Trinidad and Tobago Travel Guide

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Top Things to See

• Capture the variety of Trinidadian life in its capital, Port of Spain, where bazaars throng beneath modern skyscrapers and mosques rub shoulders with cathedrals. The architecture of the city incorporates a mixture of styles from Victorian houses to Stollmeyer’s Castle, an imitation of a Bavarian Castle.

• See Port of Spain’s highlights, including the shopping district centerd on Frederick Street; the Royal Botanic Gardens; the Red House (a stately colonial building, now the seat of government); the National Museum and Art Gallery; and the 19th-century gothic Holy Trinity Cathedral.

• Don’t neglect Port of Spain’s outskirts. The magnificent Queen’s Park Savannah is a mixture of natural and manmade beauty, with attractive trees and shrubs (including the African Tulip). Fort George, built in 1804, offers superb vistas of the city and the mountains of northern Venezuela.

• Take in some of Trinidad’s natural phenomena at the Aripo Caves, noted for their stalactites and stalagmites, the fascinating Pitch Lake, a 36-hectare (90-acre) lake of asphalt which constantly replenishes itself, and the lush tropical forest near the Hollis Reservoir on the east coast.

• Watch the sun set in Tobago’s capital, Scarborough, from the Fort King George, built in 1779 during the many struggles between the French and the English. Admire the quaint houses spilling down from the hilltop to the waterside, and visit the Court House and the Tobago Museum.

• Take a dip at one of Tobago’s fine beaches. Each has its own flavor, from the brown pelicans at Turtle Beach to fantastic snorkeling at Man O’War Bay. Store Bay, Mount Irvine, Bacolet Bay and Pigeon Point are also well worth a visit.

• Visit one of Tobago’s old sugar plantations. Arnos Vale (website: www.arnosvalehotel.com), now a hotel, has a disused sugar mill complete with formidable crushing wheels, made in 1857, still on the grounds as well as a museum.

• Get active with a long hike along the excellent trails of the Tobago Forest Reserve, climb Pigeon Peak, the highest point on the island, or scuba-dive in Speyside, a colorful beach settlement.

• Drop in on some Tobago villages. On the Atlantic (windward) side of the island are many tiny villages including Mesopotamia and Goldsborough, the town of Roxborough and several beautiful bays. On the north coast are the beautiful villages of Castara and Parlatuvier.

Top Things to Do

• Celebrate Carnival, Trinidad’s most wild and colorful event. The world-renowned festivities climax at the beginning of Lent, although the run-up to Carnival starts immediately after Christmas when the Calypso tents open and the Calypsonians perform their latest compositions and arrangements.

• Listen to the big steel bands bang their drums around Queen’s Park Savannah, a large park in Port of Spain. Panorama, the Grand Steel Drum (pan) tournament is staged a week before Carnival. The preliminaries and local finals in Tobago are also well worth a visit.

• Take to the streets of Port of Spain, San Fernando and Tunapuna with the islands’ Muslim population to celebrate Hosay, which coincides with the Muslim New Year. Multi-colored miniature mausoleums are paraded and then ritually offered up to the ocean.

• Treat your taste buds in the rapidly expanding town of Chaguanas where a wide range of West Indian culinary specialties are available.

• Take advantage of the excellent watersports facilities at the beaches along the north and east coasts of Trinidad, and all around Tobago. Speyside and Buccoo Reef, just off the southwest coast of Tobago, which has some of the Caribbean’s finest reefs, offer exciting scuba-diving. Trips in glass-bottomed boats are very popular.

• Fish for Spanish mackerel, wahoo, kingfish, bonito, dolphin fish, yellow tuna, grouper, salmon and snapper in the islands’ abundant waters. Both deep-sea and freshwater fishing are rewarding and there is an increasing number of boats available for hire.

• See some of the islands’ 622 species of butterfly and over 700 species of orchid. The latter are best seen in Port of Spain’s Royal Botanic Gardens (along with a wide selection of indigenous trees, shrubs, ferns and cacti). The Emperor Valley Zoo has a good selection of local wildlife.

• Spot the national bird, the scarlet ibis, in Trinidad’s Nariva Swamp, the Aripo Savannah, the Asa Wright Nature Center and the Caroni Bird Sanctuary where it is conserved. Hummingbirds are ubiquitous on Tobago and Little Tobago Island is highly recommended for twitchers.

• Catch a game of cricket, the major spectator sport, at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain, where the best national and international matches can be seen. Trinidadians are keen on racing, and the Arima Velodrome hosts a number of major meetings.