A Weekend in Bimini, Bahamas: A Complete Travel Guide

We spent a long weekend in Bimini, Bahamas (the closest Bahamian island to South Florida) and it turned into one of those trips full of fresh conch salad, questionable golf cart rentals, quiet beaches, and late night shenanigans. Here’s exactly how we got there, where we stayed, what we ate, and what the whole weekend cost, day by day.

A weekend in Bimini: what to know before you go

• Getting there: the Balearia ferry from Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades). You go through customs on arrival, so you need to bring your passport.
• Where we stayed: Resorts World Bimini, on a combined ferry + hotel package.
• Getting around: rent a golf cart ($100 to $120 a day, and the price is haggle-able). Walking into town is not recommended as there’s no sidewalk.
• Best beach we found: the Resorts World Bimini Beach just north of the hotel (it gets busy when cruise ships dock).
• Don’t-miss food: fresh conch salad from Braxton’s and Stuart’s, plus dinner at Ebbie & Pat’s and the Big Game Club.
• Handy tip: get a taxi number from the hotel front desk at check-in. Cabs are about $5 a head and a lifesaver if your golf cart breaks down. Ask me how I know.
• How to pay: The Bahamas have their own currency but the dollar is permanently pinned at a 1:1 exchange rate. Dollars are welcome everywhere and be sure to have cash on hand because many local places are cash only.

Day 1: The ferry, customs, and our first conch salad

Taking the Balearia ferry from Fort Lauderdale to Bimini

We’ve lived in Florida for 12 years and have somehow not managed to make it to the Bahamas yet. And now we’re selling our house and moving out of Florida, so this is our last hurrah, our “Farewell to Florida” tour. We’re finally making it to the Bahamas and we’re going to Bimini!

DAY 1: We woke up super early and drove from the house to the Balearia Ferry terminal in Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale. Our trip was a combined package of a Resorts World hotel stay and ferry ride. The ferry is also accessible for a day trip from Fort Lauderdale on the Balearia Ferry. We went to Bimini, but you can also take it to Grand Bahama.

The ferry email with our tickets said to be there early, so we arrived around 6:30am. It was pretty quick to get through the line, get our tickets verified, and have our passports scanned. We sat for about 45 minutes and eventually got on the boat around 7:30am. There was a café onboard that opened soon after boarding; we got in line right away, ordered some cappuccinos and empanadas, paid, and were sitting down within 15 minutes. The line after boarding eventually became quite long, but it shortened quickly as most people got coffee or food. The coffee was actually pretty good, the empanadas not so much. They had a decent bar with champagne, standard booze options and different beers available as well. It was a relatively comfortable and relaxing environment on board.

We got four seats with a little table, and those were definitely highly coveted, as others boarding late were looking for seating close to the 9am departure time. So if you’re going to go, try to grab one of those table seats as early as possible! We found that not having a window seat wasn’t that big a deal, but the table really was nice for coffee, water bottles, and food. There wasn’t much to see out the windows anyway, and when we wanted to, it was easy to step outside on the back deck to see what was happening. In general, a seat with a table was much better than a window seat. Getting off the boat took quite a while, but we were in no hurry, so we sat and waited. The ferry also mandates that day-trippers disembark before the people staying the night on the island. We were some of the last people off the boat, and I’d recommend trying harder to get off as early as possible. Being last meant we were last through customs, last on the tram and last to check in, and we did have a slight mix-up at check-in. More on that later…

Going through customs and checking in at Resorts World Bimini

Like I mentioned, you do have to go through customs, so we had our passports out while we waited in line with our luggage outside. We stood in line outside the customs building for about 30 minutes, then went into a small building where we briefly explained why we were visiting: “A few days of vacation at the resort.” We had an all-inclusive ferry + hotel stay with Resorts World. Our passports were stamped and we were through!

After customs, a tram took us right to the resort lobby from the cruise port dock. Everyone was in this line, so we went from one line off the ship to customs, to the tram, and then to the hotel check-in line, so as you can imagine, checking in is a little crazy. As we rode the tram, we saw some locals sitting around, and as we got closer to the hotel we were bombarded with requests to rent a golf cart. Everything we heard is that golf cart rentals run anywhere from $100 to $120 a day, and it’s definitely haggle-able. We waited and checked in first, explaining we’d be back later to rent a gold cart.

