Nassau

Nassau is the capital of the Bahamas, and Prince George Wharf puts you in the middle of it. The Festival Place Welcome Centre at the dock has local food vendors and straw-craft sellers, and the pastel-painted colonial buildings of Bay Street are a two-minute walk away. Parliament Square, with its pink government buildings and marble Queen Victoria statue, sits at the centre of the downtown grid. The Straw Market is busy and the sellers are persistent, but the handmade bags and wood carvings are genuine local work. A water taxi or short cab ride reaches Paradise Island and the Atlantis Resort, where day passes grant access to the waterpark and aquarium. Junkanoo Beach, the closest public beach to the port, has lounger rentals, a bar, and usually a DJ. For food, conch salad is the local speciality, chopped fresh at roadside stands with lime and scotch bonnet pepper. A cold Kalik beer to wash it down costs about three dollars.