Best Things To Do in St. George’s

The capital’s most treasured historical site, this fort was built by the French in 1705 and has played a big role in the island’s political and military history over the last 300 years. Remains include two barracks, a guardroom, a gunpowder magazine and firing galleries. The cannons are still sometimes used on special occasions and the fort is now used as the police HQ. From the top, the views over the town and the ocean are hard to beat.

Up on Richmond Hill and watching over the capital, Fort Frederick is one of the largest fortifications on the island. It’s a backwards-facing fort with wraparound views of the capital, including Carenage and rolling hills in the distance.

Near Woburn Bay, the Mount Hartman Dove Sanctuary is an area of dry thorn cactus forest, mangroves and lagoons. The ecosystem differs to the rest of the island and includes the protected and endemic Grenada Dove or Leptotila wellsi – the National Bird of Grenada. Other birds to look out for are the little blue heron, spotted sandpiper, collard plover and ruddy turnstone. There are often guides around to lead you along trails, talking of the flora and fauna you pass.

In a building that dates back to the 1700’s, the Grenada National museum opened its doors in the seventies. It houses all kinds of historical artefacts, telling of the first settlers, the days of plantations and slaves and the whaling and fishing industries. Live music and dance shows are often held here.

We love London, but if London’s Hyde Park had this colour and climate we’d love it a whole lot more… Passed down the generations of the Roberts family, this Hyde Park has grown over the years from a tiddly kitchen garden to a beautiful park of tropical trees and plants.

Charmingly untamed and brimming with rainforest plants like orchids and anthuriums, Smithy’s Garden spans nearly two acres and is divided between and old part and a new one.

This garden belongs to the Greenville Vale Estate, and sits in a most spectacular valley below the Grand Etang Tropical Rainforest. It covers 60+ acres with gardens, farmland and trails through the rainforest, passing rivers and springs. Some of the best honey on the planet is made here – crowned multiple times at London’s Annual UK International Honey Show – and you can visit the bee sanctuary with its glass observation hive.

Part of the charm of the Annandale falls is that they’re within easy driving distance of the capital. Park up and find them surrounded by tropical greenery and rugged rocks. Our top tip would be to visit them early in the day if you can, as quite a lot of people visit later on.

Up in Saint Patrick, the Belmont Estate covers four hundred fabulous acres of rolling hills and shows how plantations worked here hundreds of years ago. Wander around the tropical gardens, goat dairy, organic farm, petting zoo and heritage museum. See how cacao is grown and transformed into chocolate and sip the beloved Grenadian cocoa tea. There’s a super restaurant for any hunger pangs, as well as a gift shop to bring home mementos.

This is 450 acres of insanely pretty coastland on north Grenada, spanning a gorgeous beach, lagoon, coral reefs and mangroves. Nature lovers can spot birds (green heron, common snipes, brown boobies and many more) and sea turtles hatching in the summertime. A particularly lovely footpath takes you around the pond. Getting here from the parish of Saint George takes 1 – 1.5 hours by car, well, well worth it for the incredible natural beauty of the place.

Spanning 500 acres, the Westerhall Estate runs tours to show you how rum is made from start to finish, each and every step of the way. See machinery used back in the day and have the chance to tuck into an organic lunch and taste old and new varieties.

Clarke’s Court Rum Distillery – Grenada Distillers Limited – has been operating since 1937 and is the biggest, best known distillery on the island. A fifteen-minute tour tells you all about the rum making process and its history, and you’ll see some steam engines dating way back to 1886. It usually finishes up in the sample bar, where you can taste the rums and learn how to mix them like a master.

Up on the northeast coast, this distillery’s left the bulk of its processes just as they were in the 1800’s and is the Caribbean’s oldest water-propelled distillery that still functions. Guided tours usually cost a couple of US$ and are well worth it.

Up in the hills and looking over the coast, these two acres of gardens contain 25 different species of palm besides orchids, bromeliads and anthuriums, pretty ponds and sometimes baby turtles. The lovely Lawrence Lambert runs the show here, leading interesting tours through the greenery. Getting here from St Georges or Grand Anse takes about 20-30 minutes by car.

A water-filled volcanic crater, the Grand Etang Lake is surrounded by rainforest brimming with tropical trees, plants and animals. You can walk around the lake to see the different ecosystems, or hike up Mount Qua Qua for spectacular sights all over the island.

Sometimes called the Marquis falls, the Mt Carmel falls crash down the rock from twenty metres. They and can be reached by a half hour hike through a plantation and past spice and fruit crops – there are often guides at the beginning of the trail if you want them. Bring your cossie, as the swim in the natural pool at the bottom is something special. The waterfalls are on private land, so you usually need to pay a small entrance fee to visit them.

A half hour hike is required to reach the Seven Sisters, taking you through lusher than lush rainforest along a rough, sometimes steep path. Two of the seven waterfalls are easier to find than the others and once you get there, you can paddle and swim in the pools beneath them. For the others, you’ll need to climb higher – and a guide can be handy when it comes to finding them.

The Concord falls are a little further out (8 miles north of the capital): three separate waterfalls along the river Concord, one near the parking area and the others reachable by hike through forest and nutmeg groves. The biggest is also the farthest, pouring down from nearly 20 metres and taking an hour to walk to. Most of the time (depending on the currents) it’s possible to swim in the pools beneath which is an amazing experience.

This is one of the island’s main nutmeg factories, and they usually offer tours for around US$1 to show how nutmegs are graded and packaged. There’s a gift shop at the end of the tour where you can pick up souvenirs.

In the foothills of Mount St Catherine and along St Mark’s River, the Victoria Waterfalls are an adventure to reach – rather than driving up to them like you can with the Annandale and Concord falls, these waterfalls require a good 2-3 hour hike past smaller waterfalls, springs and thick rainforest. This is the tallest waterfall on the island at 25m high and with grippy shoes you can scramble up the rock to the top.