St. James, Almond Beach Club & Spa Review

Overall Rating

Beautiful setting, adult only, great food and entertainment, ans caring staff - and what a location!

Small beach, but great snorkeling off it, and Sandy Lane Beach right next door.

This is a personable, intimate adult resort set in beautiful, well maintained gardens, with lovely pools, and an elegant main restaurant with friendly helpful staff - and everything is close to hand. The location was perfect for us (see later)
You can also use the facilities at the sister hotel, Almond Beach Village, via the regular shuttle bus service - which we found always ran on time!

Food: Sunset (main restaurant). Beautifully set, right by the sea, with proper table cloths, napkins and silver service at every meal. The food is excellent with loads of choice. The breakfasts allow you to truly break the fast with every type of cooked food and loads of fruit and cereals. I have never tasted such smooth porridge! Lunch is either ala carte or from the buffet - and the fried fish at the buffet is really tasty - but there are lots of other hot food available. Dinners are fine dining experiences with candle lit tables - part of the magic at night!
The other part of the magic at night comes from the coloured lights focused on the trees and the Christmas like white lights attached to the trucks of their Palm Trees.

Italian Restaurant at Almond Beach Village: such a stylish place as well, with great food and service. An experience not to be missed.

Self service coffee and tea are available at all times, and at 3-4 pm they serve afternoon tea/coffee with refined, crust cut off sandwiches and cakes. Scones with jam and cream etc.

You will not be disappointed unless you are a real picky easter.

Staff: At first we found a few staff either shy or surly - but as the days progressed they warmed to us and were all very chatty towards the end. But they were all very efficient and never left you waiting for a request.

Entertainment: There was a band or some other form of entertainment right by the restaurant every night. Very good singers - very enjoyable.

Rooms: We had a superior deluxe room that we were delighted with, including the efficient but quiet air conditioner. It was very well serviced daily. Many thanks to the people at Guest Services for your very warm and friendly help with our room change - which helped make our holiday so special!

Maintenance: Anything we had a problem with was attended to immediately. My wife lost her earring and one of the members of staff found it for her in the U-bend under the hand wash basin.

Location/Beach: why we love this place!
The beach is small but you can swim there and furthermore only a few strokes from the beach are sea breaking boulders where loads of fish can be seen via snorkeling. And wrecks with more flora and fauna not far away for a good swimmer.

Sun lounge area: There is a sandy area for sitting out just above the sea, protected in part from the heat from the sun by trees. A very nice area which we found never got really crowded as many other guests preferred to be around the pools or gardens.

But a few steps and you can be on one of the most beautiful beaches in Barbados: Sandy Lane. And what is more you can walk past this beach and stroll by the waters edge for about half an hour via various bays, with the trees over hanging the water's edge. You will see lots of the locals enjoying the area as well as all as all beaches are open to the public. We met quite a few interesting locals to talk to - We loved early morning and before sun set walks as it was cool at both times. Fabulous!

Security: There is always a guard on duty on the beach which deters the hawkers, jet ski trip sellers etc from pestering guests. Although the latter take a polite no and leave you alone. However, we saw many guests enjoying jet ski rides.

Water sports at Almond Beach Club: Hobby cat, speed boat trips, water skiing etc are available: we much enjoyed the water sports.

Water sports at Almond Beach Village: We really enjoyed taking out the smaller, single sail cats there ourselves. Thank you to the boys helping us out there!

Almond Beach Village: We have stayed there before and found again that it is a very well maintained property with many room areas set apart from each other by pools and gardens in almost hamlet style. So you didn't get the impression of a sprawling complex. And we never heard any shouting or crying children. It all seemed so calm! And there is an old mill that seems to make a perfect setting for weddings.
We saw how hey had set out a barbecue in a court yard one night with beautiful lighting and entertainment at hand. Looked great!
Areas for improvement:
House white Wine - ok , light and quite drinkable. Red wine was a but acid to my taste, but I was able to buy very acceptable wine from Australia for £7.50 a bottle - not bad considering the distances is has to be carted from.

Music: We were disappointed yet again (we were here in 2004) not to hear any steel bands - the music of which we consider to be an integral part of the Caribbean. We did hear it though on Sandy Lane where the hotel had a 5-6 piece band for a barbecue. So if it good enough for the guests at Sandy Lane!

What is on at Almond Beach Village: I found out by chance when visiting here that I could have attended tennis lessons, and my wife would have liked to have attended one of he Bajan cooking lesson sessions. At the briefing of guests at the club they should be given out a copy of the seven day programme for the Village as well. If not, why not visit the Village and find out for yourselves!
Sunloungers: Like three other nearby hotels, cushions would have made the loungers more comfortable to lie on.
This is a great, well managed and friendly resort. We consider it to be a home from home and will certainly be visiting it again. We have just booked to go back for Christmas this year.

Long may it prosper!
PS: We found the Bajan people so friendly and helpful: if you wanted to cross a busy road by the hotel, it was the locals who stopped to signal you across, unlike obvious white tourists in hired cars who drove by, even when you were standing at a pedestrian crossing!
Tiami Catemaran Cruises: We had a great day out with them with snorkeling, swimming with turtles, great food and all you wanted to drink. We were particularly impressed with how good they were with children. One crew member took a poor swimming boy under his wing, so to speak, and guided him to where the best snorkeling was. Well done!