Guest Report

[Jacqui Bell]

I have just returned from my first visit to Tobago, where my husband & I had a truly wonderful - but all too short - week of pure relaxation.

Tobago and the Coco Reef was recommended by my uncle (who co-runs a big game fishing safari company and has been lucky enough to visit a large number of exotic locations so should know) and with the benefit of all the positive reviews on this great site (thanks), we booked last year.

This hotel is great. The staff were so incredibly friendly & welcoming, cheery faces everywhere, and from ALL staff, not just those with client-facing roles. The social director helped us book a catamaran trip and even chased them up when they were a bit late arriving (delay caused by customer at another hotel still in bed hungover & finally decided not to go), suggesting we went to the beach to wait. She brought us some water & then came to find us when the car arrived - and when she saw us the following day came over to ask how the trip had gone.

Rooms spacious & well-cleaned. Air-con fully functional.

Food excellent. We ate in Tamaras most evenings & had no problems booking a table. The norm appears to be to do this at breakfast, and always had a choice of times. Lunch BBQ also very tasty. I can't understand why some people don't like it. The evening menus had a choice of about 6 dishes per course, some fairly "international" in style, some with Caribbean flavour. All nicely proportioned & well-presented. Maybe tricky for non-fish-eating veggies? Not sure. There was only 1 evening we felt that there was nothing particularly inspiring, but it was still good.

All this when the hotel was completely full.

It didn't feel like it though. There was always plenty of room on the beach (clean & well-maintained) & at no time did we feel it was overly busy. The beach is great - the rocky breakwater may not be natural but has brought many benefits. Where else can you stand & feed bread rolls to tropical fish as some did? Nicely sheltered, perfect for getting used to snorkels. No problems with sand-flies either - this is the 1st foreign holiday I've been on & come home without a single insect bite.

And finally, Virgin's check-in & chill-out is most certainly the way to do it. Yes, the airport's close, but virtually no plane noise at all, you don't need to worry about that.

I'd love to go back, and soon! I can quite see why there were so many back for the 3rd, 4th... time.

[Kirsten Giles]

I go for my 3rd visit in 8 weeks and 5 days - not that I 'm counting! - and I can't wait....

[JulieA]

Hi
My first post! I am very excited to say that we booked our holiday to Tobago last night! On the strength of this excellent web-site, we decided on the Coco Reef. November seems a long way off, but I shall be 'dipping in' here on a regular basis, which much interest!
We visited Barbados last year and fell in love with the Caribbean. We know Tobago is a very different experience, but from the posts it has a lot to offer.

[Steve Wooler]

Hello Julie

Welcome aboard!

You will find Tobago very different from Barbados - although I have often said that Tobago today has something of the feel of Barbados 30-40 years ago (when Barbados was worth visiting).

Enjoy our site and be prepared for a treat when you get to Tobago and the Coco Reef.

[Jonathan Richards]

Hi, Julie
I don't think that there is much chance of you being disappointed with the Coco Reef; we stayed there in early November (though it feels longer ago than that!) and couldn't find anything to criticize. Top tip: if you're up to it, hire bikes from the hotel and explore the Lowlands that way for a day - it's a better way to get a feel for the locality than driving, and you can cover more ground than you would care to do on foot. The bikes were good quality machines, and very inexpensive.

Jonathan

[JulieA]

Thank you Steve and Jonathan. The bikes sound like a really good idea, although it has been a few years since I've been on one. But Hey!..........I would imagine Tobago a pretty good place to start up again!

[Ronald]

One thing about using a bike in Tobago, the roads are narrow and mostly there´s no extra space for bikes, and look up for pot holes.
The traffic in the Crown Point area are sometimes terrible in the morning and afternoon, using a bike from Crown Point via Bon Accord/Canaan isn´t always nice, it´s sometimes dangerous because you have the cars very close to you! The roads become better higher up, after Canaan, but until you reach that area, be careful.

If you are using a bike via Bon Accord/Cannan to the Caribbean side, go inside (left hand side) in Bon Accord and use a small road, Golden Grove Road, across the forrest to Bucco Road.
Ronald

[Jonathan Richards]

Yes, Ronald is right. The day we cycled was Election Day, so perhaps the traffic patterns were not typical. However, it was uncomfortable to be on the Milford Road in Crown Point/Canaan for too long; the gutters are quite deep and the cars come fairly close! I have to admit to cycling, very carefully, on the pavements when they were free of pedestrians. We got off onto the back roads as soon as possible, and found some wonderful quiet places around the Bon Accord lagoon, and wound our way out to Buccoo eventually.

Remember to take some bottles of water!

[JulieA]

Ok -thanks once again for the useful advice. I may well give the bikes a miss as it probably won't take much to unnerve me and I'm not liking the sound of the 'close cars' and the pot holes! We do love to walk however and would be interested to know of some nice walks near the hotel.

[Jonathan Richards]

You can walk out of the Coco Reef entrance, turn right and right again through the Store Bay Beach facility (lots of small shops with things to spend money on; chaps trying to sell you a glass-bottomed boat trip to the reef and Nylon Pool), and then follow the road to Fort Milford, and beyond to Crown Point. That's a pleasant roadside sort of walk, not a bit taxing if the sun is not too hot

It's possible to walk from the hotel up to Pigeon Point, too, though we did it on the bikes. For walking further afield, I would have thought that you want to take a car, taxi or bus to a suitable starting point, and I'll let others contribute their suggestions for that. I believe you will have missed something if you don't fix up a guided walk into the rain forest reserve, which the hotel or the Virgin rep. will be pleased to do for you.

[Ronald]

Except for a walk to Pidgeon Point, Store Bay Beach and down to the end of Tobago, not much nice nature in the Crown Point area. It can be hot for those who aren´t comfortable with walking, but the distances aren´t terrible.

Pidgeon Point can sometimes be hot, but if you walk "around the corner", facing Bucco Reef, you will have much more breeze.

With a car/taxi, all depending if you drive on the left hand side, you can go to Arnos Vale Beach. From there you can walk or use the car, to Arnos Vale Water wheel, the nature is totally different there compared with Crown Point.

There´s nice nature all over Tobago, but not close to Crown Point wich is a flat area. Peoples who are custom with long distance walking can go from Crown Point via Bon Accord/Cannaan and use Golden Grove Road (via the forrest) to reach Bucco. If one follow the road you will always see nice nature on the caribbean side. But it´s hot and if you can´t use local water from the tap, than you would have to carry a lot with you!

From Scarborough a walk to Bacolet Beach will take abouy 30-50 minutes, all depending on how fast you walk. Nice area beside the road and a small very nice beach, the beach bar belongs to the Blue Heaven Hotel.

Ronald