Interestingly enough, coffee is not readily available on the island, Bahamiansm we learned, are tea drinkers. However, there was a Starbucks in the Resorts World hotel lobby, though just be prepared to pay resort prices. It also seemed to change in price depending on who was making it. I’m pretty sure I ordered an Americano that was $8 one day and $12 the next!

We got our room keys and went up to our room just as we saw another couple using their key card to open the door to our room and walk in. We laughed, went back down to the front desk, explained the situation, and were upgraded immediately to another room. The woman at the front desk was extremely helpful in telling us about a great deal of things off the resort property that we really wanted to see anyway, so she was great. Thank you, Ja’Nelle!

In the hotel there’s a casino, two really nice pools (one on the main level and one on the 5th-floor rooftop), plus many sitting areas, restaurants, and outdoor seating areas. We were going to use all of that, but we really wanted to see the island, so we immediately started walking into town.

First Stop: Conch Salad at Smitty’s and Braxton’s

We were hungry, so we stopped at Smitty’s Beach Bar. We’d been recommended to get a conch salad from Braxton’s right next door, and a Kalik, one of the local beers.

Right away we felt it was the right place to go. Smitty’s Beach Shack had some 90s music blasting, with a couple of people eating in the seating area, and right next door at Braxton’s we got our conch salad. Braxton himself served us and was super friendly. There were two options: Mango, Pineapple and the Classic Conch Salad. We sat at a rustic picnic table while he literally waded into a small lagoon behind our table and pulled our conchs right out of the ocean. We watched him harvest it, pull it out of the shell, and prepare our conch salad. It was incredible! So fresh, flavorful, and full of conch meat. It was a great way to start the day.

Renting a golf cart in Bimini (and walking three miles by mistake)

After this, we continued walking into town, thinking we could see everything and then maybe rent a golf cart and head back. We passed many of the restaurants and places Ja’Nelle had mentioned, but at a certain point, still a couple of miles from town, we regretted our decision and wished we had a golf cart. I think we walked about three miles, and it sounded like most of the golf cart rentals were back at the hotel. So we turned around, stopped at Stuart’s conch salad spot, and got a straight bowl of conch with lime and seasoning. We also found what was, as far as we could tell, the best deal on beer on the island: 2-for-$5 Sands beer (the other top local beer in the Bahamas). We sat on a little pier above the water and chatted about the weekend (dreams, fears, hopes, plans) like we do with family on these trips. Then we continued back to the hotel. As someone who likes to walk new places to see everything, I usually recommend it, but this is not a nice walk. It’s right on the edge of the main drag, with golf carts and cars whizzing by and no sidewalk. If you go to Bimini, just get the golf cart; walking is not recommended.

After our walking experience we thought, “All right, let’s try and get a golf cart for the weekend.” We’d already talked to a couple of golf cart proprietors, and Damien (my brother) started to haggle for one. We got a good deal for two days, and off we went. At this point we separated. Damien went to get some gas with the guy who sold us the golf cart, while me, my dad and my husband went back to the hotel. We took a little down time and relaxed in the room and wandered around the hotel and casino.

It was pretty clear our cart wasn’t the best in the fleet. Which was why we nicknamed him “The Green Goblin” and also why we paid a little less for it. The engine sounded like it was struggling as soon as we started to drive, and it would do a funny little backfire every once in a while. One of the back tire sidewalls looked real worn and had severe cracking. Damien pointed this out to our golf-cart-rental-guy “Captain Chris”, but we all agreed it would probably be fine. After all, we weren’t going that far. Famous last words.

It was not fine. More on that later…

Sunset at Resorts World Beach

Once we got our cart, we drove a short distance up to the Resorts World Bimini Beach. We didn’t know it was owned by the resort; we just pulled over at a gravel lot and walked down to the beach to a beautiful sunset and fine, light-tan sand. It was a really nice beach. We went in the water for the first time. The waves were minimal and there were only a few people around. The beach was quiet enough for us to hear the waves, and there were hundreds of beach chairs and cabanas laid out to the north of us up the beach. We stayed in the water for a few minutes, then stretched out and laid down to enjoy the lazy late-afternoon sun. There were few people around (a guy with a drone and kids in the water), but it was very quiet, which was exactly what we were looking for. We all took a little 20-minute nap and dreamed about dinner. We had no idea Bimini Beach is a pretty big attraction and that big cruise ships dump their passengers here when they stop for the day. We found this out later in the week on our last day. More on that later…

Dinner at Ebbie & Pat’s Bar and Grill

I looked up some dinner options, and then we went back to the hotel, changed, and went out for the evening. Devin was driving the cart at this point as we headed South, back down into town. We’d decided on Ebbie & Pat’s Bar and Grill, one of the nicer local spots on the island. A few things on the menu:

• Lobster, fried or grilled
• Snapper, fried or grilled
• Grouper fingers, fried or grilled
• Shrimp, fried or grilled
• And a few other options after that

The parking area was nice, with flags, a couple of cute, colorful buildings, and some guys watching baseball on an outdoor TV. The restaurant was mostly empty. Pat or Ebbie (we assumed) was on the grill, and then Pat or Ebbie (we assumed) took our order.

