Things to Do in Nassau, Bahamas

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Nassau packs a full day into a small footprint. There’s a free beach a fifteen-minute walk from the cruise docks. There’s a colonial old town with a limestone staircase cut by hand. A water park swallows an entire afternoon on Paradise Island, and boat trips head out to swim with pigs or dolphins. Six hours off a ship is enough for two or three of those. A few nights on the island lets you do all of them without running.

I’ve come into Nassau both ways. Off a ship with a few hours on the clock, and on a longer stay with nowhere to be. The day looks completely different depending on which one I’m doing. On a tight cruise schedule I skip the taxi line and walk straight to the beach or the fort. With more time, I book the boat out to the pigs and let the afternoon run long. Either way, the water off the north shore is that pale blue-green you only get over sand. It’s worth seeing even if you never leave the harbor.

How Much Does Nassau Cost?

Nassau’s biggest costs are optional. The beach, the market, and the old fort cost nothing to see. The boat trips and the water park are where a day adds up. Here’s roughly what to budget, and how far each stop sits from the cruise terminal at Prince George Wharf.

Attraction	Cost	Time from the pier
Junkanoo Beach	Free	10–15 min walk
Straw Market	Free to browse	5 min walk
Queen’s Staircase & Fort Fincastle	Free; donations appreciated	10 min walk or short taxi
Arawak Cay Fish Fry	Cost of food only	5–10 min taxi
Cable Beach	Free (public beach)	~10 min taxi
Atlantis Aquaventure day pass	Priced by date — check atlantisbahamas.com	10–15 min taxi
Rose Island swimming pigs tour	$199–$259 per person	25 min ferry from Paradise Island
Blue Lagoon Island (dolphin programs)	From about $235 per person	25 min ferry from Paradise Island

Junkanoo Beach Nassau

Junkanoo Beach is the one nobody has to book. It runs along the Western Esplanade, a walk of ten to fifteen minutes from the cruise port. That makes it the closest real beach to the ships. The sand is fine and mostly white. A little sea glass and coral rubble turn up after a rough week of weather, so water shoes aren’t a bad idea.

Vendors along the sidewalk rent chairs and umbrellas for around $10 to $15. A few stands sell rum punch and conch fritters right on the sand. It won’t be empty — most of a docked ship’s day-trippers end up here. Even so, it’s still the easiest beach day in Nassau, and it costs nothing to walk in.

Cable Beach

Cable Beach is Nassau’s resort strip, a few miles west of downtown. It’s home to Baha Mar and a run of hotel pools that spill onto public sand. The beach itself is open to anyone, hotel guest or not, and it runs calmer and less vendor-heavy than Junkanoo. If you want a swim without the cruise-day crowd, this is where longer-stay visitors and locals go instead.

Paradise Island

Paradise Island sits across the harbor bridge from downtown, connected by causeway. It’s where Atlantis and most of the big resorts are. Cabbage Beach, the main public stretch, runs long and wide with calmer water than Junkanoo. It’s too far to walk from the cruise port, so plan on a cab across the bridge.

Atlantis Day Pass Price

Atlantis is the reason a lot of people fly into Nassau at all. It’s 141 acres of water slides and lazy rivers, a shark-filled lagoon you can walk beside, and five miles of beach, all on Paradise Island. A day pass gets non-hotel guests into Aquaventure, the resort pools outside The Cove, and the marine habitat. It also covers the shops at Marina Village. Food and the casino are extra.

Pricing isn’t fixed. Atlantis’s own booking page prices the day pass by date and season rather than a flat number. Adults are counted from age thirteen, and children four to twelve pay a lower rate. Kids under three get in free. Check the current price on atlantisbahamas.com before you go, because it swings hard around holidays and weekends.

Plan on the whole day. Between the water park and the walk over to the marine tunnels, six hours disappears fast. The lines for the bigger slides get long by midmorning.

Queen’s Staircase

The Queen’s Staircase is a limestone passage cut by hand between 1793 and 1794. It connects Fort Fincastle, up on the hill, to the town below. It’s often called the 66 steps. The tourism board’s own page notes only 65 are visible today — the bottom one is buried under the paved path at street level.

The walls close in on both sides, draped in vines and ferns. It stays shaded and noticeably cooler than the street above. It’s a short walk from the cruise port and free to see, though a guide at the bottom will usually offer a tour for a tip.

Fort Fincastle

Fort Fincastle sits at the top of the staircase, built in 1793 in the shape of a paddle-wheel steamer’s bow. Limestone walls and a scatter of old cannons face the harbor. Bahamas.com’s own listing puts guided tours at 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, with donations appreciated rather than a set entrance fee. The water tower next to the fort, when it’s open, gives the best skyline view in downtown Nassau.

