Top Family Attractions: Bermuda

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With clean streets, pink-sand beaches, a touch of British élan, and more golf courses per square mile than anywhere else in the world, Bermuda offers a high-style vacation with lots to see and do.

Destination highlights

  • The waters of Horseshoe Bay and Elbow Beach
  • Try the helmet diving—it’s divine
  • Hikes along the Bermuda Railway Trail
  • Exquisite fairways and greens
  • The old fort at Royal Naval Dockyard

Beaches
Bermuda is known for its beautiful beaches, especially the calm waters and pink sands of Horseshoe Bay and Warwick Long Bay. Sometimes crowded, Horseshoe Bay has onsite lockers, lifeguards, a snack shop, umbrella rentals, and a shallow area perfect for young kids. Elbow Beach is another wide swath of pretty sand and inviting surf. Shelly Bay Beach in Hamilton Parish is the North Shore’s largest beach with facilities. Young kids like the playground and the grassy area.
Additional Info: 800.BERMUDA, www.bermudatourism.com

Shipwreck Diving
Couple underwater visibility of 70 to 100 feet with more than 350 shipwrecks and you get waters worth diving in. Popular wrecks include: the Rita Zovetta, a 360-foot Italian cargo ship that ran aground in 1924; the Mary Celestia, sunk in 1964 and now adorned with a coral encrusted paddlewheel, her nine-foot long cannons scattered about; and L’Herminie, a French gunboat that crashed in 1838. For interesting coral formations, dive Tarpon Hole as well as the South West Breaker.
Additional Info: 800.BERMUDA, www.bermudatourism.com

Royal Naval Dockyard: Bermuda Maritime Museum and Dolphin Quest (Snorkel Park)
Completed in the 1820s, the former British fort now houses shops, restaurants, and art galleries. In the six-acre inner fortress known as the Keep, the Bermuda Maritime Museum displays artifacts ranging from 1878 sounding machines to harpoons and whale vertebrae. At Dolphin Quest, the museum’s most popular program, ages five and older can pet and swim with friendly bottlenoses. Newly opened, Snorkel Park is best for beginners, and features a marked trail as well as floating rest stations. Know that when cruise ships pull into port, the Dockyard’s facilities become crowded.
Dolphin Quest: 441.234.4464
Additional Info: 800.BERMUDA, www.bermudatourism.com

Railway Trail
The Railway Trail, the route of Bermuda’s defunct railroad, runs east-to-west across the island. Vehicles are prohibited on this mostly paved path, thus making it a great place for family hikes, bike rides, and picnics. Popular sections include the three-mile stretch from Warwick Pond to overlooks of the south shore beaches, and the paths from the fishing boats at Black Bay to Middle Road and South Road junctions.
Additional Info: 800.BERMUDA, www.bermudatourism.com

Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo
This is a great attraction for young kids. The centerpiece of the aquarium, the 145,000-gallon North Rock coral reef tank, holds hundreds of brightly hued fish. Other exhibits showcase a Galapagos tortoise, harbor seals, a wallaby, and a two-toed sloth. In the Discovery Room, kids ages two to six find out about animals through stories and songs. Check the schedule for program dates and hours.
Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo: 441. 293.2727, www.bamz.org