Two islands with almost nothing in common: industrial, urban Trinidad, where the steelpan was invented and carnival is a participatory sport, and Tobago twenty minutes away, with the oldest protected forest in the western hemisphere.
Port of Spain
The Queen’s Park Savannah, the Magnificent Seven mansions along its western edge, and the National Museum. Eat doubles from a street stall standing up, which is the only correct way.
A panyard
The steelpan is the only acoustic instrument invented in the twentieth century and it was invented here, out of oil drums, after the colonial authorities banned drums and then banned bamboo. Rehearsals are open — walk into a yard in Woodbrook or Laventille and stand at the back.
Caroni at dusk
A flat-bottomed boat into the mangrove for late afternoon, and then thousands of scarlet ibis coming in to roost and turning an island red in about fifteen minutes. One of the great wildlife spectacles of the Caribbean and forty minutes from the capital.
The Northern Range
Up into the hills to the Asa Wright Nature Centre, a legendary birding lodge where hummingbirds, honeycreepers and bellbirds come to a veranda. Then Maracas Bay on the north coast for bake and shark.
The south
The Pitch Lake at La Brea is the largest natural asphalt deposit on earth and behaves like a very slow liquid. Nearby, Trinidad’s oil country explains why this island has never needed a tourism industry.
Over to Tobago
Twenty minutes by air or two and a half hours by fast ferry. Tobago is small, green and quiet — Trinidadians come here to rest, which tells you what it is for. Base in Castara or Speyside rather than Crown Point.
The oldest forest reserve
Tobago’s Main Ridge has been legally protected since 1776, which makes it the oldest forest reserve in the western hemisphere. Guided walks from Bloody Bay for motmots, jacamars and the leaf-litter that guides read like a newspaper.
Speyside and Little Tobago
The reef at Speyside includes some of the largest brain coral formations recorded anywhere. Little Tobago, a short boat ride offshore, is a seabird colony with red-billed tropicbirds nesting on the cliffs.
Out
Fly from Tobago direct or connect through Port of Spain. If it is Sunday, Castara’s beach fish fry is worth rearranging a flight for.
Dobré vedieť
Carnival is the week before Ash Wednesday and transforms the country — accommodation books a year ahead at multiples of normal price, and J’Ouvert at four in the morning on Carnival Monday is the part worth planning around.
Trinidad is not a beach destination and does not pretend to be. Tobago is. Treating them as one holiday is the common mistake.
Port of Spain has areas that locals avoid after dark. Ask where you are staying rather than guessing from a map.
Kratšie či dlhšie?
Trinidad only — panyards, Caroni, the Northern Range and the south.
Add the full pre-Carnival week: fetes, Panorama semi-finals, J’Ouvert and two days on the road.
March to August, Grande Riviere on Trinidad’s north coast is one of the densest leatherback nesting beaches in the world.