The shining sands and glittering resorts of the west coast of Barbados
The beaches of Barbados are of course one of the primary draws of the country, with the best of the bunch to be found along the Platinum Coast of the island’s west side. Facing away from the wind but towards the Caribbean sunset, the warm waters lap the sugary sand, with turtles and rays gliding among the reefs just offshore as the palm trees sway. It doesn’t get much closer to paradise than this.
We spent a week at one of the Platinum Coast’s many resorts, the Colony Club, just north of Holetown and about an hour’s drive from the airport. There is an expansive reef to explore just a few steps to the south, and the hotel had stationed a couple of pontoons about 100 metres offshore as a lounging/jumping off station for swimming with the turtles, which we did every morning before breakfast. A series of lagoon pools wound their way amongst the hotel gardens, and we’d find ourselves at the swim-up bar for happy hour each afternoon. The hotel was in fact so splendidly glorious, that we only left it a couple of times during the week, to explore Holetown and Bridgetown, before returning to the calm and serenity of the resort.
We booked a room with a sea view, and woke up to this vista every morning – this was absolutely the way to do the Caribbean.
Lobby and reception area of the Colony Club, complete with koi pond. The hotel dates back to 1960 but had recently been purchased by Marriott, together with its three sister hotels along the coast, under the branding Elegant Hotels.
Pretty purple flowers in the koi pond. I’m certainly no botanist, but I think these may be the King of Siam water lily. I can, however, be sure that they are pretty purple.
The largest of the four pools, as seen from the restaurant. Lounging around in the pool after snorkelling in the reef was a great way to relax.
I love lagoon pools that wind their way through tropical gardens, these were no exception. The swim-up bar was the icing on the cake.
The Colony Club as seen from the inter-hotel water taxi. They always laid out more loungers than there were guests so there was no unseemliness. The water taxi runs between all four of the Elegant Hotels chain, and being free was an unmissable way to tour the coast.
The Platinum Coast’s top resort is undoubtedly Sandy Lane, where sun loungers outnumber guests by a considerably higher margin than at our billet. That the guests include Simon Cowell was reason enough for us not to book; that and the four-figure nightly price tag.
Next door is One Sandy Lane, the residence of local girl-done-good Rihanna, no less. It’s possible to rent out one of the eight private residences, but you’ll need to be connected.
Onwards down the coast and a quick stop at Tamarind, the next partner hotel. We’d planned to stop at one of the other hotels and spend a few hours at a different beach, but frankly, our own beach looked better.
A view down the coast from Tamarind at the peaceful flat sea.
Crystal Cove was the next hotel we stopped at and rejected a stay at. We took a chance and headed on to the next hotel.
This great big yellow boat was clearly visible from road and sea alike, but I can’t find any information on it. Presumably it wasn’t there for long, as it’s not apparent on satellite nor Street View either.
The final hotel in the collection, Waves has a very nice setting right on the water’s edge, but not a lot of space and a bit of a Soviet block-style building. So we stuck with the boat and headed back to the Colony Club.
There were plenty of other boats to wave at as we plied the azure waters, this one offered Flyboard, the new-fangled water jet pack strapped to your feet.
It’s not all shiny resorts on the Platinum Coast, I snapped this as we zoomed past the entrance of the half-built Four Seasons resort, which had been sitting abandoned for well over fifty seasons by the time of our visit. Popular with urban explorers, I believe it is under redevelopment again as of 2025.
Back to our lovely local beach at the Colony Club – ah, that’s better.
Our hotel included unlimited snorkelling, paddle boarding, kayaking and Hobie Cat sailing. We ventured up the coast for about an hour with limited experience and no training, but were able to turn around and get back to the hotel without ending up in St Lucia.
Another view down the spectacular Platinum Coast. Although grouped with the Caribbean islands, Barbados is fully surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean.
The hotel immediately south of the Colony Club is the Coral Reef Club, which appears even posher. We ventured in for dinner one evening to the expansive but empty restaurant, only to be turned away on account of my shorts – and not just because of their pattern.
To the north of the Colony Club is the private residence of Anthony Bamford, billionaire owner of the JCB excavators company. Hopefully only his own machines were employed in its construction.
Bamford’s mansion has a very grand portico facing the beach, along which all and sundry are free to amble along and peer in. There are no private beaches in Barbados.
A final view of the beautiful sparkling Atlantic of Barbados’s Platinum Coast. We saw turtles every time we swam, also rays and eels among the reef, and there were sand dollars to pick up from the sandy sea bottom only about ten feet down.
Sunset over the Atlantic as viewed from our hotel deck, drink in hand. The end of another superb day in paradise.
Created 2025
SnapHappyRoss 
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