We sat right over the water, next to a dock overlooking the little bay, at a high picnic table. We got a phenomenal meal: I had the grilled lobster, my dad got the fried lobster, Devin the fried grouper fingers, and Damien the full grilled red snapper.

The food was spectacular! The fries were freshly cut potatoes that we watched them prepare in the outdoor kitchen area. The sauce on the grilled lobster and red snapper was delightful, thanks to the veggies and plantains. It was such a fabulous meal. At this point, we thought we’d go check out the nightlife in town. We drove south down Kings Highway, one of the two main north-south roads into town. We saw a couple of happening spots as we drove by, but nothing really looked like the place to be. We didn’t see a lot of people out, except for a few cars and a few places that looked like nightclub bars with people milling around outside.

A flat tire and a clown-car cab ride

At a certain point we got far enough south that it seemed we’d passed most of town, so we took a right up to the Queens Highway and ended at Radio Beach, which is about the farthest south on the northern island you can go. We’d never been down there during the day and couldn’t see a whole lot, because it was quite dark and there isn’t much lighting on the island, but there were definitely a couple of people swimming in the dark water. We were up on a ridge overlooking the beach, and as we gazed out over the water we could see South Florida. The light pollution glowed in a long, low, murky strip right over the water at the horizon. Up above that, in the jet-black night sky, we could see so many stars, and then when we looked level we could see how much light was being thrown off by the 8 million people living in South Florida. So close, yet so far away.

Damien had picked up a couple of beers, so we drank those overlooking the beach in the dark. There was a tiny bar near us that seemed lively, but we didn’t want to go into a local bar late at night. We decided to drive the Queens Highway back north, since it overlooked the ocean, and then call it a night.

Unfortunately, on the drive, that back-left tire we all thought was suspect blew out. We got a flat about two minutes up the road in front of Matt and Kat’s Cottages. We talked to the owner there and called Chris, who’d rented us the cart, but he didn’t pick up. It was pretty late at this point, around 11 PM. We were thinking, “What are we going to do here?” We couldn’t really call a cab and no one was around. Luckily we’d gotten a number from the front desk at check-in (thanks, Janelle). We called it, and thankfully someone picked up and came to get us. Any cab can take a passenger anywhere on the island for $5 a head. Bimini isn’t very big, so a lot of places we could have just walked, but this was an emergency since we were at the far south end of the island. It was really nice to have the number, so if you do go to Resorts World Bimini, talk to the front desk and get the number of a cab.

We sat on the side of the road and waited and waited, and finally got picked up. This cab already had four people in it. It was like a big minivan from Tampa, and we all piled in like a clown car. That guy made a good $40 for a 10-minute drive, and we were squished in there, but it saved us. We got back to the hotel tired, but we still went and checked out the casino. The Knicks were playing the San Antonio Spurs, game two, and it looked like the Knicks were going to win. We hung out for about 20 to 30 minutes in the bar, walked around, and then went up to the room to go to bed. It was a full day!

Day 2: Golf cart trouble, quiet beaches, and the best eats

Day two in the Bahamas. We woke up pretty late after a great first day. At Resorts World, it does seem pretty dead in the morning. People must stay up late drinking and gambling and sleep in. But not us, we were up early and ready to adventure.

Breakfast at Nate’s Bakery

Our first move with our new golf cart was to go get some coconut bread or cinnamon bread or guava pastries from Nate’s Bakery, up on the Queens Highway. We drove into town, eventually making a right-hand turn up to the ridge that overlooks the western beach side. Already this new golf cart was giving us trouble. Damien was having trouble slowing down and going from forward to reverse. The cart would stay going with the gas pedal on, so we were freaking out a little. We sorted it out and kept driving. We actually drove past Nate’s Bakery, so we had to do a U-turn, and the golf cart just went haywire. We pulled into a church parking lot, right up to the front door without realizing it. There were all these people in church on a Saturday singing, and we were trying to get this golf cart to go in reverse. It wouldn’t, and we were just grinding gears and hitting the brake and gas pedal to get the cart to do anything. Finally, we got it figured out and drove back to Nate’s Bakery, but at this point we realized the this new cart is a piece of junk, and we need to go back to this guy Chris and get a new one.

