Stayed at Smugglers’ Cove for one week beginning 18 November ('04). The hotel is a small (x22) family-run beachfront property in Paynes Bay, on Barbados’ posh west coast. If you’re looking for a quiet and comfortable no-frills place on a nice beach, at a very reasonable price (as we were), this might be the place for you. Overall, I'd give it a thumbs-up. It's a nice place, and we had a good stay, but if you go there expecting anything fancy, you will be disappointed. Web info on SC is scarce; they have a page (via links) at the Barbados Tourism official site. You aren't likely to find this property packaged by airlines or travel companies--unless you’re in Germany--so be prepared to hunt up your own low airfares to combine with the bargain room rate you’ll get if you decide to stay here.

SC is set end-on to the beach on a narrow piece of land, has a TINY pool and a little bar-kitchen and patio with a couple of tables for breakfast and dinner meal service. We did not eat any meals there so I cannot comment on the food. Room patios/balconies face south across the pool area to a screen of trees and Old Trees Hotel, RIGHT next door. Past Old Trees (going south) are New Trees, Treasure Beach and Tamarind Cove. RIGHT next door to the north are some local homes and a beach access path; the beach there is a hangout for local fishermen and a regular cadre of local layabouts, and Bajan families on weekends. Beyond that is the Beachcomber--being renovated (or rebuilt?)--and then some rental houses/small hotels. Daphne’s Rest., The House, Almond Bay Resort, and $$$andy Lane are all within (short or long) barefoot beach-walking distance. Airport taxi fare was USD 25 each way, for two of us and our luggage.

Fellow guests were mostly couples in their 40s/50s, a few older, one or two younger; mixed Germans, English, some Americans and a couple of Canadians (we’re American, early 40s). Some had been coming to SC regularly for twenty years. Two families each had one child with them. It was a quiet crowd; main activities for most were the beach-chair-and-book routine, an occasional dip in the Caribbean, and chatting with neighbors. Grandmotherly owner Phyllice Tempro lives in #1 and takes time to chat when she sees you around during your stay; grandson Andrew takes the boat out to fish daily and will have you along for sightseeing, fishing or snorkeling for a fee. Birds of several familiar and exotic types frequent the place. A sea turtle occasionally cruises by right off the sand, and there are three resident cats.

We had Room 22, at the beachfront end on the top floor; our balcony overlooked the beach and Caribbean. (Rooms on the 1st and 2nd--American 2nd and 3rd--floors are studios; ground floor rooms are 1BRs with separate sleeping and sitting areas. Grd Fl rooms are entered via the poolside patio, with no “front door;” upper floor rooms have a private balcony on the pool side and a front door leading onto a narrow outside corridor on the side opposite the pool. From what I could gather, SC is something like 20-24 years old.) Room was good-sized, gently worn but well maintained, decorated with eclectic local art; furnished with bed, nightstands, table and two chairs, small desk and chair, wall mirror and tiny TV on a stand. The bed was two FIRM twins pushed together. Closet space was more than sufficient. There was a room a/c that handled cooling the room fairly easily although we usually kept our doors/windows open and slept with louvers and patio door open to listen to the surf and tree peepers. Bugs were not a problem (...for me...wife picked up a couple of bites, but if there were one mosquito on an entire island, it would come and find her, so don’t go by that...flies were numerous wherever we went, but only came around when there was food to be had). Room had a generously sized kitchenette with 2-burner electric stove, sink, large mini-fridge, cupboards, and covered trash can; table service for two, toaster, coffee pot, tea kettle, couple of pots and pans, and a good selection of utensils; perfectly serviceable for preparing simple meals. Patio had table and two chairs and drink stand. Floor was tile in the kichenette-entry area and indoor-outdoor carpet in the rest of the room. Small bathroom had a sink, toilet and shower stall. Water pressure in the shower came and went, but this may have been due to water supply problems in Holetown that week--flooding rains twice, and a broken water main that left five hotels north of town without water for two days.

Service was adequate and reliable though housekeeping had trouble supplying us with two washcloths on a daily basis--nice to have when you’re trying to get all that sunscreen off in the shower--and I had to raid my kit for soap when ours got too small to use and wasn’t replaced. Sheets were changed once mid-stay. One of the housekeepers subjected me one day to a lengthy and unsolicited (but well-meant) harangue on getting my life in order, realizing my potential, and being a better spouse. I eventually escaped by looking contrite and saying “Yes, Ma’am” a few times. I didn’t even have to pay for the advice. Wow!

SC doesn’t offer activities aside from boat trips with Andrew as mentioned above. Rack near the reception desk offers info on diversions of every kind around the island; nearby hotels have watersports concessions on the beach. If you have gear, or rent some, you will find good snorkeling about a hundred yards down the beach, directly opposite the “beach gate” at Tamarind Cove Hotel. There was as much to see there as at Folkestone Park; both places had a variety of fish, but VERY little live coral. We didn’t visit the offshore reef at Paynes Bay offshore reef by boat so I can’t say how much more there is to see there.

The neighborhood: One bar and (under the same roof) small Chinese restaurant (good food, prices moderate but portions small, service sometimes VERY slow) practically across the street; a Bajan lady serves dinner from a roadside table in front of the Pentecostal Church across from SC on Friday/Saturday nights; across the road from the hotel there’s also an ice cream shop (Just opened, or open hit-and-miss?). Twenty-four hour Esso station minimart--with Cirrus/Plus ATM--two minutes’ walk down the road, and a large, busy, reasonably priced restaurant (Coach House) with a fair-to-very-good menu and popular sports oriented pub-style bar about five minutes’ walk up the road toward Holetown. Treasure Beach/Tamarind Cove both have multiple bars and expensive to very exp. restaurants; TC has regular entertainment offerings.

Holetown is less than five minutes away by bus...walking to Holetown is not practical due to road and traffic conditions. (A bus to Holetown or to Bridgetown--either an official BTA blue one or a smaller, crammed-full, music-blaring yellow one--was never more than a few minutes’ wait away, from 6am to 10pm at least, and at BD 1.50 a ride for any stop on the route, they are a bargain. Taxis are also plentiful at all hours; I was told the fare to Holetown was BD 5.00 but cannot confirm that.)

Holetown has a half-dozen or more restaurants serving breakfast, lunch and dinner among them, priced from moderate to very expensive; couple of bars, some shops and boutiques, ScotiaBank, pharmacy; and a shopping center with full-sized grocery store (with lunch counter and pharmacy), small Cave Shepherd department store, more souvenir and craft shops and stalls, cafe-restaurant serving breakfast and lunch at moderate prices, and well-equipped gym (day memberships available for BD 20.00 [USD 10.00]).

Phew. That’s all. Sorry to be so thorough, but I found next to nothing when I went looking for reviews and feedback re SC pre-trip...I was making mental notes the whole time we were there and thinking about writing something that would answer the questions I would have asked. Anyone wanting more info on Smugglers’ Cove, Holetown, or Barbados travel in general, please drop me an email at <mikemilius@earthlink.net> and I will be happy to help if I can.