🛍️ Bahamas: souvenirs
Beyond the straw-market clichés the Bahamas has real craft - and the straw work itself, done properly, is the real thing too. Here is what travellers bring home from Bahamas, where the good versions live, and the export questions worth a look - alongside our 120 written places.
🛒 The classic buys
Straw work
Plaited palm baskets, bags and hats - the genuine article is Bahamian-plaited, not imported and re-labelled; ask who wove it and where.
Bahamian rum and Sky Juice fixings
Local distilleries bottle aged rums and coconut liqueurs - supermarkets price better than cruise-port shops.
Junkanoo art
Masks, prints and small sculpture in the carnival's colours - studios in Nassau's Over-the-Hill and gallery co-ops sell artists directly.
Guava duff and native seasonings
Jarred guava preserves, hot sauces and conch-seasoning blends - the taste of the islands that travels.
Sea-glass and shell jewellery
Made by island jewellers from found material - honest beach-craft when bought from the maker.
⚠️ Check before you buy
- Conch shells - the classic souvenir - face limits and many home countries restrict them; a clean, clearly old shell has the best chance, but check the rules.
- Duty-free alcohol allowances are checked on US-bound routes - count bottles.
✗ Better left behind
- Coral and turtle-shell items - protected.
- Straw goods that turn out to be imported - if every stall has the identical bag, it was not woven on the island.
Markets shift, workshops close and open, and the best souvenir is still the one with a story you were there for. Buy from makers where you can, keep receipts for anything substantial, and when a deal feels too good, it usually is.