Travelling with children, or without much money

Two groups get advised badly about the Caribbean: families, who are told it is all resorts, and people on a budget, who are told it is expensive. Both are wrong here if you make the right choices at the booking stage.

With children

The island suits families well, and the choices that matter are made before arrival:

• Calm sheltered water — the western beaches, as covered in the material on reading a beach
• A short transfer from the airport, because the last hour of travel with tired children is the hard one
• Self-catering, so meals happen on their schedule rather than a restaurant's
• Shade at the accommodation, not just on the beach
• A fridge and somewhere to wash things
• Ground-floor or easy access, given the hills

The second matters more than people expect. An hour of winding mountain road at the end of a long flight is where family holidays start badly, and a twenty-minute transfer avoids it entirely.

Practically: keep the sun schedule strict, get out early and rest at midday, and remember that children dehydrate faster than adults. Bring what you need for smaller children — some things are available and some are not, and a small island is not the place to discover which.

What children like here

• Warm shallow water they can be in for hours
• Snorkelling from the shore, which suits confident swimmers well
• Boat trips, particularly short ones
• Fruit they have never seen, bought at a market
• Being talked to — people here are warm with children as a matter of course

The last is worth mentioning to parents used to elsewhere. Children are welcomed rather than tolerated in public here, and families frequently comment on how much easier that makes everything.

On a budget

A cheap week here is entirely achievable, and it looks like this:

• Guesthouse rather than hotel, booked direct
• Buses rather than taxis, which is a large saving
• Local food at lunchtime, which is both cheaper and better
• Market shopping, not supermarket imports
• Free things — beaches, walks, panyards, town, swimming
• Local drinks rather than imported ones

The pattern is consistent: the cheap version of almost everything here is also the more interesting version. A bus is better than a taxi, a lunch place is better than a restaurant, and a panyard is better than a hotel band.

That is not a consolation. It is genuinely how it works, and budget travellers here frequently have a better trip than people spending five times as much inside a resort.

Where the money actually goes

• Accommodation — the biggest variable by far
• Car hire — the second, and often avoidable
• Imported food and drink, which costs disproportionately
• Organised tours, some of which you can do independently
• Taxis after dark, which add up

Cutting the first two is most of the saving. Everything else on this island is inexpensive if you buy it the way local people buy it.

What not to economise on

• Travel insurance — see the material on cover; medical costs abroad are the risk
• Water, in this heat
• Sun protection
• A taxi home late at night rather than walking unlit roads
• Tipping and fair prices for people whose income is small

The last is a point of principle rather than economics. Saving a small amount by negotiating hard against someone with much less than you is the wrong kind of thrift, and it is noticed.

Frequently asked questions