Things To Do in St Lawrence

As well as bars and restaurants, food stalls and vans pop up along the Gap each day, selling home-cooked Bajan dishes for bargain prices. Try out spicy chicken, herby fish cakes or rice ‘n’ peas – or if you’re really brave, opt for barbecued pig tails. You’ll often find mac and cheese on the menu, too – although here it’s called macaroni.

Dover Beach is quieter than neighbouring beaches like Rockley so you won’t be disturbed as you snooze away the afternoon under a casuarina tree. It’s child-friendly, too, as the sand shelves gently into the sea. Behind the beach are a few wooden shacks where you can grab a spot of lunch or buy a set of beach bats that’ll keep the children occupied for a couple of hours.

When you’re in the mood for a spot of sightseeing, make your way along the coast to Bridgetown. Start off at the Parliament Buildings, where you’ll find the National Heroes Gallery and Museum of Parliament, then stroll past the bronze statue of Lord Nelson in National Heroes Square. Make time to check out the UNESCO-listed military buildings in the Garrison, too.

Sweet reggae music fills the air once a year as top artists from across the Caribbean touch down in Bridgetown for this annual bam-bam. The big concerts take place at the Kensington Oval cricket ground and Brandon’s Beach. Get those early bird tickets as it’s invariably a sell-out.

Bajan cuisine gets a chance to shine along St Lawrence Gap. Specials like pepperpot stew, or chicken and potato roti, are a good introduction to local flavours. And the seafood arrives daily from the fishing town of Oistins, down the road. Blackened mahi-mahi, fried flying fish, and beer-battered prawns are just some of the more popular dishes. Grab a pew on a terrace overlooking the Gap and practice the favourite local pastime – people watching – while you wait for your food to arrive.

Most of the bars and clubs in St Lawrence are along the Gap, so it’s the perfect place for a bar crawl. There’s a good mix of music, too – start off listening to a local band play live, then move on to a reggae bar, before dancing the night away to the latest pop tunes.

This magnificent sugar plantation estate, a 25-minute drive away, was badly damaged by fire in 1995 but has risen again from the ashes. A good thing, too, as its trove of antique furniture, lithographs and vintage horse-drawn carriages is second to none. Exploring the house, you’ll see what life was like on Barbados when sugar, known as white gold, oiled the wheels of the British Empire. And if you want to experience that luxury first-hand, put your name down for the five-course evening meal.

A 30-minute drive from the Gap, this crowd of pastel-coloured shacks in Holetown are exact replicas of the chattel homes constructed by Bajan workers on the sugar plantations. They’re filled to the brim with screen-printed T-shirts, bead jewellery, and bright coloured Barbadian pottery. Once you’ve filled your bags with handicrafts, don’t forget to stock up on Mount Gay, Foursquare or Old Brigand rum. You’ll find the best prices in the supermarkets.

Watersports are ten-a-penny on Dover Beach, but the gentle waves make it a great place for boogie boarding. You can hire boards at one of the watersports huts, or buy your own from one of the beach shops. Keep an eye out for turtles while you’re paddling – they sometimes nest here.

Shoppers should make a beeline for Chattel House Shopping Village. The stores here are set in replica wooden chattel houses, painted in pretty pastel shades. As well as the usual souvenirs and crafty gifts, you’ll find good-value jewellery, clothes and beachwear.

One of the longest standing restaurants in the Gap, Harlequin serves up tuna steak and almond-encrusted salmon. Its signature dish is chicken slathered in a creamy Cajun sauce. Pull up a pew on the veranda and you can do a bit of people watching while waiting for your food to arrive.

St Lawrence Gap is the party capital of Barbados, so if you want to dance until dawn, or hear finely drilled live bands, you’re in the right place. Start things off nice and easy with a couple of ice-cold Banks beers at a ramshackle rum shack. Later on, you can stir it up to reggae anthems under the stars at the Reggae Lounge. Or go to the swanky Sugar Ultra Lounge and you’ll see the dancefloor erupt every time a song by local girl, Rihanna, drops.