BARBADOS

First time visitor to Barbados, could use some useful info.
Staying at Divi Southwinds in March.
accepted currency?
restaurants?
car rental a good option?
safety out of resort?
any other useful info would be greatly appreciated

I hope someone answers you because we are very interested in the same questions as you. We will be there in February due to our St Maarten Divi being damaged due to hurricane Irma

ditto on st maarten....week 11......airfare is 50% less than to st maarten from boston, ma......bitter sweet

You will get a lot more answers if you go on Barbados forum on Tripadvisor.

Currency is Barbados dollars (usual exchange is 2 BD for 1 USD)- You may pay in USD but usually receive change in BD.
Area directly around the resort is very active and considered safe.
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Restaurants

Car rental optional - bus service good - drive on same side as in UK

Southwinds is on both sides of the road.

Bridgetown very busy traffic - like Manhattan -go once and make a day of it and do not go back.

BC,

Itotally agree with your last sentence. We absolutely adored our only trip to Barbados but the only negative of the entire trip was our time in Bridgetown. Unfortunately, we had to go there to do an excursion we wanted to try.

It was like driving around any other large city and not knowing where you were going, but doing it all on the ‘wrong’ side of the road. In retrospect, a taxi in and out would have been the better choice.

Otherwise we loved our trip and all we saw and experienced there. Not St. Maarten, for sure, but still a great vacation venue. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

I can still remember taking the bus into Bridgetown from the St Lawrence Gap area, I felt like I was going to work, very crowded bus, slow moving with many stops. The return trip was no better. Not a bad time once we arrived in town.

thx bobcat