Best Time to Visit Barbados

Geographical location

Barbados lies in the Atlantic Ocean on the eastern edge of the Caribbean, the island is one of the so-called Lesser Antilles. Barbados was discovered in 1536 by the Portuguese Pedro Campos, shortly afterwards many locals were enslaved by Spanish conquerors and shipped to other islands.

Until it was taken over by England in 1625, Barbados was considered completely uninhabited for a time. The British soon flourished in agriculture, producing cane sugar, syrup and rum. The slave trade also reached a new peak at this time.

It was not until 30 November 1966 that Barbados gained independence and is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, along with countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom, Jamaica, Canada and island states such as St. Lucia and Jamaica. The official head of state is therefore Queen Elizabeth II, who is represented by a governor general in Barbados.

The capital of the island is Bridgetown, with a total of 280,000 inhabitants living on an area of about 270 square miles. Barbados is comparatively flat, with St. Vincent and the Grenadines as well as Saint Lucia and Martinique as its closest neighbours.

Climate in Barbados

Barbados (Lesser Antilles) belongs to the “islands above the wind”, so that the tropical climate brings only small temperature fluctuations with itself and is somewhat wetter by the northeast trade wind than the “islands under the wind”. When planning your trip, you should therefore pay particular attention to the rainy and dry seasons. Basically it is very warm the whole year round, the daily values usually lie between 29 °C to 31 °C in the shade.

Even at night it never gets cooler 23 °C. From the end of May to the end of October it is the rainy season in Barbados, although this is not days of uninterrupted rainfall. Rather, the rain usually falls very briefly and vigorously, but on average about 8 hours of sunshine are still reached daily.

Hurricanes in Barbados are rare exceptions, but possible in principle. The Atlantic hurricane season is usually from June to November, with the greatest risk in September and October. The dry season on Barbados is very pronounced from December to May, the weather is now usually constant summery and very pleasant.