The Wanderland Guide to New Providence Island, Bahamas: Undiscovered Gems Edition

Having already done the classic Nassau resort trip more than once, I really wanted to do something different this time — explore the island’s more wild, natural, offbeat side.

By the way, while the island is widely referred to as Nassau, that actually refers to the capital city on the island — the island itself is New Providence. And since both we barely touched down in Nassau proper and because I’m a geography nerd, I’m going to use the term New Providence for the rest of this post.

So the truth is, if you want to explore a more offbeat side of New Providence Island and get out of the resorts of Nassau, you’re going to need to rent a car. Cabs are exorbitant, kinda unreliable, and hard to access — and there’s no rideshare apps.

The good news? I found it pretty chill to drive here! Automatic cars are available, a must for me, and surprisingly I found it more relaxed to drive on New Providence than I had in Grand Cayman, which had pretty heavy traffic and was full of high-speed roundabouts.

The bad news? Rental agency hours don’t necessarily align with flight landings. We had a comedy-of-errors travel disaster when my flight landed moments after every car rental agency closed; leading to an expensive and frustrating twelve hours until we could get back to the airport and collect the rental car the next day. Hilariously, when we got there, the agency we’d rented with also had their credit card machine down; so we had to hop to another one, and we got the last car. Be patient and try to find the humor in it all… Bahamas travel is kinda chaotic sometimes, but it’s worth it!

Where To Stay on New Providence Island

If you’re looking for a big classic resort experience in Nassau, your options are plentiful. If you’re looking to discover a different side of New Providence, literally and figuratively, your options are more limited.

If you prefer the comforts and amenities of hotels when you travel, I recommend The Island House Hotel! We had a dinner here — more on that below — and I’d definitely stay here on a future trip. We considered it for this one, but knowing how little time we’d have to actually enjoy it, we opted for rental instead.

And so we found ourselves at Coco Cottage! While it was on the smaller side, it is perfect for a solo traveler, a couple, or close friends like us.

In the end I was so happy fate led us here — it was perfect for our short, busy two day trip, and it was nice to have a little kitchenette and an outdoor shower for washing dive gear — though I do wish it had a washer and dryer, my favorite amenity of a vacation rental over a hotel, especially on a long multi-stop trip like the one I was on.

The best part of Coco Cottage? It’s onsite at Cab Gallery and Studio, which we didn’t even know about when we booked! It ended up being such a delightful discovery — but more on that below. No surprise it was so artsy and well designed!

White building with flower art painted on side

Where to Eat on New Providence Island

One thing to note if you’re doing your own thing on this island and not staying at resorts is that businesses close early and things are a bit sleepy. And this is the Bahamas; posted schedules mean little. Even if they technically claim to be open til 10 or 11PM, we were often closing down restaurants and leaving before 9pm. Plan accordingly! Again, this list focuses on the West Side of the island.

Vegans, you’re in luck — Lindsay is one of you, so each of the restaurants below had some vegan option, not always an easy feat in the Caribbean. She packed a lot of protein bars as backup, which is never a bad idea.

Cocoplum Restaurant

This was one of our best finds of the trip! Cocoplum is a freestanding restaurant with a chic boho look and a menu full of modern twists on Caribbean classics — and they’ve got guava lychee martinis! Be still my heart.

Their back deck is super charming if you can grab a table there. We came before closing on a weekday and had the place to ourselves, but it sounds like it gets busy with bougie locals on the weekends. I want to come back for brunch!

The Island House

Our car rental comedy of errors led us to Yellowbell, the lobby bar at The Island House Hotel. I normally don’t love to eat at resorts unless I’m staying onsite, but in this case I saw it as a fun preview of a future stay! They had a gorgeous menu of bespoke cocktails named after influential women like Daisy Bates, an American Civil Rights activist, honored here in rum, yuzu, mango, orgeat, and passionfruit liquor — and some late night (for the Bahamas, anyway!) bites on the menu. Other onsite options, if you arrive a bit earlier, include Shima for Southeast Asian cuisine and Mogano for Italian.

