Cabbage Beach

Cabbage Beach runs about three kilometres along the Atlantic shore of Paradise Island, and it splits neatly in two. The western end is the resort beach, backed by the big hotels with loungers, water sports and a constant stream of vendors, and it is busy whenever ships are in port. Walk east for fifteen minutes and the buildings stop, the crowd thins to almost nothing, and the same sand continues empty. All Bahamian beaches are public to the high water mark, though getting onto this one means using the marked public access paths rather than walking through a hotel. The water is clear and the sand is fine and pale.

What you actually see

• The eastern end - the same beach with almost nobody on it.
• The western resort strip - loungers, water sports and vendors.
• The public access paths - the legal routes onto the sand.
• Snorkelling at the rocky ends - reef at either extremity.

When to go

December to May is the dry season. Cruise days fill the western end entirely; the port schedule is published and worth checking. Early mornings are calm anywhere along it. Winter can bring surf on this Atlantic-facing shore.

Honest expectations

The western end is a hard-sell environment with jet ski touts and braiders working the sand continuously, which many visitors find exhausting. Jet ski operators in Nassau have a poor safety and dispute record and are best avoided. Public access is legally guaranteed but poorly signposted and hotels are unhelpful about it. Currents pick up at the eastern end.

Nearby

Atlantis is at the western end; Nassau is across the bridge.