The picture-perfect island is never short on memorable experiences
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What’s new, Bermuda?
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Plenty, it turns out, as I discovered during a recent action-packed trip to the picture-perfect, subtropical island located a mere two-and-a-half-hour flight from Toronto.
And that’s just for starters.
Here’s what I was able to check out over four nights:
DAY ONE/LIFT OFF:
Bermuda’s close proximity means that it takes less time to sink your toes into Bermuda’s famous pink sand and swim in its glorious turquoise waters than driving from Toronto to cottage country on a Friday afternoon.
We fly for the first time on BermudAir with the lovely Hannah Eggen as part of our flight crew. Turns out she’ll come to the rescue when my plus one’s crooked table tray dumps Diet Coke all over her white pants — twice. Eggen moves us up one row to business class, serves my pal Bermuda’s “national drink,” a Rum Swizzle, and gives her a beach bag with towel.
After moving quickly through Customs, we’re taken by our zen-like driver Zita Bean to our first restaurant stop: Munchies By The Sea near St. George’s Town Square. We enjoy Richard’s all beef Jonny Dog — essentially a corn dog, a fish wrap and fresh juices of cucumber and ginger while watching gigantic parrotfish nibble at our leftover fries.
Then it’s time to check into the St. Regis Bermuda where we witness the nightly 5 p.m. sabering of the champagne ritual overlooking the pool deck, which beckons for a pre-dinner swim with its two swimming pools and jacuzzi.
We eventually head to the recently reopened The Waterlot, “Bermuda’s iconic steakhouse” in a building dating back to 1670, with executive chef Hamish Lindsay making the actual dishes the food is served in as interesting as the cuisine itself. I go for the surf and turf classic — steak and lobster — as my main but my crab roulade appetizer (an avocado roll stuffed with crab) is outstanding.
DAY TWO/LADIES WHO MASSAGE/LUNCH/DRINK:
I’m not someone who gets massages first thing in the morning but after my experience with therapist Alexandra Hunter (who has family ties in the GTA) at the St. Regis Bermuda Spa, I’d do it again. There’s both a plunge pool and steam shower available in the spa before or after your treatment.
Feeling refreshed, we leave for lunch at the just reopened The Botanist Cafe & Garden Lounge. Owner Pete Kyle’s clever re-invention of the space serves espresso coffee, fresh pastries, soup and sandwiches upstairs and around 100 whiskys, largely from Scotland, that make up the “largest single malt collection in Bermuda in commercial hands,” for tastings downstairs.
Sufficiently satiated, we head next to the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI), which is not new, but endlessly fascinating and a great place to spend a rainy morning or afternoon. The latest exhibit is everything you need to know about the mysterious Bermuda Triangle with such wide-ranging reasons as aliens to wormholes to blame for the downing of ships and planes.
After that it’s time for a pre-dinner drink at The Flower Bar in downtown Hamilton. It’s an unusual setting. Essentially, a florist that serves drinks, but the cocktails are so pretty and tasty as served by bartenders Sahley Govia and Kailee Spring, a return trip is definitely in the cards. We enjoy a Spiced Pear Martini, a Peach and Bloom, a Pomegranate Martini, a Candy Cane Delight and a mocktail called Strawberry Kiss.
That is followed by dinner at the trip’s standout seafood and sushi restaurant, the new Achilles, about a three-minute walk from St. Regis Bermuda overlooking Achilles Bay. Serving “MeditterAsian” cuisine, chef Guido Brambilla sure knows what he is doing in a super-stylish location — check out the green-tiled bar — that has the best food with sunsets to die for via outside seating in the summer months.
SHOPPING/TEA/PIZZA/DAY THREE:
We finally go shopping in St. George’s, which is about a $10 cab ride or ambitious 20-minute walk away from the St. Regis Bermuda. Stops there should include Lili Bermuda perfumery, the clothing store The Things We Love, The Dragon’s Lair Gallery, and Long Story Short, the latter an eclectic mix of everything from housewares to cosmetics that also offers walking tours.
Then it’s back to the St. Regis Bermuda for an extremely indulgent 2 p.m. afternoon tea that didn’t disappoint with scones, raspberry jam and whipped cream, delicious smoked salmon sandwiches with pickled sweet onion, crème fraiche, and capers on spinach bread, macarons, cupcakes and cookies and eight different kinds of tea.
After another pool swim, it’s off to the recently opened Clarabell’s in the garden at the Rosedon Hotel in Hamilton for fresh wood-fired pizza with sourdough crust as we wisely chose Truffle Cream, Basilico and Mortadella for our pies. It’s a cool outdoor/indoor space and I can’t recommend it highly enough.
SCOOTER/SWIM/FISH SANDWICHES/JEWELS/DAY FOUR:
The best day ever, at least for me, because I was finally allowed to pick up a scooter rental (the only other way for tourists to get around is by an unusual-looking micro cars) and drive along Bermuda’s scenic south shore where I stopped for a swim at Horseshoe Bay cove. It was almost a religious experience as I floated in the clear, blue water and stared at the clouds above. There’s a permanent place to shower and change afterwards along with restrooms so it’s very convenient and safe.
Then it’s off to the super casual Woody’s for huge fresh breaded fish sandwiches on toasted raisin bread (a Bermuda classic) before heading back into Hamilton for a jewelry store meetup at Davidrose Studio on Front Street.
Torontonian co-owner Avrel Rose Fernandes-Zuill, who met her husband David Zuill when they were both university students in T.O. more than a decade ago, tells a great Beyonce story about the singer putting Davidrose Jewelry on the map when she wore the Drop in the Ocean cocktail ring from the store’s Ocean collection in a magazine shoot.
Our final night ends with a pre-dinner drink at Little Venice Wine Bar before dinner at Eight & Vine mere blocks away.
BYE BYE BERMUDA/DAY FIVE:
It’s an early checkout for our 8:30 a.m. BermudAir flight back to Toronto but the good news is that at the St. Regis Bermuda you’re only about 10 minutes way for the airport, and you get home by 10:30 a.m. Just sit back and relax on the plane and cherish the memories until you return — because you know you will.
IF YOU GO:
FILL OUT: A Bermuda Arrival Card is required before departure which you can do beforehand online or the flight attendants will hand out to you on the plane before your land.
CURRENCY: Canadian cash can be converted to Bermudian dollars.
LOCATION: Bermuda is subtropical, as in a mere 1,046 km straight east of North Carolina in the Atlantic.