Nate’s Bakery is great. It’s just a house with a little area out front and a half-door window that the proprietor leaned over the top of. If you look through the window, there are some drinks on the left and on the right you’ve got all the breads: coconut bread, coconut rolls, and cinnamon rolls. It’s all baked fresh. We got some coconut rolls that were just delicious, as well as some guava cookies.

While we were in there, we asked the woman taking our order, “Where’s the best place to get a cup of coffee?” She said, “You want coffee? You can get some right here.” She busted out a couple of Nespresso pods, which we paid her for, and we used her Nespresso machine to make an espresso right there. The Nespresso was okay. Some of the creamer in the little containers had gone bad, though, so the coffee wasn’t the best. At this point, we knew we had to go return our cart.

Returning the worst golf cart on the island

We drove back to return the cart to a little parking lot just south of Resorts World. We were just hoping to get there without hitting anything or anyone. The gas pedal was always down, propelling the cart, even with the brakes depressed, you couldn’t really go in reverse or forward, and it would just stop working at certain times, so we were a little scared.

We drove back to the rental zone, but the guy who rented us the cart wasn’t there, so we called him. His friends were there, and this is the same guy who rented us the golf cart with the blowout tire the night before. He finally showed up with, you guessed it, The Green Goblin, all ready to go with a new tire! We said, “We’ll just take that one.” He gave us the Green Goblin back. He didn’t seem happy and we were definitely a little frustrated too, but his friends were also like, “Oh yeah, some of his carts are not in the best shape.” We realized we’d just rented from maybe the worst golf cart proprietor on the island. If you’re on Bimini, do not rent from a guy named Chris. That’s my only piece of advice.

Snacks and a quiet afternoon at Resorts World Beach

All right, so we had a new cart ready to go. We drove back to the hotel, got some coffee, got changed, and wanted to hit the beach, but we also wanted some snacks.

Grocery stores on the island are all very, very small, and there are a few of them, but it doesn’t seem like there are any really great options. We drove back into town. Trev Inn Marketplace, Bonefish Ebbie’s Grocery was recommended, but we went to King Browns Grocery Store, which is right next to the hardware store, about a mile and a half south of where we were. We got:

• crackers
• Ritz crackers
• pepperoni
• a block of cheese
• a gallon of water
• and some potato sticks

It was about $27 which, was expensive but not too bad, but getting anything to the island is expensive. With our snacks purchased we drove back to the hotel and up to the Resorts World Bimini Beach. We also stopped at Stuart’s Conch Beach Shack, for our best-deal-on-bimini-beer 2-for-$5 Sands beer. Sands and Kalik are the most ubiquitous brands on the island. At a market you could probably get $3 a beer, and at a restaurant it’s $7, so we packed up 10 Sands beers for $25. Back at the hotel we took our plastic trash bag, put some ice in it, in the hotel trash can and brought that out to the beach with us. That was our little cooler for the day. It was great.

We actually tried to find a more remote beach and drove as far north as we could until we hit a gated community under construction. We tried to schmooze the guard at the gate, explaining we just wanted to go past the community to the north end, but they weren’t having it. We got stonewalled. We tried another way, on a smaller construction route into the site, but as soon as we drove in, another guard under a little umbrella on the side of the road waved us back and told us to turn around too.

We set up shop. There was nobody there. We put together a few lounge chairs right on the beach, went in and out of the water a few times, and ate our potato sticks. It was quiet. The water was that gorgeous tan-to-teal-to-navy fade. We just had some beach time, and it was spectacular.

It was definitely busier the next day, more on that in Day 3…

Lunch at the Three Daughters

After that we were hungry and wanted some lunch. We drove into town and went to the Three Daughters, which looks like it’s pretty good for breakfast too, but it was a lunch spot for us. We’d heard it’s good for dinner, but we didn’t try that.

We got a seafood platter, which is basically fried conch, fried lobster, fried shrimp, and fried fish. Damien got the fried fish sandwich, which looked quite good. Everything comes with French fries, which is pretty much what every meal is like on the island. It was good. It’s one of the only places where you can actually see the outdoors and still sit in a building, which is kind of nice, like a little porch that was shut in, so you could still see the bay but stay in the AC. After that, we headed back to the hotel.

