5 Day Bahamas Islands-Hopping: Nassau, Exuma and Eleuthera

I took my sweetheart to Nassau not so long ago, and I’m gonna share every detail on how I planned this amazing trip with you. I’m quite certain this is hand down one of the top ten Bahamas itineraries you could find on the Internet. And if you feel like I am bragging here, I think so too! (but you’ll understand)

For the last two years or so, for some reason I have decided I would take my wife to a cool place on every one of her birthdays. I think maybe that because I appreciate what she does to our little family a great deal. And this is something I could do to tell her she means the world to us, and thus so I’d be showing her how beautiful the world is.

This year, it’s safe to say Bahamas was one of the most impressive, most memorable travel experiences with a bucket full of amazing times for both of us. It was so wild and lovely, a well-balanced blend of serenity and daring activities that are absolutely unmatchable anywhere else on the Eastern shores.

So what does that even mean?

Well, if what you have in mind is a Bahamas vacation that involves expensive booze, barhopping, crowded touristy areas and just walking all over the beaten paths like everyone else — you will be greatly disappointed here. I’m too poor to waste money needlessly, so I did a ton of homeworks to get the most out of this trip.

For every vacation planning, I would follow my own 3-2-1 rule where I make a decision on the destination 3 months prior to date, then dedicating the next 2 whole months to planning and booking. Finally, it takes one week to make it all come to life. Hence it’s definitely not the ordinary half-baked efforts, it’s more like a full blown operation to dot all the i’s and cross every t’s, in cursive with font size 72. And I wanted the trip to be special, nothing like those bland articles by the “travel editors” who never puts in the time to learn the history and the real soul of the places they’re sponsored to go to; I find most recommendations are just whatever the typical destinations the editors came across and thought us tourists should check this out, plus here is an advice on how to get the third bourbon before 11AM. Ugh!

The island life has so much more to offer than that. Like this little guy here taking his gentle time to enjoy the fresh breeze of the Caribbean after a flash storm.

With that being said, I was able to time all the events in this 5-day journey accurately down to the hot minutes; which I think is 5x more efficient than I could do last year on the Puerto Rico trip. That allowed us to balance the time to enjoy, rest, discover and islands hopping without missing a beat. We got to do a lot of amazing explores and solo adventure that often not familiar to the typical vacationers.

In fact it was so out of the norm that for the most parts, we were only accompanied by a handful group of people during an excursion (a retired couple from Germany, a few peps from UK, etc.) or we occasionally would have mile-long unspoiled beaches completely all to ourselves. I wonder how does that sound to you? I guess let’s just get started!

The Cost $

Don’t get too disheartened when you see the price tag of over $7000 in the itinerary planning above. That’s just a very, very raw ballpark that I tallied up generously to have an idea of the maximum damage. Who knows, maybe we want to be solely responsible for keeping the Bahamas’ GDP growing this year. But I’ll share with you all the discount codes, promotions and saving tips that I learned along the way.

Hopefully that will help you cut the total expenses in half, or even more; like it did for me.

The Flights ✈︎

For D.C, Maryland and Virginia folks, you’d likely take a 4-hour flights from the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) to Lynden Pindling International Airport (Nassau), with either Jetblue or AA. Ticket cost is averaging $330, meaning anything lower than that is definitely a deal!

You could also fly from BWI or IAD, but I guarantee it will be either a long layover or higher fares, or both. Do your best to secure an earlier flight so you could enjoy a more peaceful time of the day and avoid the crowd –but if you are currently in the peak season, that expectation is sure out the window. Another perk of arriving early is you’ll still have daylight left to wind down and wandering the resort at an easy pace before the day is done.

After November every year, American Airline will offer nonstop flight from DCA –that takes a little less than 3 hours to get to Nassau for the same price as flight routes that have layover in the early Fall. You guys in New York are more lucky with the nonstop flights all year round from JFK or EWR. If you are down in North Carolina, not so much.

