Grenada

Table of Contents

Why Grenada?

Accommodations

Sandals Grenada, a 257-room ultra-luxury all-inclusive is Grenada’s largest resort, with smaller resorts, villas and affordable, family-friendly beachfront hotels.

Pink Gin Beach, Sandals Grenada (Photo credit: Sandals Resorts)

In addition to Sandals, where I’ve stayed: Allamanda Beach Resort on Grand Anse Beach.

Activities

Beaching it, snorkeling, scuba diving, kayaking, other water sports, hiking and sport fishing.

Beaches

Grand Anse Beach, Grenada

Grenada’s most popular beaches include the two-mile long Grand Anse Beach and the pink-tinged Pink Gin Beach where Sandals is located (pictured above). Several others, including La Sagesse, Bathway and Levera Beach are in more secluded locations throughout the island.

Food and Drink

Nutmeg – the red covering is mace.

Grenada is known as the Spice Island, which influences its many of its food dishes and beverages. Nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla and cocoa all flourish here, as do tropical fruits like bananas, mangos and avocados. The island’s three rum factories produce plenty of the strong spirit that plays heavily in many popular drinks.

Grenada’s national dish is oildown. It contains a mix of meats and chicken, dumplings and vegetables, including callaloo, yam and potatoes, cooked in coconut milk until all is absorbed.

Oildown, Grenada’s national dish

Getting There

American Airlines offers direct flights daily into Grenada’s Maurice Bishop International Airport (GND) from Miami and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Air Jamaica flies non-stop several days a week from New York (JFK).

Location

Grenada, a 133-square mile island, is in the southwest corner of the Caribbean, not far from South America, and situated between Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the twin-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago.

Vibe

Grenadians are friendly, warm and welcoming. Historical note: The islanders are grateful to Americans, since the U.S. government came to its aid in 1983, invading the island following a coup that had brought a revolutionary government to power for the preceding four years. The invasion resulted in the appointment of an interim government, followed by democratic elections in 1984. The date of the invasion, October 25, is now a national holiday in Grenada, called Thanksgiving Day.

“Thank you U.S.A. for liberating us.”

For more information on Grenada: Pure Grenada tourism board

If you go, don’t miss:

Take an island tour. We took ours with Island Routes, which offers half and full-day tours of the island.

• Grand E’tang National Park, (3,800 acres) comprising one-fifth of the island’s terrain, including a crater-formed lake. We were able to see and photograph Mona monkeys on a stop within the park.

Mona Monkeys

• Annandale Falls (or another of Grenada’s waterfalls) will most likely be one of the stops on your island tour.

Annandale Falls, Grenada

• Grenada’s Underwater Sculpture Park, opened in 2006, includes 100 sculptures in shallow depths from 5 to 30 feet below the surface. Scuba dive, snorkel, or view them from a glass-bottom boat.

Also: You may enjoy reading my post: Underwater Sculpture Parks in Grenada and Mexico

Grenada Underwater Sculpture Park

• Scuba diving (which is included if you are staying at Sandals Grenada) is fantastic, from colorful reefs teeming with life to several coral-encrusted wrecks.

Scrawled File fish

Two seahorses

• Although we didn’t get to visit the Belmont Chocolate Estate and the nearby Grenada Chocolate Company, we did bring home several of the excellent chocolate bars. (Available at the airport gift shops.)

Published article on Sandals Grenada

On Grenada, Sandals steps up its luxury-resort game

In the southwest corner of the Caribbean, situated between Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the twin-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, determined beach vacationers gravitate to the lush, volcanic island of Grenada.

Until the past decade,the 133-square-mile island was known more for growing, processing and exporting nutmeg and other spices than attracting tourists. But after Hurricane Ivan devastated the island in 1984, destroying homes, buildings and its valuable crops, efforts to develop tourism increased.