The First Timer's Guide To Bermuda Travel

Bermuda on the brain? We don't blame you! From pink-sand beaches to flavorful food, rich history and people who make you feel welcome the moment you touch down, there's a lot to love about "Bermy." If you've never visited, take these tips as a starting point for planning your first trip.

The first thing to know is that although it's often promoted with the Caribbean, Bermuda is actually a 22-square-mile archipelago of eight Atlantic islands floating 650 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. About two hours' flying time from the U.S. east coast, the island is an easy getaway, which currently has direct flights from Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, and New York JFK. (Air Canada and British Airways operate service from Toronto and London Heathrow respectively.) Bermuda's location means that the high season is in the summer, opposite to the Caribbean's December-to-April peak. And in the winter (Bermuda's "golf and spa season"), temps here can fall as low as the '50s. Visitors must apply for a travel authorization, which costs $75 and requires you present negative results from a COVID test taken within four days of arrival (if you're vaccinated), or to quarantine for 14 days if you're not.

Although Bermuda has a reputation for being an expensive destination, you'll find places to stay at all price points. In St. George's, The Bedford Villas are a charming cluster of restored 17th-century residences that start at $130 a night. Sleek and sophisticated, The Loren at dreamy Pink Beach will appeal to visitors with a modern sensibility. Discerning guests have two top-tier hotels to consider: Rosewood Bermuda at Tuckers Point and, in St. George's, the brand-new St. Regis Bermuda, set on the Instagrammable scallop of St. Catherine's Beach.

When it comes to cocktails, you can't leave without sampling Bermuda's two most popular. You can order a rum swizzle (rum and citrus juice with spices and bitters) all over the island, but make sure to try one at The Swizzle Inn, which claims to have invented it. The Dark 'n' Stormy is Bermuda's other national drink, made with two local brands, Gosling's Black Seal rum and Barritt's ginger beer, and spiked with a twist of lime. For a filling lunch, there's no better option than the traditional Bermudian fish sandwich, made with deep-fried locally caught fillets snuggled between sweet and pillowy slices of homemade raisin bread. Check out Café Olé and Art Mel's for two of the best on the island.

Bermuda is well-known for its beaches, particularly those dusted with its trademark pink sand. See for yourself at marquee strands such as the South Shore's Horseshoe Bay beach. (Tip: Enjoy the scene at its broad sweep but make sure to walk down the beach to discover Instagrammable coves you can have all to yourself.) Other beaches for your bucket list include ruggedly beautiful Clearwater Beach and Turtle Bay in Cooper's Island nature reserve. In St. George's, Drew's Bay is a tiny cove where local protocol dictates that if you see someone there when you arrive, you let them have it to themselves.

Six million years in the making, Crystal Caves is one of Bermuda's most popular attractions, open since 1909. On an illuminating (and beautifully illuminated) guided tour, you'll descend 130 feet into the limestone cavern, where an underground lake and curtains of stunning stalagmites and stalactites beg to be immortalized on the 'gram.

You can run, bike or stroll part (or all!) of Bermuda's Railway Trail, a national park that traces the path of the island's now-defunct railway. Operated from 1931 to 1948, the 22-mile railway cost a million pounds to build, more expensive per mile than any other in the world. The scenic route, which runs east to west from one end of the island to the other, winds alongside beaches, up hills and through the capital of Hamilton.

Funeral director-turned-vegan chef Doreen Williams-James leads visitors on an eye-opening foraging tour that puts other island experiences to shame. You'll start by fueling up with a sumptuous vegan breakfast served al fresco, and then set off on a guided edible exploration of Bermuda's byways, with Williams-James pointing out and explaining the traditional use of island herbs, plants and trees as you go.

Bermuda's history - from the arrival of the Spanish in the 1500s and colonization by the British in 1609 to its multicultural present - is well worth exploring. For a refreshing review, join local blogger and book store owner Kristin White's walking and bicycle tours of St. George's (Bermuda's first capital and the oldest continuously-inhabited English town in the Americas), which center and celebrates the contributions of enslaved and freed Africans brought here by the British, and those of their modern descendants.

If you visited Bermuda and you didn't bring back a souvenir, did you even go?! Visitors will be surprised at the variety and quality of local-made "shopportunities" on island. In Hamilton, make your first stop TABS, where you can snag Bermuda shorts for men and women and browse accessories by local makers. Nearby, vintage store Orange Bay Company; accessory and homewares boutique Urban Cottage; and fine jewelers Davidrose Studio should also be on your list. Artist Lisa Quinn welcomes shoppers at her cottage atelier, where her colorful watercolor and pastel paintings and a covetable collection of clutch bags and wraps are displayed.