Speaking of layover, if you have to pick flights from mid Eastern shores you’ll probably end up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (FLL) for a short period of time. During this break, I’d recommend you have some quick bite and enjoy the “low cost” airport food before you reach Nassau. I’m half-dead serious, dining out is a lot more expensive on the Bahamas islands due to shipment cost from mainland and no income tax.

The last thing to note is how you could find the cheaper flights. Surprisingly I went through several booking agencies and apps such as Hopper, Skiplagged, Google Flight, Expedia and many others, yet the best offer ended up being a package deal directly from Jetblue Vacations service. I’ll guide you through the booking and saving details in the later section.

The Stay ✿

Alright, if this will be your first time traveling to the Bahamas (cruises don’t count!), now is a good time to have a little grasp about the landmarks (islandmarks?) and culture of the country. This general knowledge is often over looked, but it gives you a much-needed insight to be more humbled yet at the same time a chance to appreciate the beauty and history of the destinations; well beyond all the amazing scenic selfies you take home with.

Anyway, I digress. There are 700 islands and 2400 cays in the Bahamas. Obviously we won’t be able to get to see all of these locations due to time & budget constraints; plus some cays and islands are privately-owned or sharks-filled (jk, but it’s true!). However, you will be visiting a handful of the best ones out there: many are remote, some are totally secluded –which either way will be a total blast. Now if you are wondering what’s the difference between cay and island, cay is smaller than island and it is often made of sand and on top of a coral reef’s surface. Meanwhile, island is just big land surrounded by the ocean.

Speaking of island, the capital and largest city of Bahamas is Nassau and it’s built on the New Providence island (pic below). Nassau is very lively and it is also the most robust commercial hub in Bahamas.

Floating right next to the main island, just a few miles to the North East, is the Paradise Island which resides the famous and gigantic luxury resort known as the Atlantis Bahamas; there are bridges connecting the two islands together. The Atlantis resort has a huge water park, an under water aquarium, dolphin cay and a casino to accommodate hotel guests of all ages; In short, a handful of activities. However ticket is $120 for non-guest visitors. Sadly, while the Atlantis has picture-perfect photos on their website, the place in reality is old, often understaffed since post-pandemic and typical guest rooms are run down at the time of my booking. But don’t take my words for it, that’s what I heard from friends who went there. However, I still didn’t want to roll the dice on the Atlantis at the time. They may have improved when you read this.

The public beach nearby on other hand, called Cabbage Beach, is nothing short of spectacular and breath-taking. The clear and warm turquoise water, stretching out to the wide and never-ending horizon of the Caribbean sea, is an absolute wonder to the soul. You’ll love it when you get a chance to stroll down this beach with your other half.

While the Atlantis resort might be a good choice for family with kids –where you should enjoy the water attractions and outdoor activities more than the room– there are also several other decent hotels on Paradise island such as the all-inclusive Riu Palace or Warwick resort. But if anything you should know, Paradise island itself is the #1 biggest tourist spot in the Bahamas and everything on this tiny island is built to drain the last penny and max out all the credit cards in your wallet. It might be too expensive to fully enjoy a true vacation here if you didn’t know better.

For me, I went for a newer, much nicer resort with a better price and more laid back atmosphere.

A coule other places you want to learn more about before the trip starts are Eleuthera and Exuma. They are both district islands of the Bahamas, Eleuthera is roughly 60-mile North while Exuma is over 130-miles South-East of Nassau.

In my itinerary, you’d go on an excursion to several cays and underwater cave in the Exuma district where you can interact with a bunch of adorable uncooked bacons and other wild sea animals. Then the next day, you should find yourself in the North of Eleuthera exploring the Queen’s Bath, Sapphire Blue Hole or hopping on a watertaxi to Spanish Wells or Harbour Island. More into that later!

Car Rental ꔮ

Having your own ride on the island is definitely the most practical way to get yourself around and explore places on your own.

