Southern Palms Beach Club

The location is great, lots of bars and restaurants close by and a supermarket 5 mins away (very expensive supermarket!) right on a beautiful beach. The hotel is stunning. The first few days I felt like I was in a retirement home. Lots of old people. Apparently people have been coming back for years. Then school holidays began and younger families arrived. It was like a different hotel! I agree not much atmosphere though. The food in the restaurant was nice, not cheap but nothing in Barbados is cheap! Staff were lovely. Very helpful when my son was sun burnt. Came to our room and covered him in yoghurt! The sun is sooo hot. He had factor 50 on all day and still burnt so be warned! I recommend harbour lights evening extravaganza, pure ocean on a Wednesday with beach entertainment, primo’s at the end of the street was amazing food and setting by the sea. We were room only and breakfast expensive so we ate over the road at happy days and was lovely for brekkie. Fat Andy’s opposite good for lunch. All in all we really enjoyed our stay, the highlight was swimming in the sea in my own with about 6 turtles! There are lots on the beach so need to pay for a tour although we did a Tiami catamaran cruise which was fab. Be careful of the rum punch, it’s stronger than it tastes! Thanks to all the staff, especially the porter (Shohan?) and the lovely restaurant staff. Would recommend this hotel but could do with livening up a bit. Oh also the boatyard was a great day out for our teenagers.

Just back from staying at the Southern Palms in Barbados for 10 days. The hotel is on a beautiful beach, which takes your breath away when you first see it, the sea was very rough for the duration of our holiday so we weren’t able to swim in it the whole time as the red flags were out, however there is an area you can swim in the sea a bit further up on the beach. There were so many turtles directly opposite the hotel in the sea, but you obviously weren’t able to swim in the sea to see them close up but it was great from a distance too. The hotel is pleasant and nice enough but it was just a bit too boring for us. Not much personality or any sort of good vibes! It was all very serious and strict. Not much fun entertainment! A couple of chilled bands while we were there but they finished at 9pm ! As the majority are of an older generation which is absolutely fine but I guess the hotel don’t feel they need to liven it up much but I’m sure EVERYBODY would love it if they did, especially as the other hotels had fire breathers and other great entertainment going on ! Luckily it was on the Gap so lots of restaurants around and a bit of entertainment in some of the places. Annoyingly there is a bar directly opposite that has karaoke and singers in which is good but they go on til the early hours which sounds as though it is right outside your bedroom ! So so load and you hear everything !!! So annoying. The food at the hotel is good and we didn’t have to wait too long for it. The staff a nice enough, they are very professional and take their jobs very seriously. Would be nice if they smiled a bit more though and relaxed a bit. But I understand they are probably not allowed too! So the hotel does need to losen its reigns a bit. For us we would not stay here again simply because of all I wrote above and that the beach although looks beautiful there is nothing else todo there, no water sports etc. we spent most of our days at Carlisle Bay at The boat yard or Savvy on the bay! So much more fun for my husband daughter and I! There are water activities and boat trips out to see the turtles and a ship wreck’ lots of good music and happy, smiley people. We took a ZR bus there which was an experience in itself! I recommend waking up early and seeing the race horses at Pebbles beach! A ZR bus away! So lovely seeing them. We also went to Harbourlights dinner show at Carlisle bay one evening (they do them on a Weds and Thurs evening) we loved it and so much fun ! We ate at Primo (top of the Gap) lovely lovely food and sea views. We ate at a lot of restaurants at the Gap and all really good. We also took a trip to QP bistro st the Cliff one night and wow what an amazing restaurant with delicious food and entertainment. We also ate at Cafe luna in Oistens which was also amazing. On a Friday night Oistens have there Fish market on which all the locals go too and holiday makers ! They have local singers, food stalls (we ate at Chillin and grillin which was recommended and it was good) local arts and crafts etc, So many people and worth a visit If we were to go back to Barbados we would deffo stay near Carlisle Bay Area. Although the Gap is good for a variety or restaurants in walking proximity. So it’s personal preference to what you’re looking for during your holiday.

We’re just back from a 7 night stay at the Southern Palms hotel. The positives: Beach front location Welcome drink in room Good WiFi Decent breakfast Friendly staff (generally) Sunday steel drum band was great The not so positive: Rooms desperately in need of modernisation, very very dated. Ocean view room on ground floor (103) is basically a view of a hedge - asked to swap on check in but advised not possible without paying an additional £155 per night. Ask for a room not on ground floor!! Reservation of sun loungers by other guests from circa 6am every day - ridiculous Music from Chattel House bars very loud until 2am some evenings so take ear plugs (air vent in bathroom makes it feel like the singer is in your bedroom) Hotel caters for guests aged 60 plus (suspect many returning) and lacks any atmosphere. St Lawrence’s gap is basically a strip with a small selection of bars and restaurants which just wasn’t for us - we found the west coast of the island better. Not the fault of the hotel but the sea was extremely choppy for our entire stay (red flag) so we could t go in the water. We went to the west coast beaches which were far calmer and nicer. We booked a late check out room at 5pm on the day of our departure which never materialised so we had to fly home covered in sun cream and sand after a day on the beach ( staff blamed other guests). Pool bar service super slow - husband ordered chicken wings on our last day which took c2 hours to arrive.

Really enjoyed Southern Palms this year. We did visit the hotel last year but this was the first year we have stayed in it. We were in a garden room. It was in need of a refurb and although the balcony and room were a decent size we didn’t have much daylight in the room not helped by a proper door to the balcony. Service in the bar area is pretty slow i agree with others but the whole complex is clean and i found staff helpful the reception were always great too. The location of the hotel is perfect. Always the normal idiots that put towels on sunbeds around the pool (the hotel should remove these) but plenty of sunbeds on the beach whatever time you visit. A minor gripe is that it’s really hot and the sun is intense but you can’t get umbrellas on the beach. I think it was the only hotel that doesn’t supply when asked. i did see 3 or 4 but that’s not enough. Will come back next year but do think the beach umbrellas are needed. Happy hour every day except Monday 6-7pm. Again really good before leaving for the evening.

Hotel has a fantastic location on the white sands of Dover Beach. Rooms are clean, very large and had a great sea-view balcony. Furnishings getting somewhat dated and could do with a refresh but not a major concern. Great facilities with 2 pools which were never crowded and sun loungers also available on the beach. Breakfast buffet very good, although pricey if not booked as part of a package. The key thing that lets the hotel down is the slow and chaotic service in the bar/restaurant by the pool. It could take up to 30 minutes to get served and equally long to get the bill. Situation not helped by the fact that they were implementing a new billing system which either didn’t work or staff hadn’t been adequately trained as half the time they were hand writing bills. As a result we never bothered dining in the hotel at night and plenty of other good restaurants in St Lawrence Gap (recommend Mimosas, Harlequin and Primo). If management sort out the service ( which has been noted in several other reviews) this could easily warrant 5 stars.