Grenada trip report
 

I found these boards really helpful when planning our trip to the Caribbean, so here goes.

Our family of 4 which includes my 17 yr old daughter and 15 year old son headed to Grenada for 1 week at March Break. We flew Air Canada from Toronto to Barbados, then LIAT to Grenada (after our week, we headed to the Barbados for 3 days).

We opted to take cabs instead of renting a car when needed transportation as we thought that would be a little less stressful – the combination of windy roads, crazy drivers, and left hand driving led us to this conclusion. It cost more, but worked well for us.

We stayed at the Flamboyant Hotel at the end of Grande Anse Beach. This was a great location for us. We had a deluxe 2 bedroom (2 large bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, living area with kitchen). Deluxe was a misnomer. Spacious, yes, deluxe no (but it’s what we’d expected, so it was fine). The furnishings were modest, but it worked for us (definitely could use an upgrade). I will say the bed was rather uncomfortable, and the pillows were like rocks – it made sleeping a little difficult, so if you are looking for comfort, look elsewhere. If we had stayed at a hotel a little further along the Grande Anse it would have been closer to the general store, other restaurants etc, but as we like to walk it was not really a problem. The stairs down to the beach were a non issue for us). There was a pool which we didn’t use much, to our surprise, as there was no need (our kids are competitive swimmers and usually spend a ton of time in the pool on holidays). The beach was amazing, and except for part of one morning, it was never very crowded. The kids (and my husband) spent endless hours body surfing in the sizable waves. The water temperature was perfect.

We found we alternated between day trips, and beach time. Our first day we walked the length of Grande Anse and hung out on the beach. Another day we took a trip to the Rex Grenadian to check out the snorkeling (which was okay, but nothing special), though the Sunday bbq was good (though don’t order the shrimp unless you think 5 shrimp will fill you up). We were glad we hadn’t stayed there as the beach was not nearly as nice for swimming, and the hotel is rather isolated from things (though that’s a non issue if you had your own car). We did a full day tour of the island with Mandoo – we saw a lot, and it gave us a great feel for the island. IT was well worth it. We also ventured into the market on Saturday morning (via bus which was really easy – the bus stop was about 10-15 minute walk from the hotel). Since the kids wanted to try something new, we went river tubing one morning. While it was fun, it was not worth the cost, and what the brochure said was 3 hours on the water turned out to be more like 45 minutes (perhaps its better when the water levels are higher).

As for meals, we generally had breakfast in our room, and ate lunch and dinner out. The food at the hotel was okay (actually better than expected based on reviews we’d read), but we only ate there the first night since we had a late arrival, and 2 lunches. We had pizza at the Boulangerie a couple of times (great pizza), casual dinner at a restaurant near the Boulangerie (recommended by Mandoo – basic homestyle cooking – inexpensive, and okay), as well as dinners at Savy’s (next door to our hotel – food was very good), Sur la Mer (on Morne Rouge – great meal), and Coconut Beach (somewhat disappointing). For lunch we tried the bbq at the Aquarium restaurant, Jenny’s place (very good), and a number of other local spots.

The island is really beautiful. It’s quite laid back which appealed to us. We were surprised at the general lack of tourists – a number of times restaurants were virtually empty. Even on days when cruise ships were in port, it didn’t seem too bad (with the exception of the Saturday market which was very busy). Beach vendors were not a big problem either – we’d nicely say no thanks, and they’d move along. All in all a great trip (and looking out my window at the snow, I wish we were back).

Thanks for the report. How did you like Barbados? We are staying at the Fairmount for 3 days on our way to Mustique in June.

Thanks for taking the time to post your trip report. I just love Grenada, so it was great for me to vicariously visit the island through your report.

I'm not familiar with the casual restaurant near Boulangerie--can you recall its name and can you tell me if its relatively new?

I agree with you for the most part on your restaurant evaluations. Though we liked the feet-in-the-sand aspect of Coconut Beach, we found the food disappointing. Your meal at Sur La Mer sounded *much* better than ours, however.

Wandering Texan:

Barbados was quite nice, but I like Grenada much better. Barbados is quite developed, and while we didn't explore as much it didn't appear to have the same natural beauty as Grenada.

Ejcrowe:

The name of the restaurant escapes me, sorry!

janet, I've been reading about Grenada for a while and this just whets my appetite for more. I can totally relate to your view out the window - heading to Barbados in a few weeks and am having trouble not thinking about it. Were looking into day trips to Grenada but the experts think one day would not do it justice so I think I'm going to have to finally plan a proper visit. Thanks for the great trip report.