From indulgent luxury villas to verdant plantations, Barbados offers the best of the Caribbean, no matter the budget  

Arriving in Bridgetown, the sun-drenched capital of Barbados, visitors are greeted by the thump of calypso music and wildly vibrant colors so idiosyncratic to this part of the Caribbean. Yet, this small paradise isle has a cozy character that larger island neighbors do not. All Barbadian beaches are public. And visitors are often (pleasantly) surprised to learn that Barbados holds several festivals each month, a living testament to the fact that locals regularly rejoice over the beauty their island has bestowed on them, and are eager to share it.

Today, Barbados has become one of the most sophisticated tourism destinations in the Caribbean, offering everything from luxury villas set alongside white-sand beaches to quaint plantation houses nestled within the lush tropics. Barbadians embrace their rich colonial past, with travelers able to share in this heritage through historic colonial-style properties, a gastronomic tradition upheld by some of the region’s finest chefs, and a UNESCO-certified, colonial-era downtown district filled with diverse shopping experiences.

Increasingly eco-conscious, the island also has a growing amount of remote boutique eco-lodges, as well as eco projects, such as an initiative that invites volunteers to save and harvest the eggs of endangered sea turtles. All of this has made Barbados one of the Caribbean’s most popular stop-off points for cruise tourists, who arrive to experience the rich beauty, culture and history this island has to offer.

Barbados’ most popular festival, the Crop Over is an annual celebration with a 200-year-old tradition rooted in the island’s sugarcane past. A six-week summer event, it was originally held to celebrate the culmination of a successful sugar harvest, back when Barbados was the world’s largest producer of the crop, and is still steeped in the sugar harvests even today.

Barbados’ summer period is a pageant of the island’s culture, which builds up to a street parade finale called Grand Kadooment, where masquerading calypso and soca bands march alongside revelers dressed in sequin costumes decorated with a kaleidoscope of feathers. Open to local and international participants, the main parade is often visited by international celebrities, including Barbados’ homegrown superstar, Rihanna. Next scheduled for August 3, 2020, the Grand Kadooment attracts about 15,000 visitors every year.