Baha Mar With Kids: Everything You Need to Know
If you’ve searched for family-friendly resorts in the Caribbean, then you have probably come across Baha Mar in Nassau.
Our family of four recently visited and it was our very first trip with our daughter at 3 months old. Our son was also 14 months old at the time of our trip, so we were traveling with young kids.
We truly had the best time! But having knowledge on what to expect ahead of time really helped. Today, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about traveling to Baha Mar with kids to help you plan your trip as well.
Disclaimer: Some of the links in this guide on traveling to Baha Mar with kids are affiliate links (including links to Amazon) providing us with a small commission if you make a qualifying purchase – at no extra cost to you. We greatly appreciate your support! As always, we share our honest opinion and everything is written by us.
About Baha Mar Resort
Baha Mar is located on Cable Beach in Nassau.
It opened in April 2017, so it’s still a relatively new resort. When it first opened, the only hotel was the Grand Hyatt. Since it’s grand opening, it has added two additional hotels, the SLS Baha Mar, and Rosewood. All three hotels are located on the resort. Guests of Baha Mar have access to everything on the property. The only exception is that the Rosewood does have a pool for Rosewood guests only.
In 2021, Baha Mar expanded even more when it added the Baha Bay waterpark. Like everything else, the waterpark is included in your stay.
Which hotel at Baha Mar is best for families?
Of the three hotels on site, the Grand Hyatt is the best for families. The SLS has a bit more of a party atmosphere and the Rosewood is the most upscale, making it great for couples. While you’d be perfectly fine staying in any of the hotels with your family, the Grand Hyatt is the best in my opinion.
We booked a standard room but we were upgraded to a one bedroom suite at checkin. The ocean view was absolutely incredible. It was really cool to watch the water color change throughout the day. I swear it was never the same color twice.
I am so glad we ended up with the one bedroom suite because trying to fit all four of us in a hotel room would have been tight. Totally doable but tight. It is worth noting, though, that we did spend more time in our room than families with older kids because of nap time. If you don’t spend much time in your room, then the size won’t matter nearly as much.
The bedroom is its own room with its own bathroom (there were two bathrooms). The bedroom itself was bigger than your standard hotel room. But we also had a living area, dining room, and kitchen. Honestly, if I could have moved in I think I would.
The couch folded out and the also had pack and plays to use.
Things to do at Baha Mar with kids
There are endless opportunities to keep you and your kids busy at Baha Mar. You can easily stay at the resort without leaving.
Baha Bay
Baha Bay is the waterpark at Baha Mar. Our kids were too young to properly enjoy the big water slides but they have splash pads and toddler-size slides.
They also have complimentary life jackets in all sizes.
The only negative is that multiple parents of older kids have told me that it was so hard to tear their kids away. While this doesn’t really sound like a bad thing, they were somewhat disappointed that they didn’t get to spend much time at the beach. So while the kids will absolutely love the waterpark, it might be hard to get them to want to do anything else.
Pro tip: if you rent lounge chairs or a daybed at the Baha Bay Beach Club, your spot is reserved there the whole day. It’s the only pool in the water park and it is private since it can only be used by those who have reservations at the Beach Club. Also, the amount you put towards the reservation is the same amount that you can put towards your food/drinks bill. We paid $250 for our day bed so we got $250 towards our food at the restaurant.
Pools
There are tons of pools at Baha Mar. The most popular, and the coolest, is Dean’s Blue Hole. There are waterfalls, 8 foot and 15 foot rock cliffs you can jump from, and a grotto you can swim under with an aquarium inside.
Cable Beach
Baha Mar is located right on Cable Beach, one of Nassau’s gorgeous beaches. The beach area at Baha Mar is pretty large, but it can get crowded. There are plenty of chairs to use and there are cabanas that you can rent as well.
The resort has water activities such as kayaks and stand up paddle boards you can borrow as well.
Sports
The resort has tennis courts if you’d like to stay active on your trip.
Kid’s Club
The Baha Mar Explorerers Kids Club is on site with set/designated 3 hour time slots (you can’t drop them off on a whim). Each session is $65 per kid. They have games, crafts, and themed activities.
Wildlife Encounters
They have a flamingo parade around the property. You can also pay for a flamingo experience where you touch and feed the flamingos. Or you can visit the flamingos anytime at Flamingo Cay, where they stay.
The Wildlife Sanctuary is there, too, which is where kids can have hands-on wildlife encounters. There are turtles, nurse sharks, and more. It’s $75 per person. It’s recommended that kids are at least 8 years old.
