13 hours ago
An all-inclusive Barbados escape with excellent food and sea-view spa treatments
There's everything you need for a relaxed escape from reality in this upmarket all-inclusive hotel on the south coast of Barbados. Three pools to lounge by, two swim-up bars, a spa with sea views, fine dining, daily activities from beach cricket and yoga to painting classes plus a chic rooftop lounge. While you could happily spend your whole break bobbing between activities and meals, O2 Beach Club & Spa's location near lively St Lawrence Gap — a stretch of road known for its bars, clubs and restaurants — means it's a great spot to explore the island from, too. The hotel is primarily aimed at adults — there is an adults-only building — but families are welcome in its enormous apartment-style suites.
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Score 8/10Split across two buildings (called Sunrise and Sunset) there are 116 modern rooms in the O2 Beach Club & Spa. Sunrise was built in 2010 and houses club rooms as well as spacious family-friendly one and two-bedroom suites. They feel like apartments with kitchen areas, complimentary mini bars filled with soft drinks, wine and cocktail ingredients, living spaces and balconies, plus housekeeping. Spacious taupe bathrooms have rainfall showers, while two-bedroom bay-view suites have tubs too. They are painted in neutral, muted tones with pops of hot pink or turquoise on artwork, cushions and rugs, and red striped throws on beds.
Adults-only Sunset was built in 2020 and rooms feel more contemporary with feature walls, funky silver headboards and black rattan light shades, plus freestanding baths as well as walk-in showers in slick marble bathrooms in oceanfront and swim-up Luxury Junior suites.
Score 8/10Start your evening with cocktails at the chic rooftop tapas bar Brisa, which shows off striking views over the sea and a small pool to pose by. Equally excellent views can be enjoyed from the hotel's ninth-floor fine-dining restaurant, Oro, which serves à la carte Caribbean/European fusion dishes — from porterhouse steak and cauliflower cutlets to Caribbean lobster tail.
The main restaurant, Elements, has a buffet breakfast — where you can fill your plate with the likes of pancakes, fruit, yoghurt, pastries and cereal on a self-service buffet, and eggs or omelettes made to order — as well as a buffet lunch and à la carte dinner with a weekly rotating menus. Poolside Bluefin is a laid-back option for pizzas, salads or burgers at lunch, while being watched over by grey kingbirds, and barbecues or buffets on selected evenings sitting under its bamboo roof. Still hungry? Nautical-themed Oasis, in the Sunrise building, serves coffee, cakes and snacks throughout the day. Staff are friendly and chatty but not always the most efficient.
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Score 8/10On a white-sand beach on the south coast of the island, the hotel enjoys an enviable location — but the water here is exposed to the Atlantic swell so isn't always safe for swimming. Non-motorised water sports are included in the all-inclusive package — think kayaking, boogie boards and snorkelling — and there's a beach team on hand to help. There are regular activities on the sand too, including beach cricket, volleyball and football.
Three pools surrounded by plants and flowers are lovely spots to laze, with two out of three having swim-up bars, while the adults-only pool also has a river section. Daily 'how to' classes are on offer for guests, teaching everything from dominoes to hula hooping, plus there's a small gym and games room with board games, a pool table and table football. Its eighth-floor spa has treatments such as the Bajan Body Blast, which starts with a body scrub followed by a hammam session and rich body butter — with sea views.
Score 8/10Around a ten-minute walk from St Lawrence Gap with its buzzy bars and restaurants. The island's capital, Bridgetown, is around a 20-minute drive away, while Grantley Adams International Airport is around a 15-minute drive away. There are regular local minibuses from St Lawrence Gap to Bridgetown and Accra beach, where there's a one-mile boardwalk to stroll on and bars along the way from where to watch the sun set over the sea.
Price All-inclusive doubles from £560Restaurant n/aFamily-friendly Y Accessible N
Cathy Toogood was a guest of O2 Beach Club & Spa (
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