Paradise Beach is situated on the west coast of the Barbados island. If you are into more spiritual things, this is a perfect beach for you. Why? Because this beach is known as the Voodoo beach of Barbados. Yes, you guessed correctly, there are little or no people on this beach. Which was great for me, so I had the whole beach just for myself, until a friend has joined me.
The Paradise Beach is situated very close to the hotel, where Tiger Woods got married. You will see this hotel if you are coming to Paradise Beach from the direction of Bridgetown, which is basically the best way, because if you would like to come from the other side, you have to drive across all the island up to the north and then head back down to the west. Public transport connection on this route is pretty bad, and you have to switch buses three times, and it can happen that you will have to wait for the connecting bus over an hour.
But it is true that the inlands of Barbados have a beautiful landscape, so if you do not mind spending two hours on the bus, then you should do it. No ZR vans are driving on this route, so you have to choose either the blue or the yellow bus. But the shortest route is from Bridgetown, and you will reach the Paradise Beach in about fifteen minutes. When you exit the bus (or the van), you have to walk a bit. The beach is marked by well – known sign, that says Public access to the beach. You will walk through a little forest, full of tall trees, which offer a perfect shadow, if you prefer it.
At the end of this forest, you will see the infamous sculptures,and after them, the forest ends and the beach starts. I am not sure, why is it called the Paradise Beach. Comparing to beaches, for example, in Slovenia, it deserves to be called Paradise Beach, but if you compare it to the other beaches in Barbados, it is really nothing special. But it does have a nice coral reef, which is worth checking out. If you have an underwater camera, this is the perfect place to get some good photos.
If you would like to see another 'attraction' just next to this beach, do the following: when you exit the van, do not go down to the Paradise Beach, but keep walking straight, and just around the curve, you will see some ruins. Those were ment to be luxury villas (I have read somewhere, that also Simon Cowell wanted to buy one of them), but they were never finished due to the lack of money, just like the Four Seasons Hotel (which you can see close to the Batts Rock beach). Maybe this is the reason that the beach is called like this – because of the unsuccessfull building of the villas people started believing that there is something bad about this place. You can not access to the villas, because there is a tall fence all around, but you can see them from the top of the hill.
If you ask some older local people about this beach and how it became the voodoo beach, they will tell you not to go there and there is nothing to say about it, and they will list like ten other beaches near this one and how beautiful they are and that you should definitely go to one of them.
But ask the young locals, and they will laugh at you and offer you to join you on the beach so you will not be scared. Personally, I think that those sculptures were built by them to scare people a bit. I think that they would learn a lot, if they would start charging people for seeing this place.
But now, let me describe all the benefits (and some downsides) of this beach.
As I have mentioned before, this beach is very easily accessible by public transport, and it is very close to the main road, but still enough far away that you do not hear the cars and buses.
I was at this beach three times, and everytime I was there, it was empty. You might see some people, just walking from the one side of the beach to another, or tourists taking photos, but in the water, there will be no people, except you.
And here comes the first downside – there is no life guard, because of no people.
But the Paradise Beach offers you crystal clear waters and a small coral reef just about one hundred meters offshore. The water is very shallow, there are no big waves and no currents, so you can swim as far as you want, but if you have no friends with you, you should stay closer to the shore for your own safety.
The coral reef is beautiful, with many tropical fishes and turtles. If you are not making fast movements, you can even touch them.
Second downside is, that there are no shops and places, where you can rent snorkelling equipment, close to this beach. If you decide to find the closest shop, you will eventually reach it by walking in the direction of Bridgetown, but it will take you more than an hour, which you could spend enjoying in the water. The closest snorkelling equipment rental shop is situated in Bridgetown, more precisely in the complex of Boatyard Bar (see the entry Boatyard Bar fr the detailed description and prices). So, what is the conclusion? Bring a snack and your own equipment with you, and enjoy on the empty beach the whole day.
