Planning a Trip

Arriving

A number of airlines fly to Grand Bahama International Airport from the continental United States, including American Airlines (tel. 800/433-7300; www.aa.com) and Bahamasair (tel. 242/377-3218; www.bahamasair.com), both with daily flights from Miami. Gulfstream Continental Connection (tel. 800/231-0856; www.gulfstreamair.com) flies to Freeport from Miami and West Palm Beach once daily, and from Fort Lauderdale five times daily. US Airways (tel. 800/428-4322; www.usairways.com) flies once daily from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Other competing airlines include AirTran (tel. 800/247-8726; www.airtran.com), flying nonstop from Atlanta (daily) as well as Baltimore (Thurs-Mon). Delta Connection (tel. 800/221-1212) flies daily from Atlanta.

Many visitors arrive in Nassau and then hop on one of the five daily Bahamasair flights to Freeport. These 30-minute hops run $135 to $200 (£72-£106) round-trip.

No buses run from the airport to the major hotel zones. But many hotels will provide airport transfers, especially if you've bought a package deal. If yours does not, no problem; taxis meet arriving flights and will take you from the airport to one of the hotels in Freeport or Lucaya for about $12 to $22 (£6.35-£12). The ride shouldn't take more than about 10 minutes.

Discovery Cruise Lines (tel. 800/937-4477 or 242/351-1339; www.discoverycruiseline.com) offers daily passage between the Fort Lauderdale Seaport and Grand Bahama Island. Frankly, the Discovery vessels making this 89km (55-mile) jaunt haven't been the newest or glitziest cruise ships sailing in the past 3 or 4 decades, but they are shipshape and fit the bill. The trip over from Florida takes about 5 hours, and they have the required pool deck and bar, along with a casino, bar show lounge, and dining facilities. They do feed passengers very well. A round-trip fare runs $180 to $200 (£95-£106) per person, and you can make reservations online.

Visitor Information

Assistance and information are available at the Grand Bahama Tourism Board, International Bazaar in Freeport (tel. 242/352-6909; www.grand-bahama.com). Two other information booths are located at the Freeport International Airport (tel. 242/352-2052) and at the Port Lucaya Marketplace (tel. 242/373-8988). Hours for all three branches are 9am to 5pm Monday to Saturday, and the branches at the airport and at the Port Lucaya Marketplace are also open on Sunday 9am to 5pm.

Island Layout

Other than the perhaps unexpected novelty of driving on the left, getting around Freeport/Lucaya is fairly easy because of its flat terrain. Although Freeport and Lucaya are frequently mentioned in the same breath, newcomers should note that Freeport is a landlocked collection of hotels and shops rising from the island's center, while the better-maintained and more appealing Lucaya, about 4km (2 1/2 miles) away, is a bustling waterfront section of hotels, shops, and restaurants clustered next to a saltwater pond on the island's southern shoreline.

Freeport lies midway between the northern and southern shores of Grand Bahama Island. Bisected by some of the island's largest roads, it was originally conceived as the site of the biggest hotels and what until a few years ago was one of the most-visited attractions in the country, the International Bazaar shopping complex. Now in a dismaying state of disrepair, it's a theme-oriented retail mall that has seen better days, now a depressing remnant of its former glory. Immediately adjacent is the local straw market, where you can buy inexpensive souvenirs and Bahamian handicrafts.

To reach Port Lucaya from Freeport, head east from the International Bazaar along East Sunrise Highway, then turn south at the intersection with Seahorse Road. The intersection -- actually an oversize roundabout -- is marked with a prominent stone marker saying PORT LUCAYA. From that roundabout, less than a mile later, you'll find yourself within the heart of the Lucaya complex. Know in advance that the shops and restaurants on the marina side of Seahorse Road are identified as being within the "Port Lucaya" subdivision of the Lucaya Complex. Conversely, the Westin and the Sheraton hotels, their restaurants and shops, and the Isle of Capri Casino, all of which are clustered on the landward side of Seahorse Road, are identified as the "Our Lucaya" subdivision of the Lucaya complex.

The architectural centerpiece of Port Lucaya is Count Basie Square, named for the great entertainer who used to have a home on the island. A short walk east or west of the square, most of the hotels in the Lucaya Complex rise above the narrow strip of sand that separates the sea from a saltwater pond.

Life on Grand Bahama Island doesn't get more glamorous after you leave the Lucaya Complex. To the west of Freeport and Lucaya, the West Sunrise Highway passes grim and impersonal-looking industrial complexes that include The Bahamas Oil Refining Company. Once you pass the built-up waterfront sprawl of Freeport's western end, you can take Queen's Highway northwest all the way to West End, a distance of some 45km (28 miles) from the center of Freeport. Along the way you pass the unpicturesque wharves of Freeport Harbour, where cruise ships dock. Just to the east lies Hawksbill Creek, a not-particularly interesting-looking village that houses some of the workers at the nearby port facilities.

Much less explored is the isolated East End of Grand Bahama. Its most distant tip lies about 72km (45 miles) from the center of Freeport and is reached via the Grand Bahama Highway. Despite its name, the route is bumpy and potholed in some spaces and -- along extensive stretches of its central area -- either is blocked by piles of sand, rock, and fallen trees or is not-as-yet-completed. For access to the most distant reaches of the East End from Freeport or Lucaya, allow about 2 hours of driving time. First you pass the Rand Nature Centre, about 5km (3 miles) east of Freeport. About 11km (6 3/4 miles) on is Lucaya National Park, and 8km (5 miles) farther lies the hamlet of Free Town; east of Free Town is High Rock, known for its Emmanuel Baptist Church. From here, the road becomes considerably rougher until it ends in MacLean's Town, which celebrates Columbus Day with an annual conch-cracking contest. From here, it's possible to take a water taxi across Runners Creek to the exclusive Deep Water Cay club, catering to serious anglers.

In Freeport/Lucaya, but especially on the rest of Grand Bahama Island, you will almost never find a street number on a hotel or a store. Sometimes in the more remote places, including underpopulated areas on the outskirts of Lucaya itself, you won't even find signs identifying the names of the streets. In lieu of numbers, locate places by their relation to nearby hotels, beaches, or landmarks.