I've had a few people ask me how we planned/scheduled our days in Bermuda. Whenever I go on a trip, I do a LOT of internet research and like to read real-life accounts to get an idea of what can be done... how far away are things... what is the attraction REALLY like.
Some things to know about Darren and I as travelers:
1) We are notoriously frugal... to a point.
There are lots of more expensive things to do and easier ways to get places. We try to balance what can practically be done for a good price while making good use of the limited time you have at a location. For example, it costs $15 to take a 15 minute express train from Heathrow Airport to central London. It would cost $2.50 to ride a train from Heathrow to Central London that isn't an express...but it would take 2 hours. I would rather spend $15 and have two more hours in London seeing the sites. If I was there for a longer period, I may take the less expensive transport.
2) We like public transportation
This love developed because many times we are literally pinching pennies and needed to use public transportation as our only affordable choice. Then we ended up having all kinds of adventures and meeting all kinds of people. We saw parts of places we normally would not ever have seen. Ask us about seeing the Queen Mary, meeting the kids that had never seen snow, the guy falling asleep on Darren, the surfing competition and shrimp truck in Hawaii, and trekking to the glacier in Alaska. All these adventures happened because of our use of public transportation.
Below is how we spent our land days during our Bermuda cruise. The cruise ship docks at the very most tippy end of the hook shaped island. You will notice on day one we went the farthest from the ship, day two we visited the middle of the island and day three we stayed super close to the ship so we wouldn't miss it.
DAY ONE - (FULL DAY)
1) NCL FERRY TO ST GEORGE
- Walk to center of St George
- Group taxi to Blue Hole
2) EXPLORED BLUE HOLE
- Walk to Gas Station for snacks
- City Bus to edge of St George
- Walk to St Catherine's Fort
3) OCEAN CEMETERY
4) ST CATHERINE'S BEACH
5) ST CATHERINE'S FORT SELF-TOUR
- Walk to Tobacco Beach
7) TOBACCO BEACH - snorkeling
- Walk to Central St George
8) UNFINISHED CATHEDRAL
- Walk to market for food and to get bus instructions
9) BUS AROUND ISLAND TO HAMILTON
- transferred to bus from Hamilton to Royal Dockyard. In hindsight we should have tried to catch the ferry to the Royal Dockyard. It would have saved time
10) BUS FROM HAMILTON to NAVAL DOCKYARD
Links to tripadvisor information:
- BLUE HOLE:
- https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147255-d207637-Reviews-Blue_Hole_Park-Bermuda.html
- ST CATHERINE'S BEACH
- https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g562687-d150392-Reviews-St_Catherine_s_Beach-St_George_s_Parish_Bermuda.html
- FORT ST CATHERINE
- https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147256-d148487-Reviews-Fort_St_Catherine-St_George_St_George_s_Parish_Bermuda.html
- TOBACCO BEACH
- https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147256-d147471-Reviews-Tobacco_Bay-St_George_St_George_s_Parish_Bermuda.html
- UNFINISHED CATHEDRAL
- https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147256-d148458-Reviews-Unfinished_Cathedral-St_George_St_George_s_Parish_Bermuda.html
- PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM
- http://www.mappery.com/map-of/Bermuda-Public-Transport-Map
What we missed that we should have seen:
ST PETER'S CHURCH
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147256-d148464-Reviews-St_Peter_s_Church-St_George_St_George_s_Parish_Bermuda.html
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DAY TWO - (FULL DAY)
1) FERRY from ROYAL DOCKYARD to HAMILTON
-walk to Fort Hamilton. On the way see:
2) BERMUDA NATIONAL GALLERY/HAMILTON CITY HALL AND ARTS CENTRE (we waited here forever for an advertised town-crier guide and one never came)
3) CATHEDRAL OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY (just saw the outside)
4)ST THERESA's CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL (just saw the outside)
5) FORT HAMILTON (one of the best forts I've ever been to. We explored it all and would mark this as a "DON'T MISS" site.
- walked back to the center of town. Found a food market across from the National Gallery/Hamilton City Hall and grabbed some lunch items
6) BERMUDA NATIONAL LIBRARY (quick walk through)
7) BERMUDA HISTORICAL SOCIETY MUSEUM (quick walk through)
8) QUEEN ELIZABETH PARK (walked through)
- Bus to Gibbs Hill Lighthouse (had to walk up the hill to the Lighthouse)
9)GIBBS HILL LIGHTHOUSE
-Walked back down hill to bus stop
-Bus to HORSESHOE BAY
10) HORSESHOE BAY
-Due to undertow and rough seas the beach was closed so we only spent a few hours there. I would love to go back.
-Bus back to Royal Dockyard
Links to tripadvisor/other information:
FRONT STREET
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147257-d147458-Reviews-Front_Street-Hamilton_Pembroke_Parish_Bermuda.html
CATHEDRAL OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147257-d148492-Reviews-Cathedral_of_the_Most_Holy_Trinity_Bermuda_Cathedral-Hamilton_Pembroke_Parish_Berm.html
ST THERESA'S CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147257-d7723539-Reviews-St_Theresa_s_catholic_Cathedral-Hamilton_Pembroke_Parish_Bermuda.html
FORT HAMILTON
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147257-d207633-Reviews-Fort_Hamilton-Hamilton_Pembroke_Parish_Bermuda.html
BERMUDA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147257-d147460-Reviews-Bermuda_Historical_Society_Museum-Hamilton_Pembroke_Parish_Bermuda.html
GIBBS HILL LIGHTHOUSE
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147261-d148485-Reviews-Gibb_s_Hill_Lighthouse-Southampton_Parish_Bermuda.html
HORSESHOE BAY BEACH
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147261-d147919-Reviews-Horseshoe_Bay_Beach-Southampton_Parish_Bermuda.html
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DAY THREE - (PARTIAL DAY)
1) WALK FROM CRUISE SHIP TO TOUR VENDORS IN DOCKYARD
2) SHIP WRECK SNORKELING CRUISE
- We used this vendor as they were located right in the Dockyard. We signed up just an hour before the trip left. We visited the Constellation and the Montana ship-wrecks. It was a highlight of our trip even with the rough seas we experienced. 3)NATIONAL MUSEUM OF BERMUDA
- We walked from where the boat docked to the National Museum. We visited the Museum until it was time to get on board to leave. It was a fantastic place and well worth the visit. When we were done, Darren went right back to the ship, I stopped to do a QUICK bit of shopping. I cut it a little close getting back on the ship!! You can see from the picture below how close the ship is to the museum but you do have to do some winding through different streets and shops to get back to the ship... so prepare accordingly.
Links to TripAdvisor/other information:
ROYAL DOCKYARD
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g562685-d148149-Reviews-Royal_Naval_Dockyard-Sandys_Parish_Bermuda.html
SNORKELING TOUR
https://www.islandtourcentre.com/reservations/#category/732
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF BERMUDA
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g562685-d196378-Reviews-National_Museum_of_Bermuda-Sandys_Parish_Bermuda.html
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There is a LOT to see and do right at the dockyard. Here is a link going over shopping, dining, attractions, and transportation:
https://www.bermuda-attractions.com/bermuda_000027.htm
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