Eleuthera or Harbour Island
 

Starting to do my research for our next vacation and was wondering which of these two islands you would recommend. I've found great places to stay on both. We are looking for relaxing, sunning, swimming, a bit of shopping and so forth. We love places like Bermuda and Nantucket without a lot of tourist stuff. I think either one of these islands would fit the bill. Any thoughts? Thanks!

Harbour Island would probably be more what you are looking for. It is a small island and you can walk everywhere. There is a bit of shopping and one of the best beaches in the world.

There are 2 dive shops on island for some snorkle/dive trips or you can take a water taxi to a cay for a day just to relax with no one else around.

There are several really good restaurants and of course fresh fish and conch.

Eleuthera is beautiful and very laid back, but not much in the way of things to see and do, other than relax on the beach.

There is a very nice place to stay there called CocoDimama which is right on the beach and very small, but has a good restaurant on site. Also The Cove is nice a bit further north on island also close to the water.

On Eleutehra you have to have a car and since the island is so long 110 miles, it takes a long time to get anywhere, and the communities are really spread out.

Hope this helps.

Thanks wantssomesun! Thats exactly what I needed. Harbour Island sounds perfect for us.

It has been a while since I was on Eluethra and Harbour Island, but I would definitley recommend Harbour Island. It is cleaner, friendlier, and(not that I had any problems), but it feels much safer on Harbour island. You could also take a day trip Spanish Wells,,, just sonmething to do.. Harbour Island beaches are great!!!!,, Although if you do some driving on Eleuthra you can find very nice, very secluded beaches. All in all I would still have to go for Harbour Island.

We are leaving for Eleuthera on the 26th and are spending 10 days there. We are planning a day trip to Harbour Island. We are laid back beach bums and are looking forward to exploring the area. I'll try to post a trip report when we get back.

We'll be on Harbour Island starting Aug 2nd through the 9th, so if you are going to be there please let me know and we can hook up for a drink or we can take you on a little tour of the island.

Have a fun trip.

I'd like to chime in and vote for Eleuthera! My husband and I stayed on HI once, and Eleuthera three times. Like Gini, we are more the laid back beach bum type - I love the idea of not seeing anybody else for the whole day on the beach. That will not happen on HI. It all depends on what you want...HI will not require a car, in fact we rented bikes (or you can get a golfcart) and had lots of fun cycling around this small island, stopping at all the restaurants and the few shops. And yet we love renting an old bomber car in Eleuthera and taking day trips, investigating the beaches (Elusive Beaches of Eleuthera is a great book for this purpose). We also love cooking and so we rent a beachfront villa on Eleuthera. There are very few villas on HI, and they are very expensive compared to Eleuthera.

P.S. to Gini: I clicked on your name and saw that you planned a trip to Eleuthera last summer...where did you end up staying and how was it? What about this summer?

Hi Joan,
I think we communicated via email a few times last year. We were all set to go last year and then..... we discovered we were expecting a baby! A big surprise baby I might add. But alas our 8 month old son and 8 year old daughter are going to be spending time with the Grands as Mom and Dad are outta here for a much needed trip to Eleuthera! We can't wait! We are staying at Casaurina Bay. I would love to chat with you again and get some tips from you. We leave Sunday.

Gini, what a great reason to cancel a trip! Congratulations! I'm sure by now you definitely NEED that mom & dad alone-time. Enjoy...check out Cocodimama for dinner - I've heard it's great. Have some conch salad and a Kalik for us!

My wife and I were on Harbour Island and Eleuthera last spring. Loved it so much, we're going back next year - going to probably stay on Harbour Island.

Hard to say which island you'll like best. Harbour Island has a higher level of concentrated restaurants - not to say Eleuthera doesn't have their fair share of good restaurants too.

Here are a couple of sites you may enjoy:

http://www.harbourislandguide.com/

http://www.eleuthera-map.com/

Hope you have a great trip!