This is where we caught Janelle again on the way in, the woman who helped us out when we had room issues at the beginning. She was super helpful and friendly again. Can’t say enough about her. She was just great.

Sunset cocktails at Big Mike’s Conch Bar

We were a little tired after lunch, so we took a nap for about an hour and a half in the hotel room. It started to rain a little. For the most part it had been super sunny the whole time, but some clouds came in, so we just waited it out. The plan was to watch the sunset from the west side of the island down near Radio Beach, where the Queens Highway runs along a ridge with a pretty steep slope down to the water. It’s the perfect place to watch a sunset.

We actually tried, but a lot of the places we were going to go, like CJ’s and this coconut bar, weren’t open, so we don’t know if they’re morning things or what. We went back to Big Mike’s conch salad bar. He just had a little bar with some liquors set up on the side of the road, where you can make conch salad too, overlooking a beach.

We had a couple of Bahama Mamas (the cocktail with a couple of types of rum, orange juice, and cranberry juice, kind of like a Sex on the Beach). We watched the sun go down, and it was really magical. Our servers were off to the side smoking and playing dominoes; every time we needed a drink we just waited for the round to finish, they’d ask if we needed anything, and we’d get another round. It was really beautiful.

Dinner at the Big Game Club

To close out the evening, we went to the Big Game Club, one of the nicer restaurants in town. You can get a prime rib there, which is weird to us because there are no cows on the island. You can get all the other fish things. They claimed to have the best conch fritters on the island, and their conch fritters were very, very good. Strangely enough, their cheeseburger was also really good. Damien got the prime rib, Stuart got grilled or blackened mahi, and Selene got fried snapper, and everything was delicious, however, took a little while for the food to come out because the place was pretty packed. The whole Big Game complex is pretty neat. They have a pool, and a lot of excursions we didn’t do, but I’m sure if we were here a few more days we’d spend more time down there. There was a little marina there with a few yachts as well.

I will say the Big Game Club drink menu is just crazy. I’ve never seen so many drinks on a menu, and there was even a shot called the Broken Down Golf Cart, which we thought about ordering but didn’t.

Late night at I-95

Finally, to really cap off the evening, we stopped at I-95, the late-night bar. We couldn’t tell if it was dead because it was too early or what. It was a Saturday night, but there were only about 12 people in there. All the benches at the bar were taken, and Damien got a spectacular pour on his whiskey, basically almost a full cup.

The music was interesting, and the people were super friendly and chatty. We even had a little dog try to steal some of our food out of the golf cart while we were waiting, so we had to put the food on top of the cart. He was a cute little mangy mutt, though. A super relaxed way to end the evening. We were going to play some cards, but everybody was so tired we just went to bed.

Day 3: The best beach and the trip home

A coffee hunt, a DIY golf-cart cooler, and checkout

We slept in again on the third day, Sunday, which was great, then went looking for breakfast and coffee. We took the golf cart all the way down the island to Radio Beach to try to find breakfast, but a lot of things looked closed. Unfortunately, the coffee shop we went looking for, a boba tea place by the Big Game Club, was also closed. They said they ran out of food. We went into the Big Game Club and got two drip coffees that were overpriced but pretty good. We drank those and went up to Radio Beach looking for breakfast. We couldn’t really find anything and started to head back.

We used some ingenuity, and came up with something really fantastic. Before we left the hotel, we sneakily put a plastic bag in the back bottom part of our golf cart and filled it with ice. We threw all the beer and food from our fridge right into that bottom back section, and it became a little ice cooler for the rest of the day. It really helped keep the beers cold and the food fresh. It was awesome. We were a little worried somebody might steal a beer since they were pretty visible in the back, but we figured if somebody really wanted one at 11:00 AM, they could have it.

We had to check out of the hotel by 11:00. We asked for a late checkout, but they don’t really do that because so many people ask for one. What is nice is that at Resorts World you can leave your bag at the front desk and pick it up later before you get on the boat back. We left all of our bags at the front desk and went to the beach!

