St. Nicholas Abbey
St. Nicholas Abbey
4.5
DistilleriesHistoric SitesArchitectural Buildings
10:00 AM - 3:30 PM
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 3:30 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 3:30 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 3:30 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 3:30 PM
Sunday
10:00 AM - 3:30 PM
About
Our hours of operation are 10.00 a.m.; with our last tour at 3.30 p.m. We recommend allowing 2-3 hours for your visit, with a minimum of an hour to tour the property. (All guests must depart the property by 4.30 p.m.) Visitors can enjoy lunch, tea and other light refreshments at the Terrace Café during our opening hours. The steam operated syrup factory c.1890, grinds sugar cane from January to May. Adults (13 and over): BBD $30* (US $15) Youth (Ages 5-12): BBD $10* (US $5) We also have a steam railway onsite
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

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4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles2,689 reviews
Excellent
1,607
Very good
732
Average
241
Poor
70
Terrible
40

Bailey Joshua
Felpham, UK5 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020 • Couples
If you’re interested in seeing production of rum this isn’t a great insight as you only see a small part through a door, no “distillery tour”, and even the great house is mostly shut off. We started with a very brief 10 minute ish walk around the downstairs of the house before walking around the grounds and left by the tour guide in an old stable to be shown a 15 minute clip from almost 100 years ago what Barbados was like and how the abbey was run back then, this is the best part. Then you get a small rum taster in the gift shop where you can buy personally engraved bottles of rum starting at £50/$65 roughly. The tour staff are good, the cafe and staff in that part was very poor, and the shop staff were average. Nobody was particularly welcoming and I wouldn’t really recommend this to anyone unless you’re really scratching for something to do. The highlight for me was the magnificent steel pan drum player in the cafe area!
Written February 18, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

croatialover
Dublin20 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2019
Beautiful place to visit while in Barbados.

But what spoilt it for us was the sight of some colourful exotic birds locked in cages FAR TOO inadequate in size for them to fly around.

There were two affectionate macaws and two cockatoos without any vegetation, toys or anything to stimulate them in a small, dark enclosure.

There were also nine other birds crammed into a wire cage that wasn't much bigger than a large laundry basket!

These are highly intelligent animals, so please give them the bigger, more modern aviary they deserve.
Written January 8, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

laprug81
Leamington Spa, UK28 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2019 • Family
We hadn’t planned on visiting st Nicholas Abbey but “stumbled across” it during our drive back from the east coast and heading towards the wildlife reserve. The drive up to the Abbey is spectacular and then the Abbey itself is beautiful - it’s a working rum distillery which is great to see.

I would recommend a guided tour (which seem to take place every half an hour on the day we visited). Our guide was fantastic and very engaging as well as the other staff. Our young children loved it too.

We had a small bite to eat in the cafe. The staff were clearly struggling to keep up with orders and needed several prompts. They could probably do with a bit of help including providing good customer service as we felt they didn’t want to serve us or anybody. This did let the whole experience down a little but I haven’t marked down the rating as it’s not the reason we visited and overall we had a great experience.

There is a steam train on the grounds too.

We spent the whole afternoon there leaving the wildlife reserve for another day.
Written January 7, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

mikesierra
Bourne, UK1,986 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2019
It is well worth a visit to see this plantation’s beautifully restored Jacobean style 17th century mansion taking you back to how the wealthy lived. There was a group tour, but unfortunately our guide was somewhat disorganised and our group seemed to scatter in all directions after the main house. Our rum punch included in the visit was also very poor and weak. Combine a visit to the steam railway and distillery.
Written January 1, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

jamaicasun
Eastern Canada921 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2020
1st time vising St. Nicholas Abbey & it was an enjoyable experience! The Abbey has a historic plantation house, rum factory, gardens, and a train that circles the property. You can take a tour and learn from a knowledgable guide or wander at your own pace. The patio is an excellent place for a cool drink or lunch.....one of the best meals that I had on the island!
The owners are on the property and very welcoming.
The gift shop offers a wide variety of sprits besides rum as well as local products such as cane syrup, rum flavoured coffee, and more.
It is definitely worth a visit!
Written April 9, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

BobWE
Manhattan Beach, CA753 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020
In the middle of the island of Barbados is one of the islands oldest surviving plantation built in 1658. There are over 400 acres of sugar cane fields, tropical gullies, mahogany forests, and gardens. Setting in the middle of the plantation is the famous Jacobean mansion heavily influenced by the Dutch architectural style. It is one of only three remaining Jacobean mansions in the Western Hemisphere (the other two are in Barbados and West Virginia). The tour guides are well informed but we were not granted access to the upper floors. Included in the tour is the boiling house, distillery, rum bond, gardens, orchards and gullies. Definitely try the delicious rum and if you are there in the late afternoon inquire about a high tea experience. Nearby is the St. Nicholas Abbey Heritage Railway which provides a 30 minute ride Monday through Friday through plantation fields, a quarry and a turnaround experience of the east coast of Barbados from Cherry Tree Hill. A family adventure for sure.
Written January 12, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

localred
Manchester, UK275 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020
The owners are to be complimented on their new steam train ride funded by themselves without government help. The driver & staff on the train are also to be praised for making it an enjoyable & funny ride. Bye a combo ticket & enjoy the guided trip around the house. The only downside is that you only get to sample one rum.
Written March 12, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Leilla F
Scotland, UK6 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2022 • Couples
We visited St Nicholas Abbey on 25th February 2022 and opted for the tour and rum tasting without the steam train option.

We were greeted by Virginia who was very helpful and looked after us since she was able to sync our visit with a small group so we could be guided round the house. Virginia was very engaging, knowledgeable and charismatic and shared lots of interesting history about the house and the surrounding gardens.

We were fortunate to visit during sugar cane crushing to make the sugar cane syrup used in their rum and Virginia answered all of our questions with her detailed knowledge. The process was very interesting and we watched a video to understand how the rum production was made.

This was followed by a rum tasting which we really enjoyed. So much that we have a memento engraved 8yr rum bottle and sorrel rum (Virginia’s recommendation) to take back and treasure our time in Barbados when we return to Scotland.

Thank you Virginia and St Nicholas Abbey staff!
Written February 25, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Brian B
London, UK19 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020 • Couples
A beautiful Jacobean House with extensive grounds sympathetically renovated by the current owners. There is a sugar cane plantation and working rum distillery producing relatively small batches of quality rum. We had an interesting tour led by a very enthusiastic guide (all the staff wore very smart uniforms). The black and white film from the 1930s was a highlight. Guests were offered rum punch on arrival and we sampled the 5 year old rum at the end of the tour. We then had a lovely informal walk around the house and grounds including seeing the heritage steam railway recently completed by the owner. Reasonable value at BDS$45 but felt the BDS$60 for the steam train ride a bit pricey so didn’t go on it! Well worth a visit.
Written February 3, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

LordHow
Australia51 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2022
First came here in 2005 and it was interesting to visit but rather rundown. The current owners have vastly improved the house and gardens as an attraction. And the addition of the railway ride to Cherry Hill was excellent. The conductor on the train gave a very insightful talk about the history of the original railway and the newly built one. Our guide for the house and rum was funny, friendly and very knowledgeable and the walk though the rum making activity was very interesting. The rum tasting was great!
Written April 8, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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ST. NICHOLAS ABBEY (2024) All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

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