Room 1
St. Peter & Speightstown holidays
Up in north Barbados, holidays can be as active or relaxed as you like. St. Peter parish nabs two sides of the island – its capital an old seaside town chock-full with character. And its crowning glory? Beaches so pretty they’ll blow your flip flops off.
- Flight time
- 9h
- From London
- Currency
- BD$
- Barbadian dollar
- Time zone
- GMT -4h
Getting to St. Peter
Flights come into Grantley Adams International Airport (BGI) in the southern Parish of Christ Church, which is about 30 – 40km (or 40 – 60 minutes’ drive) from most Saint Peter destinations. Both London Gatwick and Manchester airports have non-stop flights here, lasting 8.5 – 9 hours.
When you leave customs, there is usually a display of the cost of taxi fares around the island, with trips to Speightstown costing around 35 – 40 $US last time we checked. Agree on the cost of the journey with your driver before you set off, and make sure to check whether you’re being quoted in US or Barbados dollars.
Shared and private transfers between the airport and your hotel can be booked before you set off, and may be included within the cost of your holiday.
Average weather in St Peter
- Temperature (°C)*
- Rainfall (Inches)*
Holidays in St. Peter & Speightstown
Saint Peter doesn’t have the party scene you’ll find in the southwest, but that’s what people love about this end of the island. You can always find a good watering hole when you want one, with the Little Bristol Beach Bar hosting happy hours on Friday and the Mullin’s Beach Bar being another good’un – both hosting live music nights and with big screens showing live sports events.
There’s a marvellous mix of places to eat in Saint Peter, from the no-frills Bajan nosh at Fisherman’s Pub to the fine food at 13°59°, where Chef Kevin Shawcross cooks up incredible dishes with French and Caribbean flavours (try the Lobster Bisque). The Camelot Restaurant was voted Barbados’ ‘Restaurant of the Year’ by the tourism association in 2015, and Chef Jason Joseph uses seafood and local flavours to cook up some cracking cuisine. At Island Plates, sisters Pat and Marie provide a range of curries, salads and pastas, with good vegan, veggie and GF options (they run cookery classes too). You can feast on Bajan, French and Thai food at Juma’s on the seafront, while the Mullins Beach Bar & Grill do an all-day menu and brilliant BBQ’s.
While Holetown down the coast has more variety in the shopping department, you can still find a handful of shops on Speightstown’s Queen Street, the Esplanade and the Town Square – Tiyi by Design is a popular shop selling jewellery, while clothes shops include WoodsVille187 and Scandal Boutique. The Gallery of Caribbean Art has pieces from all over the Caribbean, and for a taste of real Bajan life, the fish markets in Speightstown and Six Men’s Bay are worth a visit.
Activities in St. Peter & the North Coast
We could easily spend all week snoozing on the beach in St. Peter, but when you see the number of activities available, sitting still isn’t so easy...
Watersports
Diving in St. Peter
From reefs popping with colour to wrecks steeped in history, there are some cracking dive sites around this part of the island. Look out for local companies like Reefers & Wreckers who provide PADI courses, equipment and tours. For beginners, the Spawnee is a delightful shallow reef, while at Bright Ledge you can look out for eels, nurse sharks, rays and turtles. The Great Ledge reef can be accessed from 50ft and features antler sponges, sea fans and all kinds of corals. There’s a beautiful reef called Maycock up in Saint Lucy, where white sand corridors mix with corals, sponges and oodles of rays, parrot fish and barracuda. For wreck dives, the Pamir is the nearest and most northernmost wreck, sunk in an upright position in the eighties. This makes a terrific site for first time wreck divers, who can swim in and out through holes in the hull. Down in Saint James, the SS Stavronikita is probably Barbados’ most popular wreck, with more to explore in the Carlisle Bay Marine Park further south. If you prefer to snorkel, Mullin’s Beach, Six Men’s and Smitons Bay are some of our favourite spots.
Surfing in St. Peter
Though this side of the island is less consistent than the south and east, if there’s a good north swell you can head north to Maycocks in Saint Lucy. At low-mid tide, this is an incredibly long right hander fuelled by off shore trade winds, and the beach feels deliciously secluded. With a car, you can get to Bathsheba and the Soup Bowl within half an hour to ride one of the greatest waves on the planet – experts-only but potentially the surf of a lifetime. To warm up on gentler swells, the breaks of the south coast are about a 40-minute drive from Speightstown.
The standup paddleboarding conditions are incredible on the west coast, with companies like WhatSUP providing mobile paddleboarding lessons, tours and yoga sessions on spots like Mullins Beach.