Straw Market

The Straw Market sits right on Bay Street, a five-minute walk from the port. It’s a roof strung with hundreds of stalls selling woven straw bags, T-shirts, wood carvings, and beach cover-ups. It’s covered and shaded, which matters more than it sounds like it should by midday.

Almost nothing here has a fixed price. Vendors expect you to haggle, and the opening number is rarely the real one. Walking toward the exit is usually enough to get a better offer called after you. Cash works better than cards at most stalls, and it doesn’t need to be Bahamian cash.

Arawak Cay Fish Fry

Arawak Cay, better known as the Fish Fry, is a strip of small, brightly painted shacks a short taxi ride from downtown. Each one sells some version of the same short list. Fried grouper or snapper, conch salad made to order in front of you, cracked conch, and peas and rice on the side.

Go for lunch or dinner rather than mid-afternoon, when several of the shacks aren’t fully cooking yet. Every stand has its regulars. Every stand also has its own loud claim to the best conch salad in Nassau, so picking one is mostly a matter of which line looks shortest. There’s no cover charge and no dress code. You pay for what you order and eat at a picnic table a few feet from the water.

Blue Lagoon Island

Blue Lagoon Island is a private island a short ferry ride from the Paradise Island Ferry Terminal. Dolphin Encounters runs it, with dolphin and sea lion programs plus a plain beach day for anyone who’d rather skip the animals. The ferry ride runs about 25 minutes each way through the harbor and is included with any program booking.

The shallow-water dolphin encounter allows kids from age three. The full swim, with life vests in deeper water, starts at six. A beach day alone, with chairs and a lunch buffet, is the cheapest way onto the island if the animal programs aren’t the draw. Figure on the better part of a day once the ferry rides on both ends are counted.

Swimming with the Pigs Nassau

The swimming pigs near Nassau live on Rose Island, not Blue Lagoon Island. They’re their own half-day boat trip from the same ferry terminal on Paradise Island. Tours run about four hours. They mix beach time on Rose Island with a swim alongside the pigs, plus a stop to snorkel a shallow reef.

Aqua Shores Bahamas, one of the operators running the route, lists its half-day tour at $199 per person without lunch. Add lunch at a beach bar and grill and it’s $259, plus tax. Morning departures tend to have calmer water and fewer boats crowding the same stretch of sand.

Nassau Taxi Fares

Nassau cabs run on fixed zone fares rather than a meter for most routes. The price shouldn’t change once you’ve agreed on it. Still, always confirm the fare before you get in, since it isn’t posted on the car.

From the cruise port to…	Typical fixed fare (1–2 riders)
Downtown Nassau / Bay Street	$6–$11
Cable Beach	$18–$24
Paradise Island / Atlantis	$15–$20, plus a small bridge toll
Nassau airport (LPIA)	$36–$42

Each extra rider beyond two typically costs a few dollars more. A late-night surcharge applies after midnight. The Bahamian dollar trades one to one with the U.S. dollar, and both are accepted everywhere on the island. There’s no reason to change money before a taxi ride or anything else.

Prices are approximate, current as of publication, and change frequently — confirm the latest price with the retailer before buying.

Nassau Bahamas Travel Tips

Do you need a passport to visit Nassau?
Yes. The State Department’s Bahamas entry page confirms U.S. citizens need a valid passport for air travel. Cruise passengers can typically use a WHTI-compliant ID instead. No visa is required for a stay under a month.

Is Nassau safe for tourists?
The tourist areas around downtown, the cruise port, and Paradise Island see heavy foot traffic and are generally fine during the day. Keep an eye on bags in crowded spots like the Straw Market. Take a taxi instead of walking after dark, the same as any port city.

How many days do you need in Nassau?
One full day covers the beach, the old town, and a meal at the Fish Fry. Two or three days lets you add Atlantis and a boat trip to Blue Lagoon Island or Rose Island, without rushing any of it.

Can you walk to the beach from the Nassau cruise port?
Yes — Junkanoo Beach is a walk of about ten to fifteen minutes from the docks, making it the easiest beach to reach without a taxi.

What currency does Nassau use?
The Bahamian dollar, pegged one to one with the U.S. dollar. Both currencies are accepted everywhere, so there’s no need to exchange money for a short trip.

If Nassau is one stop on a bigger cruise, sort out your packing before you leave home. Our cruise packing list covers what actually earns space in the bag for a trip like this, reef-safe sunscreen and water shoes near the top of it.

Published October 3, 2026.