Best Hotels in the Bahamas
Condé Nast Traveller
Annabelle Spranklen
When NASA astronaut Scott Kelly spent a year in the inky, star-filled skies of the International Space Station in 2015, it was the vivid azure waters of the Bahamas that he called "the most beautiful place from space.” With 700 islands teeming with endlessly soft, empty beaches and towns filled with brightly-colored clapboard cottages, swaying palms, and creeping bougainvillea, it’s even better when you’re dipping your toes directly in it. With so many islands, there’s a dizzying amount of hotels on offer, from postcard-pretty cottages on the A-list favorite Harbour Island to the family-friendly resorts in Nassau, here’s our pick of the best hotels in the Bahamas.
Coral Sands Inn & Cottages, Harbour Island
The hard thing for a hotel that’s been around since the sixties is how to pitch its game so that it keeps being interesting. Not such an issue for Coral Sands, one of the most exceptional hotels on the Harbour Island scene that’s just had a slick refurb and is looking finer than ever. Founded in 1968 by fighter pilot-turned-Hollywood actor Brett King and his wife Sharon, it’s an oasis of ocean chic. Clapboard cottages cling to the hillside with outrageous views of that mesmerizing pink icing-sugary sandy shores, with New England-meets-the tropics inspired interiors - think hand-painted floral wallpapers, knotted wool rugs, driftwood walls, and canopy beds, with doors that open to the sea-salty ocean breeze. Don’t miss dinner at The Pink Mermaid, the new seaside Italian bistro with its Insta-worthy interiors, or a chance to gallop along the beach at sunset on horseback, not to mention snorkeling with Queen Angelfish and turtles.