Seaside lunches, historic sites and live music by the beach — just a three-hour flight from Toronto

The Bahamas boasts nearly 700 islands, but Nassau is the crown jewel. Settled by the Indigenous Lucayans as early as the 10th century, the archipelago’s capital and most populous city was once a hideout for pirates, and then established as a commercial port around 1670. Today, it offers a wealth of experiences for every traveller — from students of history to beach-sunset seekers — as I discovered on a trip this winter.

Head to Bennet’s Hill, the city’s highest point, via the Queen’s Staircase, a passageway carved in the 18th century from a limestone cliff by slave labour and now Nassau’s most visited attraction. Get a family-friendly adrenalin rush at the watermarks at the Atlantis or Baha Mar resort hotel, sip handcrafted rums in a James Bond — worthy setting, or find your spot on the sand at Cable Beach.

On an island that’s only 200 square kilometres, every attraction is relatively accessible — especially since reaching Nassau from Toronto takes just about a three-hour non-stop flight. Here are five ways to spend your next trip there.

For the festive culture: Educulture Junkanoo Museum & Resource Centre

Visit the island over Christmas and you’ll encounter Junkanoo, a sort of Bahamian Mardi Gras, featuring rainbow costumes, dancing and music. Visit anytime of the year and you can check out this museum dedicated to the festival, conveniently located beside the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas. Curated by founder Arlene Nash-Ferguson, the museum displays costumes worn through the years, along with many of the musical instruments played. Nash-Ferguson might even teach you some traditional Junkanoo grooves on instruments like the booming Goombay drum.

For a colourful seaside lunch: Compass Point Beach Resort

This is the best lunch spot on New Providence if you’re looking for proximity to the sea. At the resort’s outside dining room, you’ll be ensconced beside a waist-high wall nuzzled by gentle surf, close to a collection of cottages painted lime, coral and neon pink. Though the menu is casual (and currently being updated), the lobster tacos are delightful, and the ambience alone is worth the trip to the island’s west end. Wash down your repast with a Goombay Smash (a Junkanoo tribute), and you’ll feel downright Bahamian.

For a lesson in island history: Clifton Heritage National Park

Nassau’s history spans nearly two millennia, from the pre-colonial Lucayan settlement to august Georgian buildings, and this national park is the place to learn more about this past. Book a guided heritage tour and spend time in the ruins of a slave village next to an 18th-century great house. Explore the surrounding natural environment, then stop to reflect beside the wood-carved sculptures of African women at the clifftop Sacred Space, a collaboration between Bahamian artists Antonius Roberts and Tyrone Ferguson, near the very spot where slaves first came ashore.

For rum in a cinematic venue:John Watling’s Distillery

If you’re a James Bond fan, John Watling’s Distillery may look familiar. Housed in a scarlet-painted historic great house with sky-blue shutters and a traditional open-arms staircase, it was a setting in “Casino Royale” (2006). Take the tour for a lecture on rum distillation (everything here is done by hand using molasses from hand-cut sugar cane and traditional copper pot distillation), and finish with a tasting in an elegant room inside the 18th-century mansion.

For golden-hour views: Sunset Beach Club

An open-air bar dominates this restaurant’s main seating area, while a romantic extension at one end is festooned with flowers and foliage, and a lower deck gives you front-row seats to the sunset. Live bands are a frequent (though not constant) addition, with primarily local acts performing music from reggae to soca. Popular with both locals and visitors and hopping in the evenings, it offers a rewarding end to any day: perfect golden-hour views, accompanied by Abaco conch fritters and a signature guava lychee martini.

Mark Stevens travelled as a guest of the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, which did not review or approve this article.

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