Bon Vivants

It turns out Yellowbell’s cocktail menu that we so enjoyed was actually created in partnership with the mixology team at Bon Vivants, another one of our favorite discoveries from this trip! A freestanding and super Instagram-able café by day, and cocktail bar by night, Bon Vivants is a must for either coffee or cocktails on your trip. It also opens relatively early and stays open late too, a rarity around these parts.

Blue Sail

It’s the Bahamas — you have to eat one meal on the water! Blue Sail sits on a gorgeous stretch of beach and really nails the whole ramshackle beach charm aesthetic. It also has a super wide variety of offerings, with dedicated sushi and wood fired pizza menus in addition to the typical New Providence fare. They caught my eye because they had a full vegan menu; and I’m glad they did — it’s a gem! If possible, come during daylight hours to enjoy the view.

Bakehouse Bahamas

I swung by here on my final day en route to the airport to fly to Staniel Cay, and I was immediately bummed I didn’t discover it sooner. Bakehouse was so good — guava donuts, hello! I guess this trip was just me consuming guava in various forms — and shares the shop with a little local ice cream business with tons of locally-inspired flavors, too.

What To Do on New Providence Island

Like the rest of this post, this list is focused on the West Side of the island, away from the hotel zone and the hustle and bustle of it all. If you’re heading over to the East, check out this vintage Alex in Wanderland post for my recommendations, including Potter’s Cay, the Junkanoo Museum or the Pirate Museum. Next time I’m back in Nassau, I’m checking out some of the rum distilleries that have popped up in recent years, too!

Shark Diving at Stuart Cove’s

This is what we came for! Stay tuned for a full, detailed review of the experience and the Padi Distinctive Specialty we earned while here. But suffice it to say if you’re a scuba diver and you’re looking for a safe but thrilling wildlife encounter with a pioneer in the shark diving industry… look no further!

This is an ultimate off-the-beaten path adventure in the Bahamas and I couldn’t have been more thrilled with it.

Black and White Edit underwater with shark diving

Sunset at Jaws Beach

We couldn’t think of a better sunset spot the eve of our shark experience than a beach by this name! The next day our captain told us that everyone was talking about a tiger shark off Jaws Beach the day before and laughed when we said “Um.. we were there!” Warning: it’s a little buggy; but raw and beautiful. Many locals were here having picnics and splashing around.

Nature Walk at Primeval Forest National Park

Talk about a hidden gem! We were the only people at Primeval Forest National Park, just two minutes down the road from Coco Cottage. While it was a little overpriced at $12 per person considering you’re unlikely to spend more than thirty minutes here — prepare for constant sticker shock in the Bahamas — it was a beautiful and well maintained path that actually exceeded our expectations.

We saw the oldest mahogany tree left on New Providence, we saw snakes slithering across the path, we saw stunning ancient caves and dramatic sinkholes reminiscent of the cenotes of Mexico, and explored nature that was here long before we were, going right along with the theme of this particular trip.

Take a Class at CAB

We swooned over the art gallery and studio onsite at Coco Cottage. Showing modern and funky works by Bahamian artists and offering ceramics classes, paint and sips, printmaking, and more, CAB Gallery is an incredible undercover find. I wish we’d known about this beforehand — I would have booked us a class to make a shark-inspired creation!

And I’m going to give Lindsay bonus points for humoring me on a “thing to do” relevant to me and probably me alone — driving by Albany, Bahamas, which appears to be a posh suburb. What can I say? As a native of Albany, New York, I love to visit random Albanys around the world. Follow your stupid travel dreams and all.

How Long To Spend on New Providence Island

How much do you love the beach and the sea? While your girl can — and has — spent years on tropical islands smaller than this one, personally, I do think New Providence’s accessibility and proximity to the US make it a prime candidate for a quick getaway!

We spent three nights and two full days on New Providence, and for our dive focused trip, I think one more day would have been nice. However, we were running out of independent dining options that we were excited about — for a longer trip I think we would have had to had some option to self cater; or stayed a bit closer to the action to have more restaurant access.

Have you been to Nassau or New Providence? Leave me any further recommendations in the comments for my next trip! And if not, have I shown you a different side of things?

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