eSIM for Bahamas

In the Bahamas our eSIM connects to BTC, which won Ookla's award for the best mobile coverage in the country in the first half of 2024. There is no 5G yet anywhere in the islands, Uber still does not operate, and on Nassau you will mostly book taxis by phone or through the locally built Bahamas Ride app.

An island-hopping week for beach and boat lovers: two days in Nassau's historic centre and beaches, three in the Exumas for the cays and swimming pigs, then Harbour Island's pink sand and the Glass Window Bridge on Eleuthera.

Length

7 days

Bases

3

When to go December to April is dry and warm with calm seas for boat trips; June to November is hurricane season, with the highest risk from August to October, so book flexible flights and boat tours then.

1. 01

   Day 1 Nassau

   Nassau: forts and old town

   → From Lynden Pindling International Airport take a licensed taxi into town, about 25 to 30 minutes; Uber does not operate here.

   Start at Parliament Square with its pink colonial buildings, then walk up to the Queen's Staircase, 66 steps cut into the limestone by enslaved people in the late 18th century. Continue to Fort Fincastle and the water tower above it for views over the harbour. In the afternoon visit the Pompey Museum of Slavery and Emancipation in Vendue House, then watch the cruise ships leave from the waterfront at Prince George Wharf.

   Signal BTC 4G is strong throughout downtown Nassau, though the area gets congested when several cruise ships are in port.

2. 02

   Day 2 Nassau

   Paradise Island, Cable Beach and Clifton

   Spend the morning on the beaches of Paradise Island, reached over the bridge from downtown, or take the short ferry across the harbour. After lunch head west past Cable Beach to Clifton Heritage National Park on the island's south-western tip, where you can walk past plantation-era ruins and Lucayan sites to a stretch of quiet shoreline. Return to Cable Beach for sunset over the water.

   Signal Good 4G on Paradise Island and along the Cable Beach strip; it weakens on the coastal paths at Clifton but rarely drops out entirely.

3. 03

   Day 3 George Town, Great Exuma

   Fly to Great Exuma and George Town

   → Domestic flight from Nassau to Exuma International (GGT), roughly 40 to 50 minutes; the airport is a few miles from George Town.

   Take a short domestic flight to Exuma International Airport on Great Exuma. Settle into George Town, the main settlement on Elizabeth Harbour, and walk around Lake Victoria and the straw market. In the afternoon take the water taxi across the harbour to Stocking Island, where you can follow trails over the dunes to long, empty beaches on the ocean side before heading back across at dusk.

   Signal BTC 4G covers George Town and the airport. On Stocking Island signal is usually reachable from the harbour side but thinner on the ocean beaches.

4. 04

   Day 4 George Town, Great Exuma

   Exuma Cays boat day: pigs and Thunderball Grotto

   → Boat tours from Great Exuma run north for well over an hour each way; tours are weather-dependent.

   Join a full-day boat tour north up the chain of cays. Typical stops include Big Major Cay, where the swimming pigs paddle out to boats (look but do not touch, as visitors are asked), Thunderball Grotto just west of Staniel Cay, an underwater cave you swim into at low tide, and Compass Cay for its nurse sharks. Wear reef-safe sunscreen and bring a dry bag for your phone.

   Signal Expect long gaps with no signal on the open water between cays. There is some coverage near Staniel Cay, but treat the day as mostly offline.

5. 05

   Day 5 George Town, Great Exuma

   Little Exuma and Tropic of Cancer Beach

   → Hire car from George Town; Little Exuma is around 30 to 40 minutes' drive south.

   Drive south along the Queen's Highway, crossing the short bridge to Little Exuma. Stop at the hilltop ruins near Williams Town and the salt pond beside them, then spend the afternoon at Tropic of Cancer Beach, a wide sweep of white sand that sits close to the line of the Tropic. On the way back look in at the small settlements of The Ferry and Forbes Hill for quieter coves.

   Signal Coverage is good near George Town but thins along the southern Queen's Highway; expect one or two bars at Tropic of Cancer Beach.

6. 06

   Day 6 Harbour Island

   To Eleuthera and Harbour Island's pink sand

   → Exuma to Nassau by air, then Nassau to North Eleuthera (about 20 to 25 minutes) and a road and water-taxi transfer to Harbour Island; Bahamas Ferries also runs a fast ferry from Nassau to Harbour Island on some days; check the current timetable.

   Fly back to Nassau and connect to North Eleuthera, then take the short water taxi across to Harbour Island. Walk the length of Pink Sands Beach on the Atlantic side, where crushed shell tints the sand, and wander Dunmore Town's lanes of clapboard houses, getting around by golf cart or on foot as the locals do. Watch the sunset from the harbour side.

   Signal Good 4G in Dunmore Town and along Pink Sands Beach. Allow for weak or no signal on the ferry crossing from Nassau if you choose the boat.

7. 07

   Day 7 Harbour Island

   Glass Window Bridge and Preacher's Cave

   → Water taxi and hire car or taxi; the Glass Window Bridge is around half an hour's drive from North Eleuthera.

   Cross back to the mainland and drive south to the Glass Window Bridge, where the island narrows to a sliver and you can see the deep blue Atlantic on one side and the pale Bight of Eleuthera on the other. Do not stand on the rocks when swells are running. Return north to Preacher's Cave, where 17th-century settlers sheltered after a shipwreck, before an afternoon flight back to Nassau.

   Signal Patchy along the northern Eleuthera road and at Preacher's Cave; usually workable at the Glass Window Bridge and good again at the airport.