Bahamas 2 Day Itinerary

Title: 2-Day Adventure in The Bahamas

Two days is barely enough to scratch Nassau, so this itinerary forces a choice on day two: stick close and do the Exuma swimming pigs properly, or accept you’re really only seeing New Providence and Paradise Island this trip. Either is fine, but don’t try to cram both, since the Exuma flight alone eats half a day.

Day 1: Nassau and Paradise Island

Morning

  1. Arrival at Lynden Pindling International Airport (NAS)

    • Most nationalities from North America, the UK, the EU and Australia don’t need a visa for stays under 90 days, but check current requirements against your specific passport before booking, since Bahamian entry rules have tightened around proof of onward travel in recent years.

  2. Transfer to Downtown Nassau or Paradise Island

    • The government-set taxi rate from the airport to Paradise Island is around 55 dollars for up to two people, plus the toll for the bridge onto the island itself. A shared shuttle runs closer to 18 dollars per person if you don’t need door-to-door speed. Agree the fare with the driver before you get in, since meters aren’t standard here.

  3. Straw Market

    • The vendors here expect you to haggle, and the opening price is rarely the real one. Cash is preferable to card for the smaller stalls, and a good chunk of what’s sold is imported rather than locally made, so ask directly if authenticity matters to you.

  4. Fort Fincastle and the Queen’s Staircase

    • The staircase is 65 hand-carved limestone steps cut by enslaved labourers in the 1790s, not a decorative colonial flourish, and it’s worth reading the plaques rather than just climbing for the view.

Afternoon

  1. Lunch at Arawak Cay

    • Locally called the Fish Fry, this strip of wooden shacks does the best conch in Nassau, cracked conch, conch salad made fresh at the counter, and conch fritters. Go for lunch rather than dinner if you want it quieter.

  2. Cabbage Beach

    • This is the real name of Paradise Island’s main beach, nearly two miles of white sand next to the big resorts. It’s public property despite the resorts’ best efforts to make it feel private, with a clearly marked public access point near the Riu Palace. It gets busy November through May, so a weekday morning is the move if you want space.

  3. John Watling’s Distillery

    • Housed in an old plantation estate building, this is the spot for a rum tasting and a short walk through the production process; it’s a fraction of the size of a big Caribbean rum operation, which makes the tour more personal than industrial.

Evening

  1. Atlantis Resort and The Dig

    • Non-guest day passes to Atlantis, which include Aquaventure water park and The Dig aquarium, start around 195 dollars for adults and 95 for kids, climbing well past 250 during spring break and holiday weeks. That’s a real cost to weigh against just walking the public areas of the resort for free, which you’re allowed to do.
    • The Dig itself is built into the ruins theming and holds more than 65,000 marine animals across its tanks and lagoons, genuinely worth the price if you’re paying anyway for the water park.

  2. Sunset Cocktail Cruise

    • Book this in the afternoon rather than same-day if you’re visiting in high season, since the popular sunset sailings around Paradise Island and Nassau Harbour fill up.

Day 2: Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park

Morning

  1. Flight to Exuma

    • A charter flight to Staniel Cay takes about 45 minutes and is worth the cost over the alternative powerboat crossing, which runs a full three hours each way and eats your entire day. Day tour operators bundle the flight with the excursion, typically 300 to 350 dollars per person for a full day including lunch.

  2. Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park

    • This is a properly protected marine park, not just a scenic stretch of water, and swimming and snorkelling here is genuinely better than anything around Nassau. Thunderball Grotto, the underwater cave used in the James Bond film of the same name, is only accessible at low tide through a narrow surface opening, so timing your visit around the tide matters more than most tour brochures let on.

Afternoon

  1. Swimming with the pigs

    • Big Major Cay, known as Pig Beach, is the famous stop, and the pigs are genuinely wild animals living semi-feral on the cay, not a managed petting zoo, so keep food low and be ready for them to be pushier than expected. It’s worth doing once, and once is enough.

  2. Lunch at Staniel Cay Yacht Club

    • This is the social hub of the cay, a proper working marina with a restaurant terrace over the water, and it’s usually included in the day tour price rather than an extra stop.

Evening

  1. Return to Nassau

    • Flights back typically land by early evening; confirm your return time with the tour operator before booking anything for that night, since weather delays out of the Exuma airstrip aren’t unusual.

  2. Dinner in Nassau

    • A quieter dinner downtown away from the resort strip is a fair way to close two packed days, and gives you a last look at the city before an early departure the next morning.

Carry cash in small denominations for tips and the Straw Market, since card readers aren’t universal outside the resorts, and pack reef-safe sunscreen, since some of the protected marine areas restrict the oxybenzone-based kind.