style type A and B plugs - **Emergency:** 919 for police, fire and ambulance - **Driving:** On the left, usually in a left-hand-drive car Traffic keeps left, but most cars are left-hand-drive US imports, so overtaking views are poor. Foreign licences work for short visits. Family Island roads are unlit and shared with golf carts. - **Getting between islands:** Fly through Nassau, or take a mailboat Nassau is the hub. Bahamasair and smaller airlines fly twenty to forty minutes to the Family Islands, ferries serve nearer ones and mailboats run slowly. Allow a full day per move. - **Hurricane season:** June to November, sharpest August to October The season runs 1 June to 30 November, peaking August to October. Storms are forecast days out, so expect disruption. Insure for weather cancellation, keep a spare day, and check seasonal closures. - **National parks:** Managed by the Bahamas National Trust The National Trust runs the parks. Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, the wider Caribbean's first marine reserve, has banned fishing since 1986. Inagua holds the largest West Indian flamingo colony. ## When to visit - **Jan** (best): Dry, breezy and cool by Bahamian standards, with the clearest air of the year and no storm risk - **Feb** (best): The driest stretch. Cold fronts still push through and the sea is at its coolest, but the light is exceptional - **Mar** (peak): Warm, dry and busy. Spring break fills Nassau and Paradise Island, and rates follow it up - **Apr** (best): The sweet spot. Water warming, crowds thinning after Easter, and still well clear of the storm season - **May** (good): Hot, quiet and good value, with the first afternoon showers and excellent visibility for diving - **Jun** (good): Hurricane season opens on the first, though early-season storms are rare. Warm water, low rates, few people - **Jul** (good): Hot and humid with regular afternoon rain, and Independence Day on the tenth is worth being there for - **Aug**: The heat peaks and so does the storm risk. Cheap, sticky, and a month to book flexibly - **Sep**: The highest hurricane risk of the year. Some Family Island lodges and restaurants close outright - **Oct**: Storm risk stays real into the month, then eases. The last of the low-season prices - **Nov** (good): The season closes on the thirtieth and the weather turns reliable again. The best value of the dry half - **Dec** (peak): Dry, bright and fully booked from mid-month. Junkanoo rushes down Bay Street at three in the morning on Boxing Day ## Fun fact The Bahamas counted 398,165 residents at the 2022 census and welcomed 11.22 million visitors in 2024, roughly 28 for every resident. About 9.35 million came by cruise ship and 1.72 million by air, so the crowd on Bay Street is not the crowd anywhere else in the country. ## Stereotypes, sorted out - **Myth:** The Bahamas is in the Caribbean. **Reality:** Geographically it is not. The islands sit in the Atlantic, level with Miami. Winter fronts that cross Florida cross here too, so January nights get cool and the sea is colder than the photographs. Culturally it is West Indian and Commonwealth, independent since 10 July 1973. - **Myth:** It is a cruise stop with a country attached. **Reality:** For most arrivals it is. Of 11.22 million visitors in 2024, about 9.35 million came by ship, so most people have seen a few hours on Bay Street and a leased private cay. The Family Islands invert that. Harbour Island, Long Island, Andros and Inagua have no cruise berth at all. - **Myth:** Everything is priced for a honeymoon. **Reality:** The Nassau resort strip and Harbour Island are expensive, as is anything flown in. A guesthouse on Long Island, a hire car, fish from a Friday fry and a boat driver for a morning is an ordinary budget. The costs that bite sit between islands: flights through Nassau, charters, and VAT plus service. - **Myth:** One island is much like another. **Reality:** They are barely the same landscape. Andros runs more than 100 miles, mostly pine, mangrove and blue holes, with fewer than eight thousand people. Harbour Island is about three miles long and has a restaurant scene. Inagua is salt pans and flamingos. The Exumas are low cays with almost no interior. - Greet before you ask. Good morning or good afternoon comes first, and going straight to the question reads as rude in a way visitors rarely notice they are doing. - Say Family Islands. The older term, Out Islands, is still heard, but the newer one is what people use about their own home. - Cover up away from the beach. Swimwear in a shop, a bank or a restaurant is frowned on, and Sunday clothes are not a costume. - Sunday is quiet, and on the smaller islands it is closed. Church runs long, shops stay shut, and a self-catering plan needs Saturday shopping. - Junkanoo is not a show staged for visitors. It rushes at three in the morning on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, groups build for it all year, and it is judged. Watch it from the side and do not walk into it. - Ask where the conch came from. The fishery is under real pressure and the country has been debating export limits and a minimum shell-lip thickness for years, so a kitchen that can answer the question is the one worth choosing. ## Famous Bahamian faces - **Sidney Poitier**: First Black Best Actor winner, for Lilies of the Field in 1964. Raised on Cat Island. - **Shaunae Miller-Uibo**: Olympic 400 metres champion in Rio and Tokyo, and the first Bahamian with two solo golds. - **Sir Lynden Pindling**: First prime minister of independent Bahamas, 1973 to 1992, and the face of majority rule. - **Joseph Spence**: Andros guitarist whose humming style reshaped Bahamian folk and was studied by Ry Cooder. - **Steven Gardiner**: From Moore’s Island in the Abacos. World 400 metres champion in 2019, Olympic in Tokyo. - **Tonique Williams**: Olympic 400 metres champion in 2004 and world champion in 2005. - **Deandre Ayton**: Born and raised in Nassau, the first overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft. - **Buddy Hield**: Guard from Eight Mile Rock, sixth pick in the 2016 draft and a prolific three-point man. - **Blind Blake**: Blake Alphonso Higgs, star of goombay and calypso, called the father of Bahamian music. - **Ronnie Butler**: Five decades of rake-and-scrape and calypso made him the godfather of Bahamian music. - **Baha Men**: Junkanoo band formed in 1977 that won a Grammy