Bequia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines: The Island Everyone Means
An hour by ferry from Kingstown, and the Grenadine most people actually come for.
Why Go
Bequia is the largest of the Grenadines and the easiest to reach — an hour on the ferry from Kingstown — and for a great many visitors it is the real destination while St. Vincent is the airport they passed through. It is seven square miles of steep green hills and white-sand bays, with a working harbour at Port Elizabeth, a boatbuilding tradition that still produces vessels by hand, and a walking-scale scale of life that the mainland does not have. The name is Arawak and means island of the clouds.
The Experience
The ferry comes into Admiralty Bay at Port Elizabeth, and the town is essentially one waterfront street with a jetty, shops, bars and the Belmont Walkway running along the shore toward Princess Margaret Beach. That walkway is the spine of a visit: fifteen minutes of shoreline path linking the town to two of the best beaches in the country. Lower Bay beyond is quieter again. Inland the island climbs steeply and the roads are narrow, with views down over the anchorage from almost anywhere. The harbour fills with yachts through the winter — Bequia is one of the great Caribbean anchorages — and empties in the autumn. Boatbuilding and, historically, whaling shaped the place, and both are still part of how the island talks about itself. The relationship with the mainland is worth understanding before booking. St. Vincent has the airport, the capital and the volcano; Bequia has the beaches, the anchorage and the pace. Treating the two as one destination and splitting a week between them is how the country is best seen, and treating the mainland purely as a transit point is how most visitors miss half of it.
What to Try
Walk the Belmont Walkway from Port Elizabeth to Princess Margaret Beach and on to Lower Bay, which is the single best hour on the island and needs no arrangement. Swim at both. Look at the model boatbuilding in town, which is a genuine local craft rather than a souvenir industry, and at the working boatyards. The Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary on the north side rehabilitates hawksbills. Hire a boat or take the local ferries onward to Mustique and Canouan if you are moving down the chain. Eat and drink along the waterfront, where the sailing crowd and the town mix. The Easter regatta is the island's biggest week and worth planning around if you like boats. Admiralty Bay itself is the anchorage everything else here is arranged around.
Insider Tip
Give Bequia more days than you planned. Almost everyone arrives intending two nights and wishes they had booked five, because the island works at walking pace and the good part is the accumulation — the same bar, the same walkway, the same beach, until you know people. Take the earlier ferry from Kingstown rather than the last one; the crossing can be rough in the afternoon when the trade wind is up, and the eastern channel between the islands is open water.
The Practical Stuff
Bequia is reached by ferry from Kingstown in about an hour, several times a day, or by small aircraft into its own airstrip. Most visitors arrive by boat. Once there, the town is walkable and taxis are pickup trucks; the island is small enough that a hire car is optional. Driving is on the LEFT. The East Caribbean dollar is the currency with US dollars widely accepted, and English is the everyday language. Facilities are good in Port Elizabeth and thin elsewhere. The crossing is weather-dependent and rougher in the afternoon. St. Vincent and the Grenadines is in the hurricane belt, roughly June to November, with the sailing season running December to April.
Common Questions
How do you get to Bequia?
By ferry from Kingstown in about an hour, running several times a day, or by small aircraft into the island's own airstrip. The ferry is how most visitors arrive.
How long should you stay?
Longer than you planned. Most people book two nights and wish they had booked five — the island runs at walking pace and the pleasure is cumulative rather than immediate.
What is the Belmont Walkway?
A shoreline path running from Port Elizabeth around Admiralty Bay to Princess Margaret Beach, about fifteen minutes, linking the town to the island's best beaches. It is the single best walk here.
Do you need a car on Bequia?
Optional. Port Elizabeth is walkable, the island is small, and taxis are pickup trucks. Many visitors manage entirely on foot and boat.
Is the ferry crossing rough?
It can be, particularly in the afternoon when the trade wind is up, since the channel between the islands is open water. Taking an earlier boat is the simple fix.
What is Bequia known for?
Boatbuilding, including model boats still made by hand, a long whaling history, one of the Caribbean's great yacht anchorages at Admiralty Bay, and beaches reachable on foot from town.
Pair It With
- Bequia Island — The island itself, and the reason most people come.
- Kingstown — The ferry terminal on the mainland.
- Canouan — The next stop down the chain.
