Trinidad for the noise and the birds. Tobago for the reef.
Which island the reef is actually on, what the dusk boat into Caroni costs, and whether a twelve-hour island circle earns its price. Reviews of every tour you can book on both.
Carnival country, and a rainforest behind the refinery.
Reef, sandbar and nobody in any hurry.
The reef boat, the dusk swamp, a mountain beach and one very long day.
A first trip here usually gets built around these four. What each one costs, and how much of a day it takes.
01The Tobago morningTobago Buccoo Reef Glass Bottom Boat TourOut over the reef with a glass floor in the boat, then a stop on the sandbar where the sea is waist-deep a mile offshore.
02The Trinidad duskSunset Boat Tour into Caroni WetlandsA flat-bottomed boat through the mangrove channels, timed for the hour the scarlet ibis come in to roost.
03The mountain beachDay Trip to Maracas BeachOver the Northern Range on the coast road, down to Maracas, and back with a bake and shark in hand.
04The whole islandThe Grand Circle 12-Hour All-Inclusive Island ExperienceTwelve hours, most of a coastline and lunch included. The one people plan the rest of the week around.
The six days out that Trinidad and Tobago actually sells.
A reef with a sandbar in the middle of it, a mangrove roost, a beach at the far end of a mountain road, a city with a Carnival problem, and one drive that takes the lot in.
Behind the coast road, Trinidad turns into rainforest.
The Northern Range runs the whole width of the island and the good walks are all in it: Avocat and the pools under it, the Arima valley where the birders go, and a swamp on the west coast that fills with red birds at six every evening.
Port of Spain is a working city that throws the biggest party in the Caribbean.
Everything in Port of Spain →
The Savannah with its row of ridiculous colonial mansions on one side, a fort above the container port, and after dark a food run that starts with doubles and does not stop. Three ways to take the city, depending on how much of the day you want to give it.
The Savannah, the Seven and Fort George
A loop of the Queen’s Park Savannah past Stollmeyer’s Castle and the rest of the Magnificent Seven, then up to Fort George for the view down over the gulf.
City first, then over the range
The same city loop with the North Coast Road bolted on: a climb through the forest, the lookout above the bay and long enough at Maracas to swim and eat.
Doubles, bake and shark, and a panyard
Street corners rather than restaurants, which is where the eating is. Doubles first, then whatever the guide rates that week, with a stop wherever a band is practising.
The most-booked days out in Trinidad and Tobago.
The whole catalogue →These fill up first, and here is what puts each of them at the top.
1
The Grand Circle 12-Hour All-Inclusive Island Experience
Tour Tobago’s waterfalls, forts, rainforest, beaches, and villages in one flexible 10 to 12 hour private island day.
From · $400
Read our review →
2
Buccoo Reef and Nylon Pool Adventure
from $189
3
Trinidad Nighttime Food Tour
from $69
4
Birdwatching, Waterfall, Rainforest and Island Nature Tours
from $90
5
Tobago Buccoo Reef Glass Bottom Boat Tour
from $78
6
Trinidad Highlights and Scenic Drive Tour
from $109
7
Trinidad Highlights Tour from Port of Spain
from $80
8
Mini Island Tour of Trinidad
from $76
Tobago is the holiday half, and it is a small one.
Forty minutes in the air from Piarco and the country changes register: a reef with a marine park over it, a sandbar you can stand on out in open water, and a forest reserve that has been protected since 1776.
Everything on Tobago →
One road crosses the Northern Range, and everybody takes it.
It climbs out of Maraval, corners for forty minutes through forest, drops at a lookout with the whole bay underneath, and lands you at Maracas among the shark-and-bake sheds. Las Cuevas is ten minutes further on and half as busy.
- 1Day Trip to Maracas Beachfrom $60
- 2Port of Spain City Highlights and Maracas Beachfrom $98
- 3Day Trip to Maracas Beach from Port of Spainfrom $60
Glass floor, snorkel or a whole boat. The water is the point of Tobago.
Three ways to get out over the reef, what it costs to board each, and which of them puts you on the sandbar.
What a day out in Trinidad and Tobago actually costs.
