Here is a copy of our trip report on our trip to Grenada in May, 1999. It may be a bit dated in parts, particularly road conditions. It is essentially the same as it appears in Caribbean Travel Roundup.<br><br>Grenada is called the Spice Island, and much of its economy is based on nutmeg, other spices, and bananas; it is developing tourism, but development so far is mostly in the south, the Grande Anse -Pte. Saline-L'Anse aux Epines areas. The rest of the island is "unspoiled". Perhaps because they do not depend on tourism for income, people tend to show a real interest in visitors and are very friendly and helpful. Where tourists are more common, there are the usual vendors, some of whom can be aggressive, particularly if they feel they are not being treated respectfully. For the most part, a polite no, thank you with a smile is accepted. As everywhere nowadays, there are drug and other social problems, including crime, but nothing that appears particularly obvious to the visitor, who need take only the usual common sense precautions in dealing with an unfamiliar place. <br><br>We stayed at Blue Horizons, a cottage hotel a few minutes walk from Grand Anse beach and a very good value. Very well run and maintained, rooms have fully equipped kitchens, excellent restaurant, a nice pool and friendly staff - people on the island generally are very friendly. It is a sister property to the much more expensive Spice Island Inn, and allows use of some of their beach facilities. Also within walking distance of a local shopping center with supermarket.<br><br>Getting around can be by taxi, organized tours, or public bus for the adventurous. We prefer a rental car.. Many people are reluctant to drive on Grenada, and it can be a challenge, but it is not that bad when you get used to it. A lot of the roads were being re-surfaced and widened last summer. Driving is on the left, which may bother some. For those who are uncertain about driving, let me give a few details. <br><br>The road from the airport to Grand Anse is no problem. From Grand Anse to St. George's the road has been rebuilt; good surface, reasonably wide 2-lanes. It does have a lot of traffic and as is common in the Caribbean, vehicles may be parked anywhere along it. However, it should offer no real problems. It is a straight-forward drive to the waterfront where there is usually ample street parking. You can walk around some of the old streets where there are some interesting old buildings, walk to the market, Fort George, etc. A good time to do this for the first time to get your bearings is Sunday, when it will be very quiet, but of course the shops will be closed. Returning is not so easy because of narrow one-way streets; study the map first. You will be looking to turn right at Rudolph's Restaurant, and again immediately. These streets are narrow and have a feature common to many in-town as well as country roads: vertical sided drainage channels right at the edge of the pavement. You need to be slow and careful. Do not drive in the market area, or anywhere else in St. George's that you don't have to. <br><br>The road to L'Anse aux Epines, where there are other hotels and restaurants, as well as other roads in the Grand Anse - Pte Saline area are narrow and may be pot-holed, but are not a problem to drive. <br><br>The road up the East coast through Grenville to Levera and Sauteurs is also being rebuilt. It is very good in many places (even curbs to keep you out of the drainage ditches).<br><br>The West coast road is narrower; not too bad, at least up to Gouayave, but you will have to be careful getting to it through St. George's. Going via the inland side is tricky; know the street map. You can go via the Sendal tunnel; more straight-forward, but a lot of traffic and the return can be confusing. <br><br>The road over Grand Etang is narrow, full of steep hills and hairpin turns, and here is where the knuckles may begin to turn white. The surface is in good condition, however. Sunday is a good choice to avoid some traffic, especially trucks. I think the Grenville side is easier. <br><br>Other main roads in the South are narrow and often pot-holed and are best taken after you have some experience. <br><br>In all cases, besides the ditches and parked vehicles, you may find large numbers of school children on the roads in the afternoon. Some minibus drivers are maniacs, but they also do this for a living so presumably have adequate survival skills. Most other drivers seem quite reasonable. On the positive side, speeds are by necessity much slower than you will be used to (even if they don't seem that way), so there is more time to react. As to whether you need a 