Colony Club Hotel

In October, when we stayed, a pontoon sat out in the water off Colony Club's beach. Swimming out to it was lovely: the sea aquamarine, turtles swimming around us on the way, and nothing to do at the end but lie on it. We thought it one of the best beaches in Barbados, and the hotel has it on the doorstep, so a swim takes no planning at all.

The house came first. It was built in 1930 as a private seaside estate called The Clouds, and later became the island's first residential club. The gardens now run to seven acres, lush and tropical, around four lagoon-style pools joined by little bridges, and they are what made the setting feel magical to us. We had a poolside bungalow, which felt like a room in the jungle, though few jungles come with a pool. We would book one again.

Since our stay it has closed, been renovated and reopened, in September 2025, as a Luxury Collection resort under Marriott, with 96 rooms over three floors. The new room list has no bungalows on it. The nearest to ours, by name at least, is the Luxury Poolside Room, or the Swim-Up version for anyone who wants the pool nearer still.

The beach is where the days go. Waterskiing and wakeboarding lessons start from it and are included, so falling off costs nothing, and there are tennis and padel courts for anyone who would rather be out of breath on land. For an evening, Holetown's Chattel Village and its restaurants are about fifteen minutes' walk south. Sandy Lane's beach is three minutes by car, should anyone want to check it against this one. Or stay in: the Rum Vault keeps more than 150 rums, which is more than one stay can get through.

Families get the Kids Corner in the Easter and summer holidays, for four- to twelve-year-olds from ten till five, with lunch included and paid by the day. Grown-ups get one of the four pools to themselves. And five minutes' walk north, Folkestone Marine Park protects a reef and its resident turtles, which may explain the company we had on the swim out to the pontoon.