Driving on the left side however, could be quite terrifying for some. No one told me first hand that I would have to put my driving skill to the immediate test the second we left the arrival terminal. The W Bay St from the airport to the resort areas consisted of hundreds of roundabouts, with all traffic flowing clock-wise and merging from the left. Totally jacked up my adrenaline level. But at least I got free rental insurance on the Chase Sapphire card which calmed my nerve by a great deal.

Still, Jesus did have to take over the wheel at some point.

If you are thinking about taking the cab, a one-way taxi ride from the airport to your hotel could cost more than $25 per person per trip and it adds up quickly every time you want to go somewhere. And I’m pretty sure you’d want to go somewhere. I rented a tiny car for roughly $300 during the entire stay which makes life so much easier (also because small cars are easier to maneuver on the island’s smaller roads). We could come and go as we please without having to waste time waiting for a ride.

On hindsight, I should have rented the car just the 3 days in between the 5-day stay. You probably wouldn’t need a car on the first and last day because Jetblue Vacation offers free shuttle between the hotel and airport, which could save your hundreds of dollars. Well we’ll circle back to this in a later section when the time comes.

The Weather ☼

We traveled to Nassau in mid October, which is close to the end of the hurricane season for Bahamas (June to November). I’m sure for most of us, including me back when, what we are most nervous about upon traveling is whether the sky is gonna be wet with water every damn day. I can tell it’d dampen your spirit pretty fast when you pull up the wunderground forecast for the vacation week and it says rains every single. freaking. day.

I think folks in the Bahamas could worry less about that, they know so well that is how it is for a tropical climate. You could have a 10 minute rain followed by 90°F and the blazing sun for the rest of the day. Thunderstorm at 12PM? You’ll see people walk it off and treat it like an opportunistic shower to cool down. 90% precipitation? It’s this very patch of funny clouds that pissing on one particular block for 49 seconds (reminds me of my fat cat). The longest rain we had during our trip was after 10PM and people were still singing and generally just having some happiness on the street.

With that being said, there is still a chance of a true hurricane and it won’t go away quickly and safely. Thus I made all my bookings using the Chase Sapphire Preferred card for the trip cancellation insurance. I’ll get to that bit a little more later if we have a chance.

The People 𐀪

Folks are pretty laid back on the islands. I think many locals will promptly let you know that the wheel of life spins much slower here than wherever you come from. And it’s a chillax pace to say the least, so turn it down a notch or five.

My wife and I nearly went everywhere in Nassau –from the most crowded street of straw marketplace where cruises dock, to the far western side of the island where real pirates docked, or the southern backroads to the remote outer islands of Spanish Wells and Eleuthera, etc..people were just so nice and friendly to us. It’s rare to find unpleasant people here; but that doesn’t mean you should go out and provoke everyone with a conchy attitude!

We also drove by a lot of people walking the street under the fire of the sun, their faces all serious and soaked in sweat, and they’d give us the biggest and brightest smile every time we waved hello at them. If you seem to be lost or having trouble, I’m sure Bahamian folks are very willing to lend a helping hand without expecting a tip. I just couldn’t get used to that at all, is that a bad thing? I don’t know what was changed in the last decade or so, it has become increasingly less friendly in the States. And we put up this aggressive, easily-offended shield around us that sometimes we choose not to smile or be nice to one another as much as before.

I think it’s quite refreshing to enjoy a different breathe of air once in a while so we could open up our perspective and learn a thing or two in life.

Other Things 𖦹

• Speaking of difference, what lovely language do the Bahamians speak?

Well, they speak Bahamianese and it goes a lot like this “God, you our Fadda. You stay in da sky. We like all da peopo know fo shua how you stay, an dat you good an spesho inside, an we like dem give you plenny respeck. We like you come king ova hea now. We like everybody make jalike you like, ova hea inside da world, jalike da angel guys up inside da sky make jalike you like.”