4-wheel drive jeep, if you are a first-timer, you will not go anywhere a car will not go (although you might not take your own car there), so the only reason for a jeep is psychological. My suggestion is to get the smallest (narrowest) vehicle you can; it is helpful when you have to pass a truck on a one and a half lane road. A final point - road or street signs, both in town and in the country, are infrequent, and the car rental road maps they are using now are pretty poor. The map in the tourist magazine is much better but too small. By studying them both, you can find you way, and people are very willing to help. If you stray from the main road, it becomes obvious within a few yards from the width and/or pavement.<br><br>Restaurants:<br>Grenada is not big on 5 star gourmet restaurants a la St. Martin, but it does have some good ones and opportunities to get local food. Most restaurants add a 10% service charge to the bill.<br>Nutmeg - in St. Georges, has local food - stewed and curried lambi (conch) is always good here. They also have decaf, which many places do not. Vegetable roti at lunch was excellent with lots of spicing. Also try the sea moss, a local drink similar to a milk shake. Nutmeg is on the second floor and a nice overlook of the harbor if you can get a window table. Rudolph's - also in St. George's is a little more upscale than Nutmeg, still with a local flavor. Also good lambi, among other things. Tropicana - approaching St. George's - has very tasty Chinese dishes as well as local food, and a real budget-balancer. Mama's - on the road into St. George's from Grand Anse. This is a legendary where you get 18 or 19 different dishes, except for the soup to start and the fruit plate dessert all presented at once. Some are unusual, all are traditional Grenadian dishes, and if you don't like one or two, there is plenty of food so you will not be hungry. Don't expect "decor". <br>True Blue Bay and La Belle Creole are both excellent - the latter the most expensive. La Boulangerie - in the Marquis shopping center on the Grand Anse road, is a French bakery/cafe with espresso and baked goods. Their cinnamon rolls are the best in the Caribbean.<br><br>Beaches<br>Grenada has a lot of beaches. Here are descriptions of a few that we actually set foot on this trip.<br><br>Grand Anse is a world class beach with a number of activities but not too many. Recieves a lot of cruise ship passengers. Morne Rouge - just along from Grand Anse - smaller, very nice, quieter except when a boat load of cruise ship passengers is deposited. There is a bar at which you can get refreshments and I think they have beach chairs available. Pink Gin - Point Saline on the west side of the airport - no doubt renamed to appeal to the tourist; another map calls it Pingoulin Beach. The Aquarium restaurant is on one end, and you can get beach chairs there. The Rex Grenadian hotel is at the other the other end.<br><br>La Sagesse - a little way up the east coast. A quiet and peaceful beach with a restaurant Also a nature sanctuary.<br><br>Levera - in the national park at the northern end of the island; very pretty and very few people. Driving in you will pass Bathway Beach which is very popular locally. There is a visitor's center here, and some refreshments. Levera beach is reached by continuing on the gravel road.<br><br>Antoine Bay - unsurpassed for a long, deserted, clean and totally unspoiled beach backed by the traditional palm trees. Fine, firm black and brown sand that is perfect for long beach walks. Water may be a bit rough for swimming.<br><br><br>Points of interest<br>. <br>St. George's market is bustling; actually a bit hard to take, but the Grenville market on Saturday is a local produce market supplemented by T-shirt and other vendors, but a much more low key and a more pleasurable experience than the St. George's market that gets all the publicity. However, you have to get to Grenville on Saturday morning. Lots of local fruits and vegetables, some straw products and other things. Very low pressure - one or two people asked if we wanted something, but no pushiness. We bought some fruit and local candy - prices asked seemed too low to even consider bargaining (e.g., 4 mangos for $1EC).<br><br>St. George's is a pretty town with a couple of old forts that give good views. Very little in the way of shopping, but a few interesting shops for local products; interesting little museum. It can be crowded, especially around the market square.<br><br>Dougaldston Estate - the decaying remains of a large, old spice plantation that is still operational (just). You can see something about spice processing and of course buy samples. It does have the feel of history.