Experience the best of Bridgetown

Bridgetown was founded by English settlers in 1628 on the southwest coast of Barbados, and its old centre and the nearby Garrison form a World Heritage Site. The Parliament Buildings, in Gothic Revival style, overlook National Heroes Square, the main square of the old town, and the Careenage, a narrow harbour inlet, is lined with old warehouses. Nidhe Israel Synagogue is among the oldest in the Americas.

The Garrison, on the edge of the centre, holds the Savannah racecourse, the Barbados Museum in a former military prison and the house where George Washington stayed in 1751, his only trip abroad. Inland, Harrison's Cave opens into limestone chambers with streams, while the Atlantic coast around Bathsheba has rocky shores and surfers. The plantation house of St Nicholas Abbey, from the 17th century, stands in the north.

Flying fish with cou-cou, a cornmeal and okra mash, is the national dish, and fish cakes, macaroni pie and pepper sauce fill the roadside stalls. Barbados is regarded as the birthplace of rum, and several distilleries welcome visitors. Warm and breezy all year, and driest from December to May, the island saves its biggest party for summer, when Crop Over ends with a carnival parade of costumes and calypso.