Does it sound strangely familiar? It’s english-based Creole where 75% of the population of Bahamians use on the daily basis! Many of them also know French-based (Haiti) creole as well. If you come from the States, you should have no trouble in making normal conversation anywhere at all –it’s just English. Though it might be a bit difficult to catch on with the dialect at some point, but you’ll get a hang of it before you know it.

• As you make landing in Nassau, chances are you’ll find your cellphone completely out of signal. If you have international roaming, that could be convenient but it’s likely not sustainable since you may end up with a very hefty bill by the end of the month. I recommend to just buy a local SIM card (BTC) for your unlocked phone instead. It is sold at a gift shop located right in the airport’s departure hall. There is also a price chart posted by the POS where you can do the math and work out the best data plan for your need. It shouldn’t cost more than $38 for a one-week option with unlimited GB (cost of SIM card + cost of phone plan). You’ll get signal everywhere you go, including the far outer islands.
  
• The Bahamas use the Bahamian dollar and it’s pegged to the USD. That basically means 1 Bahamian Dollar = 1 US Dollar. You likely don’t need a currency exchange if you have a travel credit card that poses no-fee on foreign transactions. I brought $350 cash with me for small transactions, or emergency situations and for tips. Note that most of the times, 15-18% tip is already added to the dining bill automatically so you may not need to add extra cash at all.

You’ve come to the fun part where I’ll walk you through the details of all the activities we did during the 5-day trip to the Bahamas. Lots of pictures and information to digest. Buckle up!

As you already know, we fly with Jetblue for our Bahamas trip in October. I happened to come across a $250 OFF coupon from Jetblue Vacations –which is a service offered by JetBlue– so I thought I’d give it a try since we don’t have a lot of flight options to the Nassau from Washington D.C areas anyway. It’s either with JB or AA.

I also did the math for similar flight & hotel & car rental packages from many different travel vendors such as Costco Travel, Hopper+Expedia, Google Flight+Booking.com, Skiplagged, etc..and when the bell rings, Jetblue Vacations beat everyone by roughly $350. Essentially, we get a lower rate for air fares, better price on the hotel room, free round-trip shuttle service and a decent price on car rental (Budget). So it’s no-brainer for us. I hope this article will also make other travel agencies step up their game and compete!

A few lesser known perks that often overlooked is, when you book regular Jetblue ticket from Google Flight or Skiplagged for instance, you’ll get the Basic fare which does not include free carry-on bags and free seat selection, unless you pay extra. The combo package from Jetblue Vacations upgrades your fare from Basic up to Blue automatically which lets each ticket holder brings a 22″ bag on plane for free, as well as be able to pick your own seatings (standard). If you are like my wifey, you’ll pack quite a lot for the 5-day trip, so this is very convenient and efficient cost-saving on both fronts.

Speaking of cost-saving, test these codes 25INSIDER, 150INSIDER, 200INSIDER or 300INSIDER at checkout and hope for the best. May the fortune be in your favor.

A couple days after I finished all the booking on Jetblue Vacations website, it dawned on me that I accidentally chose the wrong flight with a super long 5-hour layover instead of the one that has only 45-min layover. That’s what I get for juggling between too many tabs that day! But boy I’m glad that the issue was quickly resolved within one single phone call to Jetblue Vacations customer service. Big kudos to the rep who made it painless and also waved the flight change fee for me since I was a first-time customer. It was a huge relief.

I’m sure you realize by now that planning is more stressful than it looks (but the trip is a whole lot more special). By the way, also note that JetBlue airline and Jetblue Vacations are two different department, it’ll save you a lot of time to reach the right person when help is needed.

I got an early flight out so when the alarm rang 3AM that day, we headed down to a hotel near the airport. The airport’s on-site parking costs somewhere between $90 to $120 for 5 days, you probably have to take a shuttle to the terminal if you choose long term economy parking lot. I found a hotel on Airport Parking Reservations that offer $50 for 5-day parking including tax plus free shuttle service between 5AM to 11PM, so I opted for this instead. It was a good choice now to think about it. Gated, indoor parking garage is definitely way better than the airport’s outdoor parking lot for a lot of reasons, security and weather are two of them.

