Experience the best of Freeport

Freeport, on the south side of Grand Bahama, was laid out from the 1950s as a planned port and resort town, which is why its roads are wide and its buildings low. Together with Lucaya, its seaside neighbour, it forms the second-largest urban area in the Bahamas. Port Lucaya, built around a marina, has a market square, restaurants and bars, and wide sandy beaches such as Taino and Xanadu lie close by.

Lucayan National Park, east of town, protects a mangrove creek, pine forest and limestone caves, and leads to Gold Rock Beach, a wide stretch of pale sand that broadens at low tide. The Garden of the Groves in town is a botanical garden with waterfalls and a small chapel, and Peterson Cay, a tiny island national park off the south coast, has reef snorkelling.

Cracked conch, battered and fried, conch salad chopped with peppers and citrus, and grilled snapper are the island staples, often eaten at a seaside fish fry with a cold beer. Winters are dry and warm, while summers are hotter and wetter, with the storm season running into autumn.