Cayman Islands Travel Guide

Browse the Cayman Islands Photo Gallery

Cuisine

There is a strong Jamaican influence in the national cuisine, but most restaurants serve a cosmopolitan menu. Standards are generally high with good service, and credit cards are widely accepted credit cards. Bars and restaurants are well stocked with all beverages normally consumed in America and Europe. Draught beer is available in a few bars.

National specialties:
• Jerk chicken (chicken marinated in hot spices).
• Rice and peas.
• Fried plantain.
• Conch chowderdishes, including fritters, stew and chowder.
• Mahi-mahi (a tropical fish).
• Lobster.
• Turtle stew.

National drinks:

• Caybrew beer.
• Rum punch.
• Cayman mudslide cocktail.

Legal drinking age: 18.

Tipping: For most services, 5-10% is normal. Hotels and apartments state the specific amount. Restaurant bills usually include a 10-15% charge in lieu of tipping.

Nightlife

Grand Cayman has lively bars and nightclubs along West Bay Road and in George Towncomedy clubs. Music is varied and clubs offer everything from live DJs to salsa, reggae, calypso and disco. Concerts and theater productions (www.artscayman.org) are staged at the Harquail Theater, off West Bay Road, and the Prospect Playhouse, Red Bay. There's a multi-screen cinema in the new Camana Bay (www.camanabay.com).

Dinner cruises onboard a replica pirate ship or a 19th-century tall ship can be booked through local watersports operators. On Cayman Brac there are occasional weekend dances with local bands and community events, such as talent shows and other stage productions, at the Aston Rutty Center.

Local publications with nightlife information include Key To Cayman, What's Hot, What to Do, Destination Cayman and Friday's edition of the Caymanian Compass, as well as Key To Cayman, What's Hot, What to Do, Destination Cayman.