Once we set foot inside the airport, it was pretty uneventful –just exactly how I like it. No one’s yelling at anyone, nobody has to kick anyone out of the plane, no natural disaster to delay the flight. It was perfectly calm. We dropped off our 62″ checked bag before heading to TSA. The checked bag weights less than 50 lbs so there is no extra fee, except the $60 round trip cost that I paid for it ahead during early mobile check-in (versus $70 at the gate). Once we got through TSA with my 3.8oz of sunscreen bottle in the carryon bag, where TSA only allows 3.4oz max, I truly felt like an accomplished and successful crime boss.

You should have a quick meal in the airport prior to the landing in Nassau. Every meal you don’t spend dining in Nassau, is another (at least) $50 in your pocket. We got ourselves a hot box of fried rice and orange chicken from Big Bowl (DCA). I don’t often trust airport food but it wasn’t so bad at all, maybe because we were the first customer that morning. Another good restaurant in this airport is Qdoba which is so much better than Chipotle in every way, and better price too.

The first flight from DCA to FLL is also totally boring, which sparks joy! I think most people are not morning person so the cabin is rather quiet all the way up until the wheels are on the ground again. I’m totally fine with a 90-minute flight with no kids crying, no parents yelling, no loud music, no snake, no 828 callings, nothing.

So..when I said nothing, I lied. You do get some free snacks, free beverage and an entertainment screen to watch and play whatever new movies or games they have at time –I think those are good accommodations, especially if you are coming from Spirit airline. Legend says only air is still free there.

After a short layover and less than an hour flight later, the New Providence island and its beautiful turquoise water should slowly make an entrance by a window near you. If you don’t see anything like it, maybe you boarded the wrong flight.

Once you got your footing on the island, you can follow through a hallway that leads to the airport’s Customs. It’s in a very large hall with live music performed by local bands. You will need to fill out the Immigration Arrival Card for each person in your party, make sure you read carefully and not penning the part only for Bahama residence.

The line might be divided to both sides of the hall, so quickly get on one that is shorter and don’t follow the crowd. In my case, the left side was incredibly long while the the queue on the right was criminally short.

Then comes the part where you should be nice and be kind, don’t do anything you learned from the Squid Game, don’t talk about Heisenberg or the Precious. Bonus: if the Bahamian officer behind the desk finds you charming, you probably get a stamp on your passport! If not..well sh*t this article has just abruptly ended here for you.

Most of the car rental services reside directly outside of the airport, right across the street. However if you’re in need of a SIM card, instead of heading straight to the other side of the road, you’d walk to the right just before the exit doors. Then you’ll pass a small snack shop and the bathrooms that’s probably always full. Make the exit through a set of sliding doors and keep walking to the other building (Domestic departure hall).

You will soon find a giftshop inside this building where you can get an unlimited BTC Sim card for roughly $40 or so. Now with your phone ready for emergency 919 dialing, you can go back for your rental vehicle and hopefully safely “enjoy” the intimidating left side driving if you have never done that before! I hope you have insurance coverage from either the rental agreement or with the credit card like my Sapphire card.

If you’re going to the East side of the island from the airport, you’re very likely driving on W Bay St which is right along the shoreline. So prepare yourself for some amazing views of the sand and sea. There are several locations where you can just pull over and stop for a sec to enjoy the breath of fresh air and the beautiful turquoise water.

One thing I want to remind you about traveling on most of the Caribean islands is having a small car definitely helps a whole lot. In Nassau, you don’t need a Telluride or Yukon XL, you’d want a little four-door Mitsubitshi that has no trouble maneuvering the small roads and is super gas-efficient (gas price here is much more expensive than in the States).

My wife was highly concerned about the small car that I rented, but towards the end of the trip we both quite enjoyed the little beater (Stockholm syndrome much?). It was a good decision as we were be able to get around everywhere and park in tighter spots that otherwise we would not be able to with a SUV. On top of that Bahama’s road quality is actually great in comparison to what we found in Saint Croix, so you probably don’t need a Jeep either. After 5 days of going places in Nassau, I only had to refuel once on the last day and it was less than $40.

