Southern Palms Beach Club

Currently staying here and cannot fault the place. The staff from groundsmen, cleaners, bar and restaurant staff are just lovely! I’ve been to Barbados many times as I have family here but not been for 20 years! Perfect location in the gap, taxis outside or we used pickup app. Lots of bars etc and dive bar on sat have fabulous band on! Nothing is too much trouble and if you report an issue it’s dealt with straight away. Beach is beautiful, yes lots of seagrass but you can’t control that. Oistins Friday is just fabulous. I would not hesitate to stay here again.

This place needs knocking down, the service is awful, the staff are hostile and just do not want to be there, awful rude beach guy called Rodney who is miserable as sin, if you want lunch it will take about 2 hours, so many more hotels that will give you what you pay for, avoid Christmas time because a strange type of family who own the property stay there and all the staff tend to them and leave the paying customers to wait 2 hours for the food and drinks that they’ve ordered, the place is a dump and for what it costs just beggers belief.

We booked an ACV supersaver room with Air Canada Vacations, and received room 243. Our package included transfer, we had no issues at customs on arrival (pre-filled our arrival form), and didn't have to wait long to be transferred. It took about 15 minutes to get from the airport to the hotel.

Room: Supersaver room 243, faces the gap and has a wee European style balcony (lots of room for one person, just enough room for two). A bit of road noise, but nothing disruptive. We had a king bed, a mini fridge, a kettle. The AC worked wonderfully and there was no trace of dampness or must in the room. The shower worked well and we had no issues with hot water, we were also provided a hair dryer. We had 4 pillows of varying firmness, and the bed was very comfy! We were actually thoroughly impressed with our room, only notes for improvement would be more hangers to hang clothing (lots of storage in drawers, but not much space in the closet), a kettle with a longer cord (we had difficulty finding a good location to plug it in), and 2 sets of towels per person instead of one (we usually only have our room made up twice in a 7 night period, and we know we could have asked for towels at any time, I'm sure they would have accommodated).

Note on construction: the hotel is replacing the walkways at this time. The construction is starting at approximately 7:30 am and is ongoing throughout the day. It is not especially disruptive, though depending on where your room is located you might hear some machinery that they use to move the bricks around. Not sure how long this will be ongoing for, but I do believe they plan to replace all the walkways on the property so perhaps over the summer months.

The beach: Dover beach is beautiful, but there was quite a bit of seaweed that washed in the week we were here (May 29-June 5). It made swimming in the ocean unappealing, though we are not big ocean swimmers anyways. The sand is beautiful and we had the great privilege of witnessing a sea turtle dig her nest, lay her eggs, and then return to the ocean (please don't approach closely or shine lights on them, it's very disruptive!). We saw evidence of nests on several occasions, and the Barbados Seat Turtle Project volunteers are out documenting the nests as well. They have a hotline you can call to report nesting turtles (246-230-0142). Such a wonderful experience, though we were too early to see hatchlings. :)

Hotel grounds: the grounds of this hotel are lovely with lots of loungers and decent shade opportunities. There is mini golf and shuffle board. The two pools on site are well maintained, the main pool is a bit larger and the secondary pool is quite small (we did not try that one out). There are several very friendly cats who will hang out with you, and may even try to follow you up to your room.

Restaurants: we ate at the restaurant on several occasions (twice for dinner and twice for lunch, plus drinks on several occasions). The happy hour is a pretty good deal, but the wine here is expensive. Beer is also pricey compared to what you can buy at the local streetfood places or even the convenience stores close by. We brought some wine from home, and there was also wine for sale at the convenience stores close by.

All the food that we ate was very tasty. We tried the curry, the flying fish plate (excellent macaroni pie), the flying fish cutter, and the roti. The lunchtime roti are an excellent deal, get the shrimp one it's delicious! It's a little pricy compared to the local streetfood, but on par with the more established sit down restaurants (Mimosas, My Friend's Place, etc.).

The service: everyone who we interacted with was very friendly and helpful. We didn't find anyone to be surly (though not everyone was performatively happy). We had wonderful service from the ladies in the restaurants and Eurita even brought me some recipes for local Bajan specialties, which was so kind of her. :)

Entertainment: this resort is very chill and that's one of my favourite things about it. No entertainment staff yelling at you to participate in things. No blaring music or people yelling into microphones. There's evening entertainment some nights, which is chill but they were all talented. There's a steel drum band on Sunday afternoons and Thursday evenings. There was also a Rum Punch cocktail reception with management on Monday evening.

Location: we were about 15 minutes from the airport, 10 minutes from Oistins, and 7 minutes from Champers by cab. We were walking distance to a wide variety of food and drink options, ranging from budget to fancy. The Gap can get lively in high season, but we didn't find it too crazy at this time of year.

Overall: we loved this hotel and the relaxing chilled vibe. We'd come back in a heartbeat and are already dreaming of our next stay.

