A fantastic hotel on a great island (Southern Palms Beach Club & Resort Hotel (Barbados))

Member Name: stuff10

Product:	Southern Palms Beach Club & Resort Hotel (Barbados)
Date:	28/07/09 (25 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Next to the see, free golf, free bodyboards, free Internet

Disadvantages: Not very lively area

We stayed in the Southern Palms Hotel at the beginning of June 2009 for our honeymoon. It was our first time in Barbados and we found it to be a really friendly place to visit.

The Southern Palms is located on the south-west coast of the island in an area known as St Lawrence Gap - or The Gap for short. The Gap is supposedly the liveliest resort on the island, but is was very quiet when we went.

The hotel is pretty much in the middle of The Gap, around 5 minutes walk away from the main restaurants, although there are a couple of nice places just across the road - St Lawrence Steak House being a particular favourite during our stay there.

The first thing that you notice about the hotel is that it's pink... which to be honest is the reason I think my wife chose it! She did a good job though cos it was a great hotel. It's nicely designed, only 3 stories high meaning it's nice to look at - not like the hotels in Benidorm are! The grounds of the hotel are pleasant to walk around and the staff who work there are very friendly.

The rooms are fairly standard, but ours did have a little kitchen area with a sink and fridge. All rooms are air conditioned and have a large flatscreen TV on the wall, showing local channels as well as CNN and BBC World.

The hotel has 2 freshwater swimming pools with plenty of sunbeds around each one. The pools were very quiet while we were there, possibly because the hotel is right on the beach! The sea is about 20 yards away and you can hear the waves crashing on the shore whilst you're in the pool. The beach area immediately outside the hotel has some sun loungers that are reserved for Southern Palms' guests and was lovely to sit on. Several activities are available at the beach, including water skiing priced at $60 US.

The hotel has its own restaurant which we didn't use at night, but we did use for our lunchtime meals, where they serve usual American snacks such as burgers, hot dogs etc. These were quite expensively priced at around $70 Barbadian for a meal for 2. Instead of using cash at the restaurants and bars, you simply charge your meals to your room and pay the balance when you checkout. This is a great idea as it saves carrying money down to the beach with you.

The hotel has 2 computers that can be used to get online, which proved very useful for keeping up-to-date with events back home. There's also a 9-hole mini golf course which is free to use and you can also borrow bodyboards and snorkelling equipment for the sea - again for free! There is tennis court across the road as well, but we didn't us this.

Summary: A place we'll be going back to