On our way to the hotel, we just couldn’t resist a couple more spontaneous stops on the side of the road to take in the beauty of the Carribean sea.

And that in turn made our tummy really rumbling. So we kept going a little further down the road and had our first Bahama lunch at the Blue Sail Bar & Grill. It was an absolutely lovely restaurant with a beautiful ocean view and amazing deep fried lobster dish.

We instantly fell in love with the relaxing atmosphere of this place. All the fatigue and jet lag from the early flights just melt away. This is one of those times when I truly appreciate what a change of fresh air could do to our body and soul, or what the incoming dining bill could do to my wallet.

But look at this boat-shape dish full of lobster deliciousness and a family of hermies a few feet away from our table, and the view! I think it’s way worth it.

Once you have successfully topped up your glucose level, I bet you’d want to take a short walk out to the pier and enjoy the beautiful weather of the Caribbean. It’s another awesome opportunity to unwind a little bit more to really enjoy the island time and its lifestyle.

Pier too far out or you’re afraid of water? Well you definitely have come to the wrong destination but don’t worry, the restaurant has a relaxing picnic and photo op area for all your dryland selfie needful. There might be a few conches laying around if you need to phone home, too.

Soon later, we presume our journey and continue heading east to the Margaritaville Beach Resort for our stay on Nassau.

My wife didn’t have any clue how the resort looks like nor she has much to expect of it; as long as the place is clean and safe then we’ll be happy. But then she got a pleasant surprise as we find ourselves in a really beautiful, brand new and upscale resort centrally located right in the cul-de-sac/heart of the Providence island. From here you are technically just a short drive away from every cool activity everywhere else on the island.

There is even a minitature version of the resort itself in the Lobby area. That’s very cool in my opinion! I really wanted to take it home as a sourvenir, but the front desk refused.

Now before your arrival at the Margaritaville Resort, here is little tiny interesting information you should know: the resort has two building complexes on site. The main entrance as you walk in to the reception desk is the Margaritaville hotel, and the adjacent building is called One Particular Harbour condo.

Here is another view of the beaches for both buildings.

As you can see the Margaritaville resort’s beach has a big water park with several pools and a pier that goes out to a restaurant; while the One Particular Harbour (OPH) side only has a smaller beach, a lovely shaded botanical garden and an infinity pool.

You have access to both with your wristband. However I personally enjoyed the beach on OPH side since it is often much less crowded and quieter than the main beach area by the hotel side. I say spend the morning at the waterpark and then chill in the afternoon on the other side.

I thought I’d share this small tip with you to make your stay more exciting and enjoyable. We found out about OPH by accident because our room was not ready when we arrived, so the frontdesk associates gave us a room upgrade to the One Particular Harbour condo. Totally awesome sauce!

Here are some photos of the condo. The Margaritaville hotel has also been through a major renovation, I suspect that the hotel rooms are just as nice as the condos now.

You’ll also get a huge balcony that spans across the living room and the bedroom. It’s a beautiful open view of the sea with occasional arrival of cruise ships coming from the Florida’s ports.

Once we finished unpacking, the long day of travel finally started to take a toll on us. We were absolutely beat for the rest of the evening, so we decided to stay in and munch on the carry-out dinner that we ordered from Blue Sail earlier.

When nightfall arrives, the air serves a very gentle breeze; and up from the balcony you can see folks are singing and performing on the street. It’s a simple fun and lively scene, but not too loud or chaotic that you couldn’t enjoy a relaxing evening (PSTD flashback from Ocean City, MD). We absolutely appreciate this kind of safe and laid back atmosphere thus far. I bet if we weren’t super exhausted, we might even want to take a stroll up the street and get dinner at some local restaurant that’s just a minute away. Well, more time to play tomorrow.