4th time at Southern Palms and a great experience again!
Highlights - massages at the salon, Sunday Bajan Buffet with the Barbados Steel Band, good room with a sea view, lovely clean pool, the turtles, tasty food and a relaxed vibe.
The only disappointing part (and no fault of the hotel) was the large cumulations of seaweed daily. Such a stunning beach but we did not use it because of this. We went to Savvy on the Bay and Pebbles to get our beach fix.

However, we had a wonderful stay as always and would love to return one day soon 🇧🇧❤️

This place is beautiful! The beach is incredible and there were turtles everywhere. You could just swim around them. Also - we weren’t mad on our first room as was right next to the pool and they kindly allowed us to move rooms and we were so grateful. The receptionist was so lovely - thank you so much!

We have just returned from an amazing holiday at this hotel. The perfect place for visiting bars and restaurants in the Gap. The hotel was located on the beach which was idyllic.
The hotel and staff were superb, with special thanks to Kelly, Jennie & Richard who were very helpful and understanding when we had a slight problem with our room.
We look forward to our return.

The hotel is excellent location. On one off the best beach’s. Never gets busy. The reception staff ( some ) could be more friendly. As there the first port of call. Rest off staff very friendly. Very clean . The rooms are dated but perfect for Barbados. Excellent air conditioning. Fridge freezer in room. Food in restaurant very nice. Don’t be in a rush as it’s so relaxed. On the beach every day. No need to rush for beds as plenty

The staff manage to combine indifference with rudeness, offering the bare minimum unless there’s a rule to enforce. In those moments, their enthusiasm is suddenly impressive.

My stay at this property exceeded my expectations! The staff members are consummate professionals who extended themselves to accommodate my needs during my stay. A huge “Thank You!” to the following front desk agents: Caroline, Jenni, and Shakeem, and Makayla in Food & Beverage. They ensured that I enjoyed a fantastic stay! This property is located on a quiet, pristine stretch of beach, although the current can be a bit strong occasionally. My room had fantastic views of the ocean and was just steps away from the beach. Overall, I enjoyed a fun and relaxing stay at this property, and highly recommended Southern Palms Beach Club to anyone who visits Barbados! Thanks for a memorable stay! 😁

My partner and I loved this hotel when booking requested a ground floor terrace as I have mobility issues I have to say southern palms was charming along with friendly staff who went out of there to please betty who worked in the bar restaurant was so full of fun and we didn't have to ask what we wanted knew exactly the relaxed atmosphere with a walk straight onto beach pool was right outside of apartment infact enjoyed so much looking to go back either next year or 2028

Loved the location and staff was PHENOMENAL!!!

Struttura favolosa fronte mare ai caraibi

Good and bad points listed below;

Good

* Very clean
* Beach (not sea) is beautiful
* Situated in the middle of St Lawrence Gap (this could be a double edged sword...)
* No problem with getting a sun lounger
* Pools OK
* Late checkout room great

Bad

* Staff are generally stand-offish and slow, appreciate that this is the Caribbean way but this was taking it to the extreme. Notable exceptions are Jenni, Richard, the Water sports guy and most of the cleaning staff.
* St Lawrence Gap isn't a very nice area in my opinion and there are limited options for things to do in the evening. The bars aren't great and the restaurants shut far too early. There is a general feeling of something potentially kicking off at any moment and lots of locals trying to sell you weed/aloe vera/jewellery/tours. Just doesn't feel 100% safe.
* Rooms are dated.
* Food and drinks are RIDICULOUSLY expensive. This is a general comment for all of Barbados, bring plenty of money.
* Breakfast underwhelming and not worth anywhere near the price charged.
* BBQ night hugely overpriced and not very good.
* The sea in this area (Dover Beach) is consistently too rough to swim in, we had red flags 10 days out of 11. It is also very windy on the beach. We travelled up the West coast and the sea was far calmer and it was a lot less windy. This isn't the hotel's fault but worth knowing before you book.
* Very boring around the hotel of an evening (not that we usually stay in the hotel at night but sometimes it's nice to have a break from going out), entertainment a couple of nights a week but the clientele are mostly older people.

Would we return? Yes to Barbados but we would stay on the West coast in a nicer resort. We did have a good time at Southern Palms (believe it or not!) but for the money we spent, we expect more.

This was our 4th visit. The location is incredible. Staff are all fabulous. Great vibe. Wouldn't stay anywhere else

Took my husband to the Khus Khus Bar at Southern Palms Hotel for his 30th birthday and it was so lovely !

From the atmosphere to the live music to the happy hour ( 6pm-7pm ) , to the Southern Platter ( starter ) to the serrvice , it was absolutely top tier and honestly can’t wait to go again ! We didn’t have mains because we were stuffed tbh .

Our server for the evening/night was Ms. Corren and she was such a sweet lady ; also was attended to by Abigail and Suzette and they were also very nice .

100 % would recommend anyone to go and experience there🥰!