The Bahamas Travel Guide
Dean's Blue Hole, Long Island, Bahamas. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
The Bahamas are an archipelago of some 700 islands and 2,400 cays scattered between Florida and Cuba, famous for water so clear it looks Photoshopped: the Exuma Cays' swimming pigs, Dean's Blue Hole (the world's second-deepest, at 202 metres), and the pink sands of Harbour Island.
Nassau, on New Providence, holds the history: the colonial Bay Street, the Queen's Staircase, the straw market. Beyond it, the Out Islands are the real Bahamas: Eleuthera, the Exumas, Andros for bonefishing, the Abacos for sailing.
Key destinations in The Bahamas
Exuma CaysThe swimming pigs of Big Major Cay and the Thunderball Grotto.
Harbour IslandPink Sands Beach: three miles of blush-coloured sand.
Dean's Blue Hole, Long IslandThe 202-metre blue hole, a freediving mecca.
AndrosThe largest island: blue holes, bonefishing, the third-largest barrier reef.
EleutheraThe long thin island: the Glass Window Bridge, surfer beaches.
Queen's Staircase, NassauThe 66 steps carved from limestone by enslaved people in the 1790s.
Atlantis, Paradise IslandThe mega-resort: Aquaventure water park, the Dig aquarium.
Hover an island to explore it. Click a city pin to open its guide.
Top Cities & towns in The Bahamas
Regional food
- Conch fritters and cracked conch, the national seafood
- Bahamian macaroni pie and peas n' rice
- Sky juice (gin, coconut water and condensed milk)
Getting there
Lynden Pindling International (NAS) in Nassau is the main gateway, with direct flights from the US east coast, Canada and London. Bahamasair and mail boats link the Out Islands; ferries run Nassau-Paradise Island and to the nearer cays.