<br><br>Laura Spice Garden - a modern variant of Dougaldston, where you will get a good tour of growing herbs and spices. <br><br>Clark's Court sugar factory - actually a rum distillery, since they no longer produce sugar. Fascinating for anyone interested in 150 year old steam driven machinery that is still in operation. You can get a tour for which you tip the guide as you wish. You can taste and buy samples of their products, which are very good. We had visited the Westerhall distillery on a previous trip and it was equally interesting in different ways. The oldest, at River Antoine, is on the list for next time.<br><br>Bay Gardens - a botanical garden (actually a commercial nursery) that in previous visits has afforded a nice walk through topical plants and flowers. This time there were not many flowers, and it seemed overgrown and uncared for. Can't put it on our recommended list.<br><br>Mount Gado - there are brochures touting a new rain forest reserve with marked trails and a lookout for viewing a large part of the island. We tried it. The road in is 1-lane rock/gravel/dirt; passable with a car but interesting when you have to pass another vehicle (we had to once). However. the place was closed, the trails were not obvious (at least their starts weren't) and there were no directions. It has possibilities, but if you want to try it, find out if they are really open and be prepared for the road in.<br><br>Flyin' Fish glass bottom boat - a 11/2 hour trip over the reef at Grand Anse that is quite good. Captain Wally comes into the beach just north of Cot Bam around 10 and 2 mornings and afternoons. He has a sign on the beach, and there may be a brochure in your hotel.<br><br>There is a lot of opportunity for hiking, which we do not do. A number of waterfalls are pretty, but avoid Annandale, which has obnoxious and pushy "guides".<br><br>Tourist hassles<br>We see complaints from time to time about aggressive beach vendors on Grenada. We did not find any. There are a number of vendors selling T-shirts and coverups along the back of the beach, but they seemed quite passive - if you approached and looked interested, they would make their offers. A few others walk the beach; a couple of them approached us but a simple "no, thank you" was enough. We did see one vendor berating a couple of women tourists, however. Not sure why, but the impression was that they had promised to buy from him and then told him they had bought from someone else. We have heard that there are one or two obnoxious vendors who give the rest a bad rep. A vendor's market is being built, and reportedly all vendors will have to be based there in the Fall. Grand Anse is patrolled by local police. Didn't spend much time in St. George's. A couple of taxi drivers offered their services, but were not pushy about it and seemed not at all upset when we said we had our own car. There is one panhandler who has worked the waterfront for years; he can be a pest, and is best handled by saying "no" firmly and then ignoring him. Don't give him money to make him go away; then he won't. Two people at our hotel said that they were harassed to the point where they left St. George's before they wanted to, but I don't know to what extent they invited it by being hesitant. At any rate in our 4 trips we have never had a problem on the beaches or in St. George's (except the annoyance of the panhandler).<br><br>Other<br>The new Texaco service station and mini-mart on the Grand Anse-St. George's road is the current winner of the "Most Garish and Out-of-Keeping-with-its-Surroundings" award.<br><br>You can drink the water (at least we have never had a problem at Blue Horizons), although we have heard that it may not retain its quality in all parts of the distribution system.<br><br>U.S. money is accepted readily, but prices are in $EC and it is more convenient to use EC in smaller places. Also, you don't have to wonder what exchange rate you are getting. Grenada is not for shopping, although there are some good local products. There are some tourist-oriented shops in St, George's, but if serious shopping is your thing, forget it. Local jams and jellies and hot pepper sauces are good, but the supermarkets are as good a source as any. They also have pretty good liquor selections. Arawak Islander, on the road from St. George's to Grand Anse, is a good place for locally made soaps, preserves, etc. <br><br>The sun is very hot but the constant breeze keeps things comfortable. Do not forget to use sunscreen.<br><br>Very few bugs - I saw one mosquito. Expect more in the rainy season, which begins in June.<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>