Want to plan the ultimate beach vacation to the Exumas, Bahamas? This travel guide to Exumas, Bahamas has everything you need to know know about where to stay, what to do, where to eat and more.
We’ve seen quite a bit of the Caribbean such as Dominican Republic, St. Maarten, St. Barth’s, Aruba, and Mexico. Nothing is as breathtaking as The Exumas in The Bahamas! We’ve seen every shade of blue turquoise water, we swam with fish, and we had miles of beach all to ourselves. If that checks all your boxes for a tropical getaway, keep reading below for the ultimate travel guide to Exumas Bahamas!
Where to Stay
The Exumas consist of 365 islands, but we stayed on Great Exuma Island in the town of Georgetown. There are several Air BnB and hotels to choose from for reasonable prices. We ended up staying at Hideaways Exuma. We loved the central location of this hotel, the free shuttle to town, and tropic feel of the resort. Also the staff was so friendly and helpful during our entire stay here. We were also so impressed by the cleanliness of our rooms!
How to get around
We highly recommend renting a car here, but you don’t need one for your entire stay. We rented a car from Thomson’s Car Rental, which is conveniently located across the street from the Hideaway. They also have an office at the airport where you can return the car (super convenient). If you’re doing excursions, a car rental would be a waste for a day since they do take up most of the day. Taxis do exist but are expensive. A taxi from the airport to the Hideaway was $30 one way for about a 15 minute ride.
Where to Eat
This list is going to be short. We visited in September and many restaurants were closed during the off-peak time of year. Things pick back up mid-December. Nevertheless…
The Fish Fry Shacks
Located only a 10min walk from our hotel, the fish fry is a popular local spot. It consists of a parking lot and several shacks scattered around all serving the same thing, booze and food. Think of it as a Caribbean food court. The food was mainly BBQ chicken or ribs. Ironically not too many fish options. The fried shrimp was excellent. We ate at a place called the Krusty Krab two nights in a row and loved it.
Undoubtedly the most popular spot on the island, perhaps even in the entire Exumas. Located on Stocking Island, a short water taxi from Georgetown ($15 round trip), is chat n chill. A Caribbean chill vibe with plenty of Sands (beer). Here you can feed stingrays, eat fresh conch salad (a must!), and sign your name on the bar! We loved this place. We recommend going just before they open so you can catch some pictures with the stingrays before everyone comes to do the same.
What to do
Excursions, excursions everywhere! There were several companies to choose from for an excursion and they all are the same price so we opted to go with Aquaquest Escapes. They provided transport to and from our hotel, which was big for us since we didn’t have to spend $ on a taxi or car rental. We visited pretty much every spot worth checking out like: the iguanas, piggies, sharks, grotto, underwater piano, some of Pablo Escobar’s sunken airplanes, a sandbar. All really really cool spots.
We also stopped for lunch at Staniel Cay. It was a small group of 9 people onboard, so not a crazy large tour boat. They provide you with snorkeling gear, snacks, and water if you want it. They stopped at the underwater piano at our request which was super nice of them. We had a great time with the captain, CJ and would recommend this trip if you want to see all the cool spots in one day. One caveat here is that you’re at each spot for no more than 10-15 minutes. So we were on a time crunch all day trying to get photos at each spot. We were the last ones back on the boat each time! 🙈
Rent a car and go exploring!
We spent a lot of our time at Cocoplum Beach, where you will find a pristine beach with turquoise water, and swings! Yes swings in the water! Depending on the tide you can actually swing on them. Supposedly there was a circle or octagon of swings but it appears that they have been destroyed by the water. Evidenced by the pieces of wood and rope washed on shore.
The next beach you absolutely have to go to is the beach at Hooper’s Bay. It’s a little difficult to find this place but it was totally worth it. This was the icing on the cake because we were swimming with sea turtles! It was a pretty awesome scene as we stood in the water surrounded by up to five turtles at one point! There were baby turtles and adult turtles, the whole family was there! It’s a memory we won’t forget as we were the only ones there at sunset.
We were here in Sept 2019 at the same time Hurricane Dorian was ripping through the northern Bahamas in the Abacos and Grand Bahama Island. We got extremely lucky that it didn’t hit Exumas. Here are a couple links below to donate to help with the relief efforts on those islands. We donated to Bethany’s organization because she helps in every major storm that devastates an area.
We hope you found this travel guide to the Exumas, Bahamas helpful. Check out our other post here for more helpful travel guides and tips.
Cheers,
Dan
Love your pics. What kind of camera are you using here?
Author
Thank you Bill. We took these with a Canon 6D with a 24-70 lens. We now have a Canon Eos R and really like it.
Do you have a drone? How do you capture some of those shots?
Author
Hi Megan, yes we do we have a drone. We currently have the DJI maverick 2