with Who Let the Dogs Out. - **Amos Ferguson**: Painted Bible stories in house paint on cardboard. The grandfather of Bahamian art. - **Sir Milo Butler**: The first Bahamian governor-general, in 1973. His face is on the twenty dollar note. - **Dame Ivy Dumont**: Long Island teacher who became the first woman governor-general, from 2001 to 2005. ## Must-try Bahamian food - **Cracked conch**: The national dish. Conch pounded flat, battered and fried hard, with lime and hot sauce. - **Conch salad**: Raw conch diced with onion, pepper, tomato, lime and sour orange. Bahamian ceviche. - **Conch fritters**: Chopped conch in seasoned batter, fried, with a pink ketchup and lime dip. In every bar. - **Scorched conch**: Conch scored, dressed with citrus and pepper, served in its shell. All conch, no batter. - **Bahamian rock lobster**: Clawless spiny lobster, grilled or curried. A year-round menu ignores its closed season. - **Boil fish**: Grouper in clear broth with onion, potato, lime and bird pepper. Eaten at breakfast. - **Stew fish**: Fish stewed in a dark roux with onion, thyme, tomato and celery. Heavier, and eaten later. - **Crab and rice**: Land crab cooked into rice with thyme and pepper. An Andros and Family Island dish. - **Souse**: Lime-sharp broth of chicken, sheep tongue or trotter. Saturday's hangover cure. - **Baked macaroni**: Baked firm enough to cut into a slab, and served as a block beside the fish. - **Peas n’ rice**: Pigeon peas cooked into rice with salt pork, thyme and tomato paste. The default plate. - **Johnnycake**: Dense, slightly sweet pan bread for boil fish and souse. Every island claims the best one. - **Guava duff**: Guava rolled in sweet dough, boiled into a spiral, served in butter and rum sauce. - **Benny cake**: Toasted sesame set in boiled sugar and cut into squares, sold from roadside jars. - **Switcha**: Bahamian limeade of lime, water, sugar and ice. On every table, and the midday drink. - **Sky juice**: Gin, coconut water, condensed milk and nutmeg, very cold. Easy to drink and not weak. - **Kalik**: The Bahamian lager, named for the sound of Junkanoo cowbells. - **Goombay smash**: Rum, coconut rum and pineapple, invented in the Abacos, where it is still made best. ## FAQs ### Which Bahamian island should I choose for a first trip? Answer the question the country actually asks: do you want a town or an empty coast. For a first trip with a mix of both, Nassau for two or three nights and the Exumas or Eleuthera for the rest is the standard route and it works. If the trip is about water and nothing else, go straight to the Exumas or Long Island. If it is about sailing or a slower village pace, the Abacos. If it is fishing or diving, Andros or Bimini. Grand Bahama is the easy short break from Florida. Harbour Island is small, extremely pretty and priced accordingly. The one thing not to do is book a remote lodge and a packed itinerary at the same time, because moving between islands almost always means routing back through Nassau. ### Do I need to change money, and is the US dollar accepted? No, and yes. The Bahamian dollar is pegged one to one with the US dollar and both circulate side by side, so American notes are accepted everywhere and change may come back in a mix of the two. Spend the Bahamian notes before you leave, since they are hard to exchange abroad. Cards are normal in Nassau, Freeport and the resorts, and much less normal on a small island where a guesthouse, a boat driver or a beach bar may want cash. Take more cash than a Caribbean trip would normally need, and expect a 10 percent value added tax plus a service charge on top of listed prices. ### Is it safe to travel during hurricane season? It is common, it is cheaper, and it needs planning. The Atlantic season runs from 1 June to 30 November, and the real concentration of risk is August through October. Hurricane Dorian in 2019 was a category five landfall on Abaco and Grand Bahama that killed at least 74 people and caused around 3.4 billion US dollars of damage, which is the scale the season can reach. In practice a September trip means watching the forecast, buying insurance that covers weather cancellation, and accepting that some Family Island lodges and restaurants close for part of the autumn anyway. Storms are tracked days ahead, so the risk is disruption far more often than danger. ### How do I get between the islands? Three ways, and they suit different budgets. Flying is the normal one: Bahamasair and a set of smaller domestic carriers run short hops out of Nassau, usually twenty to forty minutes, and almost every route runs through Nassau. Ferries connect Nassau with several of the nearer islands and are quicker than they look. Mailboats are the cheap and slow option, running freight and passengers on schedules built around cargo. Charter flights and boat transfers cover the gaps, particularly to the cays. Budget a whole day for any move that involves a connection, and do not plan to leave one island the morning of an international flight. ### Is Nassau worth staying in, or should I go straight to a Family Island? Worth two or three nights, and worth choosing where you stay. Nassau holds the things no other island has: the National Art Gallery, the Pirates of Nassau and Pompey museums, the John Watling’s distillery, Fort Charlotte and the Queen’s Staircase, the Fish Fry at Arawak Cay, and Junkanoo in the Christmas and New Year weeks. It is also the busiest place in the country on a cruise day, so downtown between mid-morning and late afternoon is at its worst and the rest of the island is not. Stay on Cable Beach or Paradise Island if you want a resort, in a guesthouse over the hill if you want the city, and give the beaches at the eastern end of New Providence a morning before you fly on. ## Related countries - [United States](https://wimup.com/country/united-states.md) - [Canada](https://wimup.com/country/canada.md) - [All of North America](https://wimup.com/north-america) Part of [North America](https://wimup.com/north-america.md) ## Sources - [Tourism board](https://www.bahamas.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Entry](https://www.bahamas.gov.bs/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Value added tax](https://www.bahamas.gov.bs/value-added-tax-vat?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [National parks](https://bnt.bs/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.