Honest Reviews: The Grand Isle Resort Exumas

The Exumas are a remote island chain in the Bahamas. They make up over 300 of the over 600 islands of the Bahamas. I truly enjoyed this unspoiled paradise. I have been asked many questions about where I stayed which prompted me to write this post about a hotel that made my stay so special. This is my review of the Grand Isle Resort in the Exumas.

Read More:  How to Visit the Exumas Islands

Location

The Grand Isle Resort is located twelve miles from Georgetown, which is the capital of Great Exuma Island. The property is large and is a combination of hotel and condos. Each room is a villa with a kitchen, bedroom(s), living room and dining room. It is attractively furnished with a British colonial decor.

The Rooms

I really wasn’t expecting it to be as nice as it was. The pictures on their website don’t do it justice! From the minute you walk into the lobby, you experience the warm Bahemian charm. After being escorted to our villa by golf cart, we literally ran around like children, giggling joyously and gawking at this amazing villa. We had requested ocean view and seeing that turquoise water every day was truly good for the soul.

The tasteful furnishings and details such as the palm leaf ceiling fans really evoke old time island charm.

The kitchen is equipped with high end appliances and equipment. Perfect for a gourmet meal at home.

The king bed was extremely comfortable with luxurious linens. The bathroom was large with a jetted tub, separate glass enclosed shower and WC with a door. There were two sinks which I always enjoy since I like my space!

Food and Drink

The restaurant, the Palapa Grill, was where we had most of our meals, mostly because of convenience. Georgetown isn’t very close to the hotel and is a 50$ taxi ride. There isn’t public transportation that I’m aware of and we hadn’t rented a car. Luckily the Palapa Grill had excellent food and I was happy to have breakfast and dinner there most days plus lunch on one occasion. The restaurant was located next to the pool and had a great bar with many tasty local cocktails.

The Grill had lobster burgers, fresh grouper, conch fritters, conch chowder and we never had anything that wasn’t amazing. The breakfast offerings were delicious as well, scrambled eggs with goat chest, tomatoes and spinach or cinnamon buttermilk pancakes with blueberries.

Facilities and Activities

The pool was heated just enough to feel amazing. The private beach, which was also visible from the restaurant was well equipped with lounge chairs and umbrellas and the water was just cool enough to be refreshing. The hotel had a hut with an attendant on site from 7 to 5 to offer towels to use on sight, to take on excursions or set you up with your own umbrella and chairs, kayak or paddle board. You could snorkel in the little beach cove as well.

There was a 24 hr fitness center on the premises that was well equipped with great variety of new machines and various free weights. It was well air-conditioned, a quality I love in my work-out space! There is a small spa, which I didn’t use but it offered various services such as nails and massages.

The staff was incredibly friendly. They helped us book excursions, let us make phone calls (although international calls were free from our room).  The front desk staff and wait staff were just incredible. I don’t have one remotely negative comment about anyone.

The grounds of the hotel are well-maintained and lush. There are golf carts available for 15$ per day which we didn’t use because I like to walk, but it looked fun.

One day we decided to go diving and inquired at the front desk. It was very easy. CJ gave us a ride in the golf cart by around 8 AM to the Sandals resorts’s dive shop which was just a few minutes away. We signed up for the 9 AM dive, did a thirty minute dive, then the Sandals resort gave us a ride home. By lunchtime we were back at the resort stuffing our faces with lobster.

You can book here:


Booking.com


Someday I will definitely return to the Exumas and I wouldn’t think of staying anywhere else!

I was not sponsored and all opinions are my own. 

Happy Exuma-ing!

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