Heading to Nassau for some fun in the sun with your kids? Whether you’re stopping in just for the day on a cruise ship or spending multiple days in the Bahamas for a relaxing adventure, keep reading for some insight into the Nassau Bahamas tourist stops with kids.
Every winter I dream of going somewhere warm and escaping the long dark days of Seattle winter. Last fall, Delta ran a flash sale to a bunch of warm destinations so I started looking into available dates and destinations. The kids have both had a passport since before they could walk, but thanks to a certain global health event, we hadn’t been able to use them yet.
When I saw an amazing deal on a flight to Nassau, Bahamas for the week of my birthday (and a week that Emmett had no preschool), we jumped on it!
Normally, I have trip itineraries planned weeks in advance; however, since we weren’t sure how the kids would do after the long flights and time change, there was a lot more of a “wing-it” attitude for this trip.
Based on the weather forecast for the week we were in Nassau, we focused on exploring the first few days of our trip and then did resort/pool days at the end of the trip.
These are my thoughts on various tourist spots in Nassau with how my kids (very active 4 year old and independent 2 year old) responded to the activity. We used two Babyzen YoYo strollers throughout the trip. Emmett (4 years old) has a tendency to run off if given the chance so his stroller was mainly for containment rather than being tired.
Nassau Bahamas Tourist Spots with Kids
We walked from our hotel (Atlantis Coral Tower) the majority of the trip with the exception of one day when I booked Cheryl’s Taxi & Tours to do a private shuttle for 4 hours to get a couple spots that were a bit further away.
Pirates of Nassau
Duration: 1 hour
The Pirate Museum would be perfect for elementary age kids or older. The exhibits are immersive; however, they aren’t very interactive for young kids. We still enjoyed our time looking at the different exhibits and reading about the true history of the Pirates of the Caribbean.
John Watling’s Rum Distillery
Duration: 1 hour
Ok, this was definitely for the parents and not for the kids, but we still brought our kids so I’m adding it to the list.
The distillery offers free tours of the plant that ends in the bar to taste the various rums. There is also food available outside to enjoy with the beverages. We also saw lots of tour busses stopping here. I’m not sure if we joined the official distillery tour or if we crashed a tour bus tour because our guide was going into a lot of the pirate history of Nassau as well.
My kids got restless waiting at each stop of the tour so we didn’t stay to enjoy a cocktail since the bar was a bit busy, but we did return later when we had the private van to buy a couple bottles of rum to bring home.
Ardastra Gardens
Duration: 1-2 hours
Ardastra Gardens is known for their flamingos. The flamingos are trained to perform a show, and they roam about the gardens afterwards. There gardens feature a variety of birds, along with tortoises, monkeys, and other animals.
This is the destination that made me consider a private van tour. It was just far enough away from the hotel that I wasn’t sure about walking over with the kids. We were here for about an hour, but could have stayed longer if we opted for a snack break within the gardens rather than getting the kids a snack back in the van.
Both kids enjoyed the flamingo show, and also all the other tropical birds around the property.
Queen’s Staircase
Duration: 30-45 minutes
We did the Queen’s Staircase (also known as 66 Steps) with our private tour. Our van driver dropped us off at the top of the staircase and then drove around to meet us at the bottom. We lucked out that it was a quiet day in port and only saw a couple other families the entire time we were at the staircase. It is absolutely gorgeous and a perfect spot for kids to burn off a bit of energy going up and down the steps.
Fort Montagu
Duration: 30-60 minutes
This destination wasn’t on our original plan; however, our van driver brought us here towards the end of our time. The fort itself is very small; however, there is a gorgeous view over the water, along with a park/beach area.
Bay Street/Parliament Square
Duration: Varies
Bay Street is the main road of shops right in front of the cruise boat terminal. It features a variety of local stores along with the standard cruise port chains. While it isn’t necessarily a tourist destination, it was an easy walking path for us to get wherever we were headed for the day.
Parliament Square features bright pink buildings just off Bay Street and is the official government buildings for Nassau. We walked around the grounds a bit so Anneliese could enjoy all the Pink (her favorite color).
The Rum Cake Factory store is located along Bay Street and we saw it packed with shoppers many times when we walked by. Brad and I picked up a Pineapple Rum Cake to enjoy one evening in the hotel room and it was delicious.
On one of our walks back to the hotel we stopped at Rip Ty’d for a local craft beer. They had board games for the kids to play while we each enjoyed a beer.
Nassau Bahamas Tourist Spots We Skipped With Kids
Since we were staying at Atlantis where we had beach options on property, we didn’t go to any of the public beaches such as Junkanoo Beach.
While we did walk along the very outside of the Straw Market getting from the water ferry to Bay Street one morning, we didn’t go inside. After years of selling at craft shows, I feel bad if I don’t look at people’s booths after making eye contact or small talk so I knew that the high pressure Straw Market was not for me. Plus the thought of taking two young kids in crowded market did not sound like a good plan.
The Bat Cave was suggested as a potential destination while we had the van; however, it is decently far away from other spots in downtown Nassau and our Bahamian friend said that it wouldn’t be good for our kids so we skipped it.
I loved the *idea* of swimming with the pigs; however, after talking to our Bahamian friend, he let me know that they can be a bit unpredictable and often bite. Given Emmett’s impulsive behavior we decided to skip that excursion option.
Getting to Downtown Nassau from Paradise Island
We debated for a while about getting a rental car for our trip. In the end I am 100% glad we skipped the rental car. There is limited parking at many of these spots, so a car would have been more of a hassle than a help.
There are two bridges that cross from Paradise Island over to downtown Nassau. The bridges are one-way for cars, but people can walk either direction. These bridges are steep and I definitely reconsidered my choice the first time we walked across the bridge. The newer bridge, which is the one further west, felt a bit steeper; however, it has a half-wall between the cars and sidewalk. The older bridge has a sidewalk elevated from the car driving surface, but there are no guardrails between people and the cars. It took about 30-45 minutes to walk to the main downtown area from Atlantis on Paradise Island.
There is also a passenger ferry that leaves from the base of the new bridge and drops passengers off by the cruise terminal. This ferry costs $7 per person each way and the hours change each day depending on the cruise ship schedule. We did the ferry one morning, but opted to just walk back since Anneliese had fallen asleep in the stroller.
If you’re out of the carseat stage, Taxis are easy to come by from the resort.
I mentioned earlier that we traveled with two Babyzen YoYo strollers. We loved the flexibility that this provided over a double stroller, especially since many of the walkways would not be considered ADA accessible. There were quite a few times where we had to tilt the kids back and jump a curb, so definitely don’t want to load up the basket of the stroller.
Next time we visit the Bahamas, I definitely want to look into some sort of boat tour or shorter fishing trip. Both kids loved the water ferry from Paradise Island to downtown Nassau and I think they would enjoy a longer boat ride. If we were to book a boat trip, I’d make sure that it had an indoor spot where we could take the kids if they needed some downtime.
