Kingston, Jamaica: The Complete Guide for First-Time Visitors
Most first-time visitors to Jamaica land in Montego Bay and never see Kingston at all, and most guidebooks are...
In This Guide
Barbados is small enough that people assume they can see it all by taxi and the odd tour bus, and technically you can. But the island rewards a car in a way a lot of Caribbean destinations don't: the roads are genuinely good, the distances are short (nothing on the island is much more than an hour's drive from anywhere else), and the difference between the flat, developed west coast and the rugged, wave-battered east coast is the kind of contrast you want to see on your own schedule, not squeezed into a half-day excursion.
Barbados requires visitors to hold a local Visitor's Driving Permit to drive a rental car, which sounds like a hurdle but isn't one, it's issued on the spot through the rental company using your valid home driver's license, for a small fee, and it covers you for the length of your stay. You'll also need:
Like Jamaica, Barbados drives on the left, so if you're arriving from a right-hand-drive country, give yourself the first ten minutes near the airport at low speed before merging onto the highway or into Bridgetown traffic.
The West Coast (the "Platinum Coast") — Holetown, Speightstown, and the string of calm-water beaches between them. Roads here are smooth and well-signed, easy driving even on your first day.
The South Coast — St. Lawrence Gap and the area around it, the island's main strip for nightlife and dining, with more traffic and more pedestrians after dark, so this is where you'll want to drive a bit slower in the evenings.
The East Coast — Bathsheba and the Atlantic-facing side of the island, dramatically different from the calm west coast: bigger surf, rougher coastline, and the island's best views, plus the Andromeda Botanic Gardens and the surf breaks that make Bathsheba a destination in its own right. The road out there winds through the hilly interior, the Scotland District, and it's worth the drive purely for the scenery even before you reach the coast.
The interior — Harrison's Cave, Barbados's underground cave system with a tram tour through stalactites and underground streams, and Gun Hill Signal Station, an old military lookout with one of the best panoramic views on the island. Neither is reachable easily without your own transport, since they sit inland, away from the coastal resort strips.
Most car rental pickup on the island happens right at or near Grantley Adams, on the south side of the island, which puts you within 15-20 minutes of the south coast strip and 30-40 minutes of the west coast depending on traffic through Bridgetown. Booking your rental in advance, rather than arranging it after you land, matters more in high season (December through April) when the better vehicles and the best rates get taken first.
Compared to Jamaica's mountain roads or Negril's stretch of coast highway, Barbados is an easier place to drive. Main roads are well-maintained, signage is decent, and distances are short enough that you're rarely more than an hour from your starting point. The main adjustments: roundabouts are frequent (and go clockwise, since you're driving on the left), rural roads narrow quickly once you're off the main routes, and Bridgetown's one-way system takes a few wrong turns to get used to.
Since most visitors fly into Grantley Adams and out of the same airport, a round-trip rental booked at once, rather than arranged separately for arrival and departure, is almost always the simpler and better-priced option, and it means you're not hunting for a return option on your last day when you'd rather be at the beach.
Esteem Car Rental picks up right at Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados, with transparent daily rates and no surprise fees at the counter. See available cars in Barbados and get the Visitor's Driving Permit sorted at pickup, not as an afterthought.