Nassau, Bahamas: first impressions from a slow walk through the city

I had Nassau filed in my head as a cruise stop. Somewhere you get off the boat, buy a t-shirt you regret, and get back on. I stayed a few days instead and it turned out to be one of the better short trips I''ve taken this year.

A few notes from walking around, in no particular order.

The city itself

Downtown Nassau is smaller than I expected and more walkable than it looks on a map. A block off Bay Street the resort veneer drops off and it just feels like a small Caribbean capital where people are heading to work. Pastel buildings, wrought-iron balconies, streets that bend enough that you keep going one more block to see what''s around the corner.

The water does what the water does. I don''t know what else to say about it — it looks the way it looks in the pictures, which is annoying because I wanted to have a more original opinion.

Getting there and getting around

You fly into Lynden Pindling (NAS). Taxis from the airport are metered at a fixed rate depending on where you''re going, so ask the driver to confirm the number before you get in the cab and you''ll be fine. Rideshares basically don''t exist here. Taxis do.

Downtown you don''t need a car. The straw market, the pink government buildings, the harbor, the fort — all walkable. Paradise Island is a short cab ride over the bridge, or a long walk if you''re feeling righteous about your step count. To get further out along the north shore, the jitney buses are cheap and slow and part of the fun.

Things I''d do again

Walk Bay Street early, before the ships unload. The light on the storefronts is better and you can actually hear yourself.

Eat conch. Cracked, fritters, salad — doesn''t really matter, just don''t eat it at a hotel. A beach shack for lunch will ruin the hotel version for you, which is a good thing.

Junkanoo Beach is worth an hour and a drink between wandering the city. It''s not a quiet stretch of sand and it''s not trying to be, so don''t show up expecting one.

The Queen''s Staircase and Fort Fincastle take about five minutes, cost nothing, and get you out of the heat for a bit. Views are good.

Get on the water at least once. A small-group boat out to a nearby cay is the thing I''d cut something else to keep.

Things I''d skip

The straw market as an actual shopping trip. Walk through it once for the scene, but most of what''s in there isn''t made anywhere near the island. If you want to bring something back, the small shops a few streets off Bay Street are better.

The casinos, unless that''s already your thing. Nassau''s draw is outside.

The most-Instagrammed beach clubs on Paradise Island. You can pay a lot to be crowded, or you can find better water for free about ten minutes away.

What it costs, roughly

Nassau isn''t cheap and it doesn''t pretend to be. Plan on Caribbean-resort prices, not Latin-America prices, and you''ll be calibrated.

Where you sleep is what drives the whole trip. A downtown boutique is usually the sweet spot — noticeably cheaper than the Paradise Island mega-resorts and you can walk to almost everything. Food swings wildly: a shack lunch and a nicer dinner in the same day averages out fine; two hotel dinners in a row will not. Activities are where you actually save money — walking the city and the fort and the beaches is free, and one good day on a boat beats three mid-tier tours.

If you want to pressure-test the numbers before booking anything, I run every trip through the Vacation Cost Calculator on this site. That''s partly why I built it.

Worth bookmarking

• Bahamas.com for the boring-but-important stuff — entry requirements, hurricane windows, licensed operators.
• U.S. State Department – Bahamas is worth five minutes before any Caribbean trip.

The short version

Give Nassau more than a day off a boat. Stay downtown, walk everywhere, eat the conch, get on the water once. That''s the trip.