Discover Barbados Beaches

Barbados is a flat island shaped like an upside down leg of ham. There are beaches everywhere. Along the east coast they are wide and wind-blown, pounded by the Atlantic, a love of surfers the world over. The south and west coasts are much calmer featuring miles and miles of unbroken white sand beaches. Perfect for that sunset stroll.

Barbados beaches are some of the most beautiful in the world. Because Barbados is a coral island, its beaches are made from finely groud coral forming a clean fine grain.

Of course, not all of Barbados' coast is sand; for the nature lover there are mangrove swamps, cliffs, tide pools and areas where beds of low lying coral rock, sandstone, clay or shale reach out to the sea.

Barbados' swamps are to be found in Chancery Lane, Inch Marlow and Graeme Hall in the South and South West of the Island. They are the major wetlands of Barbados providing an assemblage of plants and animals forming an important link in the food chain of offshore fish and birds.

Low lying rock formations are particularly prevalent along the North East and South Easter points; periwinkles, sea anemones, crabs and snails make their home along these rocks.

Tidal flats and wave ridges occur mostly off the East coast within eroded limestone plateaus and other low lying rock formations.

On the South and South West Coasts you will find many tide pools, an important ecological resource, acting as nurseries for juvenile fish and other permanent residents like the ghost crab and sea roaches as well as marine plants like sea moss which is made into a health drink.

Cliffs of coral and sandstone overlook calm bays and rugged coastlines and sometimes small, cozy soft sand beaches nestle between heads of coral sculptured by the sea. Most of the larger cliffs are in the North, in the parish of St. Lucy.