• Trinidad and Tobago Guide

  • Introduction to Trinidad and Tobago
  • Things not to miss
  • Entry requirements
  • Weather
  • Money
  • Getting Around
  • Public holidays

• Explore Trinidad and Tobago

  • Port of Spain
  • The Western Tip
  • The north
  • Central and South Trinidad
  • Tobago

• Cities

  • Port of Spain
    
  • San Fernando
    

Trinidad and Tobago Guide

Tobago

• Accommodation
• Eating

At just 41 by 14 kilometres, TOBAGO packs a surprising diversity between its craggy coastal fringes, from deserted beaches and pristine coral reefs to a wealth of lush rainforest. Though tourism has taken root with breathtaking speed – especially around the southwest tip – Tobago is hardly the typically jaded resort island. There are few all-inclusive hotels, celebrations such as the Easter goat races are attended by more Tobagonians than tourists, and local culture is honoured at the annual Heritage Festival each August. Nevertheless, tourism is changing Tobago. Fisherman needed to pull in seine fishing nets are still called by a resonant toot on a conch shell but nowadays the men often wait until they have a captive audience before hauling in the catch.

Geographically Tobago is breathtaking; the smaller island's beaches are clean and the landscape is largely left to its own devices. The flat coral and limestone plateau of the southwest – the Lowlands – is the island's most heavily developed region, with hotels clustered around powder-sand beaches such as Pigeon Point and Mount Irvine, home to excellent surfing (best between November and February). The capital, Scarborough, is a picturesque port town tumbling down a lighthouse-topped hillside.

The island's rugged windward (south) coast is lined with charming fishing villages; Speyside and Charlotteville in the remote eastern reaches have some fine coral reefs and scuba diving is a burgeoning industry. Tobago is an excellent and inexpensive place to learn to dive, and there's plenty of challenging drift diving for the more experienced, while the many reefs within swimming distance of the beaches make for fantastic snorkelling. The leeward (north) coast has Tobago's finest beaches; some, like Englishman's Bay, are regularly deserted, while at Castara, Parlatuvier and Bloody Bay, you'll share the sand with local fishermen.

The landscape of the eastern interior rises steeply, forming the Main Ridge, mountains which shelter the Forest Reserve, the oldest protected rainforest in the western hemisphere.