Grouped by what you actually pay. The cheap end is not the dull end here: the swamp boat and the beach run both sit in it.
City loops, the Caroni boat at dusk, beach runs over the range and the shorter reef trips.
- 1Trinidad Nighttime Food Tourfrom $69
- 2Sunset Boat Tour into Caroni Wetlandsfrom $67
- 3Stand Up Paddle Lessonsfrom $61
The standard full days: waterfall hikes, glass-bottom reef trips, the food walks and most of the island circuits.
Private drivers, all-inclusive island days and the boat charters that take the whole party.
Three things this country has and the rest of the Caribbean does not.
Reefs and rum are everywhere between Cuba and Trinidad. A swamp that turns red at six, a sandbar a mile out in open sea, and an instrument invented on this island are not.
The Scarlet Ibis Roost
Caroni is a mangrove swamp on the west coast, cut into channels a flat-bottomed boat can just about get down. Boats leave mid-afternoon and wait out in the open water, because at dusk the scarlet ibis come back from feeding and settle on one island in the middle of it. There are thousands of them and they are the colour of a postbox. It is the national bird, and this is where you see it.
- 1Birdwatching, Waterfall, Rainforest and Island Nature Tours★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 70 reviews
- 2Sunset Boat Tour into Caroni Wetlands★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 45 reviews
- 3Bird Watching Tours★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 35 reviews
The Nylon Pool
Off Tobago’s south-west corner the sea shallows over a sandbar until it is waist-deep, a long way from any beach. Boats cross Buccoo Reef with a glass floor in them, then stop on the bar and everyone gets out and stands in the middle of the Caribbean. The reef itself has been a protected marine park since 1973, which is why there is still something under the glass.
- 1Buccoo Reef and Nylon Pool Adventure★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 158 reviews
- 2Tobago Buccoo Reef Glass Bottom Boat Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 68 reviews
- 3Tobago Buccoo Reef Glass Bottom Boat Cruise and Island Sightseeing Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 36 reviews
Doubles, and the pan
Two soft fried bara with curried channa between them, eaten off greaseproof paper standing up, is the national breakfast and costs about a dollar. The steelpan came out of the same streets: oil drums off the refineries, sunk and tuned into the only acoustic instrument anyone invented in the twentieth century. Both are best found at night, on foot, with somebody who knows the corners.
- 1Trinidad Nighttime Food Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 123 reviews
- 2Trinidad Mud Volcano Hike and Food Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 13 reviews
- 3Live Steel Drums & Street Food Experience!★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 9 reviews
Four bookings here that run on something other than your calendar.
Nearly everything here can wait until the night before. These four cannot: they run on a tide, a roost, a swell and one mountain road.
- 01Sunset Boat Tour into Caroni WetlandsThe ibis come in at dusk and not before, so there is one departure a day and it leaves mid-afternoon. Miss it and the swamp is just a swamp.
- 02Buccoo Reef and Nylon Pool AdventureThe Nylon Pool is a sandbar, so the boats run to the tide rather than the clock. Which slot you get is decided by the water, not by you.
- 03Day Trip to Maracas BeachOne road crosses the Northern Range to the north coast beaches. When it slips in the wet season there is no second way over.
- 04Little Tobago Bird Sanctuary Visit and Boat TourThe crossing to the seabird island is an open boat out of Speyside, and it does not go when the Atlantic swell is up.
The wet season does not cancel the day, it moves it to the morning.
June to December the rain arrives in the afternoon, hard and short. Everything that involves a boat, a hill or a beach wants the first half of the day. Then it is food, rum, a panyard or a museum until it blows through.
One driver, twelve hours, and most of an island.
Both islands are small enough to take in a day and awkward enough that you would rather not drive it. These are the circuits people actually book, and the ones that include lunch.
By place - both islands
By what you feel like - reef, forest, city or table
Port of Spain, the north coast, the swamp, then the plane to Tobago.
Reviews that went up this month.
More new reviews →
Trinidad Nature and Asa Wright Center Full-Day Tour from Port of Spain
Read our review →
Airport Transfer to OR from Accommodation in Trinidad
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Deep Sea Fishing (Street Food and Beer Included)
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