Finding the best beach in Bimini

After failing on the coffee and seeing Radio Beach, we couldn’t really find a breakfast spot, so we drove back on the Queens Highway. We drove almost all the way back to the hotel and found a little dirt road that looked like it might be developed in the future, but you could tell people had been out there. We drove up toward the west side of the island, where it gets very narrow. There’s a little cliff, maybe 15 to 20 feet, where the sea had eaten away the sand, and we found a pretty nice beach. You could actually see the Balearia Ferry, and there was also a Virgin Atlantic cruise ship docked, probably having left from Fort Lauderdale that Sunday morning. It had dropped a ton of people on the island, so it was a little crazy. That secluded beach was probably the nicest one on the island. It was super blue, and you could walk out a good way and still be hip-deep, so it was a really nice little dip.

We hopped back in the cart and went up to the Resorts World Beach just north of the hotel. It was crazy packed again. You could see the Virgin Atlantic cruise ship from this beach. It must have made its first stop here, and the pool was just rammed with people. We went a little farther north to where there are just a few beach chairs set up. It was still way busier than the day before, but that was our best beach. We hung out there for a couple of hours; I went in and out of the water three or four times, drank a couple more beers, and posted up until about 1:00.

The best meal of the trip

It was called Alamo’s Coconut Bar and Grill. First of all, there was a ton of Biggie Smalls and 90’s rap playing, just real smooth, and it added to the ambiance. The food was spectacular. We got grilled salmon with some grouper fingers on peas and rice, which is supposedly a classic Bahamian dish, and it was spectacular. It was so much food, and a great meal, right on the seawall overlooking the bay. Some pigeons and iguanas watched us eat, and everything was perfect except for a good amount of flies, which was annoying. Between the food, the view, the people, and the music, it was a great way to end the trip.

Catching the ferry back to Fort Lauderdale

Then we drove back to the hotel, changed out of our beach clothes in the lobby, and caught the tram back to the boat around 4:00. We were on the boat for quite a while, but we got a good set of seats. So close to South Florida, and yet a whole world away.

What a weekend in Bimini costs

• Ferry + hotel: we booked a combined Resorts World ferry + hotel package about:per person $500
• Golf cart rental: remember it is haggle-able, but range of $100 to $120
• Taxi: about $5 per person to go anywhere on the island (a packed van once ran us about $40)
• Beer: cheapest was 2-for-$5 Sands at Stewart’s Conch Shack; roughly $3 at a market and $7 at a restaurant. Depending on amount imbibed anywhere from $50 to $100
• Groceries: $27 for snacks (crackers, cheese, pepperoni, water, potato sticks). about $25 to $50
• Dining: about $25 per person per meal (if you don’t eat on the hotel grounds) 4 peeps x 2 (Dinner+Luch) x 3 days ~ for weekend $600
• Coffee: scarce and pricey. There’s a Starbucks in the Resorts World lobby, but be ready to pay. $$$$

Tips for visiting Bimini

• On the ferry, grab a seat with a table (more useful than a window seat) and board early.
• Try to get off the ferry early. Daytrippers disembark first, and being last means you’re last to check in.
• Rent a golf cart instead of walking into town. The road has no sidewalk and cars whiz by. You can also do this online if you don’t like to haggle. Search: Golf Cart Bimini Rental
• Inspect the golf cart before you take it (tires, brakes, reverse), and don’t rent from “Chris.”
• Get a taxi number from the front desk at check-in for emergencies.
• Bring a bag for ice. A makeshift cooler in the back of the cart keeps beers cold all day.

Bimini weekend FAQ

How do you get to Bimini from Fort Lauderdale?

Take the Balearia ferry from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. Bring your passport, since you go through Bahamian customs on arrival, and a tram takes you from the dock to Resorts World.

Do you need a passport to visit Bimini?

Yes. You go through Bahamian customs when you arrive, so have your passport ready.

How do you get around Bimini?

Rent a golf cart ($100 to $120 a day, haggle-able) or take taxis (about $5 a head). Walking into town isn’t recommended. There’s no sidewalk and the road is busy.

What food is Bimini known for?

Fresh conch salad, often made to order (sometimes harvested right in front of you), plus grilled or fried lobster, snapper, and grouper, and local beers Kalik and Sands.

What’s the best beach in Bimini?

The Resorts World Bimini Beach just north of the hotel was our favorite, though it gets crowded when cruise ships dock. A quiet spot is a dirt road right across from Smitty’s west side of the island.

Where should you stay in Bimini?

We stayed at Resorts World Bimini on a combined ferry + hotel package, which made arrival easy via the tram straight from the ferry dock. There are airbnb’s but we didn’t see any that looked great.

More of our travels

• My Trip to Portugal
• Our Trip to Puerto Rico: Some Must-Sees