Tobago Hotels
 

Anyone stayed at the Crown Point Beach Hotel or Toucan inn. Like to stay in decent accom, but something above basic with a pool would do. Near the restaurants and a few bars. Doing a search seems to comes up with Crown point being the area to stay. Any info would be great
Thanks
Tony

I am also interested in Tobago hotels. Has anyone been to the Tropikist hotel or the Hilton?Re the Hilton- are there any restaurants close by? What would be the average cost of eating out? Also what daytrips would people recommend?

FIONA,
Tropikist , rated as 2 star, but the deluxe rooms are much better than standard.PROS: The hotel is in a great location, close to airport, beaches and lots of dining options, nice pool, rooms have nice views. CONS:lots of complaints about management, linens and the food at the hotel.

Hilton, probably Tobago's only 5 star hotel PROS:nice rooms all with ocean view,located on a beach, nice pool, Hilton standard maintained.
CONS:beach very windy and not suitable for swimming, isolated location so you will need a rental car or taxi to get around, though the hotel does provide a shuttle to the very nice Pigeon Point Beach, food ranges from excellent breakfast to average dinner, do not expect much local flavour to menu, tends to be a bit bland.

TONY'S
Crown Point Beach Hotel, excellent location, near the airport, practically on Store Bay Beach,walking distance to several restaurants and easy access to local transport.Rooms tend to be a bit on the tired side but quite adequate, they do have cabanas that are self contained and in better conditon than the rooms.

Toucan Inn is a favourite of mine, unique small hotel with Poolside Rondavels and Garden Rooms, prefer Garden Rooms for privacy. GREAT food at the restaurant Bonkers, excellent service. The only negative is that it is about 10 mins walk to the main road that will take you to Store Bay.

Another alternative is Kariwak Hotel which is on the same road as Toucan Inn, but closer to the main road..about 5 mins walk. The Garden rooms again are very private, the food is EXCELLENT and the atmosphere very relaxing. They are very much into holistic treatments and guests can do tai chi, yoga etc. What they have done with a small space is pretty cool as the rooms are surrounded with alot of foliage, there is a garden and quiet areas to relax.

As for day trips, the Bucco Reef tour is quite popular where you go to the Coral Gardens, Bucco Reef and Nylon Pool with a stop for snorkeling; not that much to see while snorkeling IMO, but it is a neat trip. On Thursdays some boats combine this trip with a beach bar b que at No Man's Land which is great, all you can eat and bar b que, unlimited beer and rum punch.There are also Catamaran trips that take you to Englishman's Bay and snorkeling.

An island tour is a must, Tobago has some very beautiful beaches like Englishman's Bay and Parlatuvier. Speyside and Charlotteville are two very nice bays, and from Speyside you can take a trip to Little Tobago Island where the coral reef has much more to see.

Here is a great site for virtual tours of Tobago:

http://www.virtually-tobago.com/frameset.asp

hope this helps!

to island babe
Thanks for all the information. The website is great. Re Tropikist
I'm not too bothered about the food at the hotel as I would prefer to eat out but am looking for reasonable and clean rooms. Are there a lot of complaints about the cleanliness of the hotel? I liked the look of the Hilton but don't really want to feel isolated.Thanks again.

Fiona,
most complaints have to do with bed linens and towels not be maintained and I remember a complaint that the jaccuzi looked great but was pretty gross. You can find LOTS of info and a lively debate about Tropikist at this site:
http://mytobago.info/

Island Babe,
I had not considered Tobago as a future vaction spot, but the Keriwak Hotel looks quite nice & reasonable as well. We have been looking for an island that has snorkeling and sights to see but has somewhere nice to stay that doesn't cost an arm & leg. I could not find a web site for the Toucan Inn. Which is nicer?

Kariwak vs Toucan Inn, two similar hotels but very different.Kariwak has been around a very long time, and as I said before stresses on a Holistic Retreat. When you are there, you are TOTALLY relaxed, they have their own herb garden where the rosemary for their delicious rosemary bread is grown. It is a small space, but very well utilised, the decor is natural, lots of wood, bamboo and foliage. The Pool side rooms share a rondavel, Garden rooms are hidden behind trees and are nicer IMO. When you are there you can't help but go to the garden and relax in a hammock. Toucan Inn is a similar small hotel, they also have rooms that share a Rondavel and Garden Rooms. The hotel is run by one of a pair of British Guys who started with just the bar and resturant Bonkers, the rooms came after. It's not as quiet a retreat as Kariwak, the space it occupies is smaller, the Rondavels are close to pool which so close to the restaurant, which is very popular so it can be busy and noisy some nights.To me, there is not that sense of total relaxation as at Kariwak, but it is more like a fun place to be since the
bar and restaurant is lively and popular. Toucan Inn is a great base if you want to get out and explore, meet people and be close to hub of activity. Kariwak on the other hand, puts you in the hub of activity as you leave the hotel's compound, but inside it is like a retreat.

Here is the website for Toucan Inn:

http://www.toucan-inn.com/

Hi,
I've stayed at the Hilton twice, and my husband and I have been very pleased with it. Island Babe is right that the beach at the hotelis not good for swimming; however, it's wonderful for long walks. I enjoy the strong wind, however, most of the time because it certainly cools things off. (Rarely, when you're lying by the pool, you may feel a bit of a chill. So you wrap yourself in the pool towel.) You can be cool at the Hilton, then drive a mile inland and be in very hot and humid air. There is only one nonhotel restaurant that I remember within walking distance of about one-half mile.
So unless you rent a car or budget some taxi fares, you are isolated. However, the area is not as built-up as Crown Point (which is too crowded to fit my Caribbean vacation dreams) and has more natural beauty.The Kariwak is a hotel with a lot of personality and good food; we've not stayed there but we've gone for dinner about 20 times in the last 6 years. But it's not on the beach. How long are you going to be there? I highly recommend staying at the Blue Waters Inn for a few days then going to Crown Point. Let me know if you have any questions: I'm off to my sixth trip in Februaty.

oonarose
we can only mange a week unfortunately. We will probably stay in Crown Point to be close to things but hire a car for during the day.
island babe
thanks again for the input.

Island Babe
Thanks for the info. Like the sound of Crown Point Cabanas, next to restaurants and a good beach. Probably do a couple of the trips as well.
Thanks again
Tony

Can't help regarding your question but may I ask if anyone has any comments about Le Grand Courlan?????