Windsurfing & kitesurfing in St. Peter
If you’re looking for a week full of kiting or windsurfing, you’re best off basing yourself at the south end of the island. This is where you’ll find some of the best beaches for wind in the Caribbean, if not the world – namely Silver Sands and Silver Rock, where international events are hosted and the legendary Brian Talma provides lessons and rentals. That’s not to say you can’t enjoy a day or two’s action from the northwest – the drive down from Speightstown only takes about 45 minutes.
Sailing in St. Peter
The island’s main sailing centre is down in the southwest around Carlisle Bay, but that’s not to say you can’t enjoy a few hours on a hobie closer to home. Heywoods beach is the best spot for this, with Edmo Watersports providing rentals last time we checked. To fully immerse yourself in the Bajan sailing scene, Carlisle Bay’s only a half hour drive from Speightstown, making day trips to the boat clubs – whether you’re learning, hiring, or watching the world sail by – more than doable.
Fishing in St. Peter
Drive half an hour or so south to Bridgetown for the best deep sea fishing charters on the island. Trips from here come in every shape and size: group and private, full and part day, totally fishing focussed or incorporating snorkelling and BBQ’s. Drinks, bait and fishing equipment are usually provided on board, and often you can cook your catch when you return to the shore – best served with a chilled bottle of banks as the sun sets.
You can join locals for open boat inshore fishing in Holetown – a cheaper, more authentic and easier to reach alternative that tends to see the same catches (barracuda, marlin, tuna…) you’d get further out at sea.
Even closer to home is the chance for a spot of shorefishing, with the pier, Goldings Bay and Six Men’s Bay being the most popular spots. Spearfishing is doable too, especially around the Cement Plate and Port St Charles.
Look out for the Barbados International Fishing Tournament, which is held in the Port St. Charles Marina every year – one of the biggest events on the Caribbean’s fishing calendar.
Canoeing & kayaking in St. Peter
We love paddling around this end of the island, which has everything from classically Caribbean beaches to rugged cliffs and caves. Kayaking Barbados provide tours around the coast, showing you the village of Six Men’s as well as the best spots for sunsets, kayak surfing and snorkelling with turtles. They usually hire out kayaks too, if you want to paddle your own path – as do most of the bigger hotels and resorts.
Land activities
Golf in St. Peter
The nearest golf courses are down in Saint James, where three belong to the glittering Sandy Lane Estate – The Country Club, The Old Nine and The Green Monkey. The latter is a fantastic Fazio designed course, usually only accessed by SL guests, while non-guests can usually pay green fees to play on the others (Fazio also created Country Club). Without leaving the same parish, you can also play the Royal Westmoreland Golf Course (by Trent Jones Jr.) and the Apes Hill Club championship course – both with spectacular views over the coast. Barbados’ other golf courses are further south in Christ Church, including the Barbados Golf Club and Rockley Golf & Country Club.
Cycling & mountain biking in St. Peter
There’s a gorgeous ruggedness about this part of the island, which is oodles of fun to explore on two wheels. Ride the 25km trail along the Atlantic coast to Pico Teneriffe, or head east into Scotland District for exciting fields of cows and cacti. We haven’t found tons of local tour companies on previous visits, but you can get in touch with Bike Caribbean and MountainBike Barbados on the south coast who often run tours around this end of the island (and provide hire too, if you haven’t brought your bike). If you’re not familiar with Barbados’ roads and paths, this is your best bet for cycling in Barbados – route markers and road standards are improving, but it helps to have a local in the lead who knows the place inside out.
Walking & hiking in St. Peter
We love the variety of walking and hiking routes around Saint Peter, which somehow manage to cram in wind-battered cliffs, postcard-ready beaches, rolling hills and thick jungle. Cove Bay and Hayman’s Factory are often used as starting points for the hikes organised by the national Hiking Association, which set off on certain mornings, afternoons and evenings and are open to all. The Grenade Hall Forest has some terrific paths through woodland, with signs to point out the natural remedies of the plants and trees you’ll pass (don’t miss the views from the signal station here). Saint Andrew’s ‘Scotland District’ is within easy reach – a spectacular area that UNESCO have had their eyes on for a while now. Here you’ll find the highest peak on the island, Mount Hillaby and rugged east coast beaches like Walker’s Beach, flanked by craggy cliffs. For a leisurely amble closer to home, set off from Mullins beach at low tide and wander over to Gibbes Beach – stick around for the sunset which is spectacular from here.
