Is Nassau family-friendly?

Plan your first morning around Ardastra Gardens on Chippingham Road, west of downtown. The Caribbean flamingo is the national bird of The Bahamas, and a flock of them marches across a lawn on a keeper's command in short shows through the day. Children aged 2 to 8 tend to be delighted. Entry has run about $25 per adult and roughly half that per child, but check the price at the gate. The paths are packed gravel shaded by palms, so a sturdy stroller copes. You will smell the jasmine and hear the lorikeets screeching in the aviary before you see either. Fort Charlotte is a few minutes downhill, and its damp, cool dungeons win over the 7-to-12-year-olds who were bored by the flamingos.

Most of the water fun in Nassau costs money, and Aquaventure at Atlantis, across the harbour bridges, is the big name. Day passes for people not staying there have cost more than $200 per adult, so most families staying elsewhere skip it. The Leap of Faith slide requires riders to be 48 inches tall, and several tube rides set similar limits, meaning a 5-year-old may spend the day in Splashers, the toddler zone. At Baha Mar on Cable Beach, the Baha Bay waterpark is newer and tends to be less crowded, with each slide posting its own height rule. For free water, Cable Beach slopes gently and the sand is soft and fine underfoot. Junkanoo Beach is a 10-minute walk west of the cruise terminal, so it is closer, but by 11 am it is loud with music from speakers and busy with jet-ski touts.

Strollers are the main problem: the sidewalks along Bay Street are narrow and cracked, with steps where shops have raised their doorways, and beyond the downtown grid many roads have no sidewalk at all. The Queen's Staircase climbs about 65 limestone steps to Fort Fincastle, so bring a carrier. Jitney route 10 runs west to Cable Beach for about $1.25 in exact change, but its packed aisle has no room for a folded stroller, making taxis the practical choice. Fares are set by zone, so agree the price before you buckle anyone in. Traffic in The Bahamas drives on the left, which catches out American parents crossing Bay Street. Head out at 9 am, aim for lunch and a nap by 1 pm, and keep the late afternoon gentle. The midday glare off white sand is hard on toddlers, and even at 1 am on 20 October the air was still 25.3°C.

Feeding kids is easier than the menus suggest. Arawak Cay, the row of painted shacks locals call the Fish Fry, serves conch fritters, fried snapper and baked macaroni, which Bahamian cooks put next to almost everything, and picky eaters will usually eat all three. Conch salad is raw shellfish cured in lime, so tell the cook about any shellfish allergy. Guava duff is a steamed, rolled pudding and makes a good reward, though its butter sauce often contains rum, so ask before ordering for a child. The Bahamian dollar trades at par with the US dollar, but imported groceries are expensive, and a two-bedroom Cable Beach condo with a kitchen and a washer saves money compared with a resort room that has two queen beds. For under-5s, skip the dolphin encounter on Blue Lagoon Island: it has age minimums and needs a 30-minute boat ride over open water. Skip the Straw Market on Bay Street too, because its aisles are too tight for wheels.