Introducing Tobago
While Trinidad booms with industry and parties all night, tiny Tobago (just 42km across) slouches in a deck chair with a beer in hand watching its crystalline waters shimmer in the sun. Though Tobago is proud of its rainforests, fantastic dive sites, stunning aquamarine bays and nature reserves, it’s OK with not being mentioned in a Beach Boys song. It accepts its tourists without vigor, but rather with languor, and allows them to choose between plush oceanside hotels or tiny guesthouses in villages where you walk straight to the open-air bar with sandy bare feet, and laugh with the locals drinking rum.
When Hurricane Flora ripped by in 1963, she blew away the agro-based plantation economy, and the government turned its rebuilding efforts to tourism. Though there’s enough infrastructure to make navigating Tobago easy, it’s not overrun…yet. Don’t dally in visiting because times are changing. Sleepy Tobago is increasingly being woken by a jostling tourism industry that loves its great value, beauty and genuinely friendly culture.
Most of the white-sand beaches and tourist development are centered on the southwestern side of Tobago, starting at Crown Point and running along a string of bays up to Arnos Vale. The lowlands that predominate in the southwest extend to Tobago’s only large town, Scarborough. The coast beyond is dotted with small fishing villages and the interior is ruggedly mountainous, with thick rainforest. Divers and snorkelers, and those seeking mellow days, visit the easternmost villages of Speyside and Charlotteville. The nearby uninhabited islets of Little Tobago, Goat Island and St Giles Island are nature reserves abundant in both bird and marine life.
Charlotteville
There are about four winding kilometers over the mountains from Speyside to Charlotteville, a delightful little fishing village nestled in aquamarine Man of War Bay.
Buccoo
The narrow tan-sand beach of Buccoo Bay doesn’t compete with the generous white sands of Store Bay, and its amenities aren’t as refined, but tiny Buccoo offers a taste of true local flavor: friendly folks who define laid-back, breathtaking sunsets...
Tobago destination guides
Leeward Road
The stretch of coastline from Mt Irvine Bay to Plymouth has several lovely beaches, a few sizable hotels and a slew of fancy villas hugging the greens of the golf course.
Hotels in Tobago
Guesthouses and B&Bs in Tobago
Castara
About an hour’s drive from Plymouth, Castara is a working fishing village that has become popular with tourists not wanting the inundated Crown Point scene.
Need to know
Speyside
The small fishing village of Speyside fronts Tyrrel’s Bay, and attracts divers and birders.