Nassau: Atlantis Paradise Island, Junkanoo Festival, Blue Lagoon Beach, and the Baha Mar Resort
Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas and the most visited destination in the Caribbean after Cancun and Punta Cana, combines the Atlantis Paradise Island mega-resort, the Junkanoo African carnival tradition, the classic Bahamian beach experience at Blue Lagoon Island, and the Baha Mar resort that has positioned Nassau as the premier Caribbean meetings destination.
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Nassau Straw Market and Bay Street
The Nassau Straw Market on Bay Street, the primary commercial promenade of the Bahamian capital, is the most concentrated expression of the Nassau tourism economy, with the stalls of the market vendors selling straw baskets, wooden carvings, Junkanoo masks, and the t-shirts and rum products that constitute the souvenir economy of one of the Caribbean's most visited cruise ship destinations. The market and Bay Street shopping district serve the 4 million annual visitors who arrive by cruise ship at the Prince George Wharf.
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Atlantis Paradise Island: The Resort Megalopolis
Atlantis Paradise Island, the 3,400-room resort complex on the bridge-connected Paradise Island across the Nassau harbor, is the largest and most elaborate resort development in the Caribbean, combining the waterpark, the casino, the aquarium, the marine habitat, and the hotel towers in a themed resort complex built around the Atlantis mythology that has defined Paradise Island since the Sol Kerzner redevelopment of the 1990s. The Atlantis Aquaventure waterpark is the largest waterpark in the Caribbean.
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Junkanoo: The Bahamian Carnival
Junkanoo, the Bahamian festival of African origin celebrated with elaborate costumes, cowbell percussion, and the goombay drum music in the pre-dawn street parade on December 26 and January 1 in Nassau, is the most culturally specific Caribbean festival outside Trinidad carnival and the expression of the Bahamian cultural identity that survived the colonial period in the same way that carnival survived in the French and Spanish Caribbean. The Junkanoo museum in Nassau presents the costume-making tradition year-round.
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Blue Lagoon Island: The Nassau Beach Excursion
Blue Lagoon Island, the small private island northeast of Nassau accessible by ferry, provides the standard Nassau beach day experience for cruise ship and hotel guests seeking the classic Bahamian beach environment of turquoise water and white sand without the cruise ship pier crowds of Nassau harbor. The dolphin encounter program at Blue Lagoon is the most popular single paid activity for Nassau cruise ship passengers.
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Government House and the Colonial Heritage
Government House, the hilltop pink colonial mansion that is the official residence of the Governor-General of the Bahamas and the symbol of the British colonial heritage, overlooks Nassau harbor with its Queen Victoria statue in the forecourt and the colonial architecture of the surrounding streets providing the most concentrated historic streetscape in Nassau. The changing of the guard ceremony on alternating Saturdays is a colonial ritual transplanted to the tropics.
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Cable Beach and the Western Strip
Cable Beach on the northwest coast of Nassau, the primary hotel beach district of the capital, has undergone significant redevelopment with the Baha Mar mega-resort complex opened in 2017 that houses three hotel brands, the largest casino in the Caribbean, and the conference center that positions Nassau as the premier meetings destination in the island Caribbean.