They also have an atrium where you can see the birds.
Get on the Water
There are plenty of tours you can book off the resort that will take you on the water or exploring around Nassau. Swimming with pigs is very popular as well as the ATV tour.
Negatives of Baha Mar with Kids
We absolutely loved our stay at Baha Mar and I’m already dreaming about going back. But there are some negatives, or at least some points to consider, before you book your family trip to Baha Mar.
Resort Size
The resort is huge. This is actually a good thing for the most part but it can be a lot of walking, which isn’t always easy with kids. Both of our kids were still in a stroller which made getting around really easy for us. The grounds are extremely stroller friendly which was a pleasant surprise.
Baha Mar is Expensive
Baha Mar is expensive. Like, really expensive. One night, our two drinks were $50. A sandwich can easily be over $20.
There is a tax and a service charge included on every single food and beverage purchase. So if you see a cocktail listed at $18, it will actually cost closer to $25 when all is said and done.
Whether or not is worth it is going to depend on your situation and preferences.
My take is that it was worth splurging. But there are things that made this an easier/cheaper vacation for us in other ways that I should disclose.
- We live in Florida so it was easy to get to Nassau (it’s a 1 hour flight from the Fort Lauderdale airport).
- We also have the Southwest companion pass so we only had to buy one plane ticket, then the other was free.
- On top of that, both of our babies were young enough to be lap babies. So our entire family flew for the cost of one plane ticket, which we paid for in points.
- We also paid for our hotel room with credit card points.
A short flight, a free flight (paid for with points), and a free hotel stay (paid for with points) makes it easy to feel like the splurging on the other stuff is worth it.
Several restaurants do offer free meals to kids aged 5 and under. This can be a great way to save at least a little bit of money. Not all of the restaurants on site do this, though, so you’ll want to double check.
Is Baha Mar worth it with kids?
Like I’ve already mentioned several times, we loved going to Baha Mar with our kids. We truly had a great time.
But kids tend to be pretty happy anywhere there is a beach, a water park, and a pool. Are those things unique to Baha Mar? Eh, not really.
So your kids would probably be just as happy anywhere.
If you book somewhere cheaper, you could avoid paying $300 dinner for a family of 4. But maybe the flights are more expensive to get somewhere else. Ultimately, it just depends on your situation.
Food at Baha Mar
I really thought that the meals at Baha Mar were incredible. They have over 20 restaurants to choose from ranging from nice sit down to a few casual restaurants and even food trucks.
I wouldn’t say that the food trucks are reasonably priced but they are definitely the cheapest option, just be aware that they close earlier than the other restaurants (around 5-6pm).
There are also a couple of Starbucks on site. You could grab a sandwich there for breakfast or lunch to save some money. A lot of people said that the lines at Starbucks were really long, but we didn’t have that experience.
If you plan on eating at any of the restaurants, you should make dinner reservations. You can do this up to 90 days in advance – you can easily do this on the Baha Mar app. When Baha Mar is busy (especially during times like spring break or holidays), they absolutely fill up and run out of reservations.
A downside is that if you get hungry and don’t have reservations, it can actually be hard to find a place to get food despite there being several restaurants. The night that the food trucks were closed earlier than we thought, we didn’t have reservations anywhere. We were able to get in to a place, but it would have been tough trying to find food otherwise.
The Baha Mar App
The hotel has its own app, which is really helpful when planning your vacation.
You can use the app to book activities and restaurant reservations (though I recommend booking restaurant reservations before you get there, more on that later).
The app also has a map, which is helpful since the resort is so big. But I will say that despite the resort being huge, we knew where just about everything was after the first day. It has a really nice layout, which I appreciated because I don’t like feeling like I’ve missed something.
How do you get to Baha Mar with kids?
Getting to Baha Mar is easy. It’s only a 15-20 minute drive to the airport. You can rent a car, get a taxi, book a driver, or use Baha Mar’s transportation.
Baha Mar’s transportation is the easiest because they have their own little office-type suite right inside the airport. They can also provide car seats for you. This option is also the most expensive at approximately $70 per way depending on your situation – if you have more people or a lot of luggage, that will impact your cost.
There are a lot of companies that will pick you up from the airport. The convenience of this is that you can book ahead of time. They also have the option to include a car seat. We were going to book a driver to take us to the hotel but ultimately decided against it after I learned that taxis are plentiful. received multiple recommendations for Cheryl’s Taxi and Tour Company. I didn’t like the idea of having to find our driver but when we landed, we saw their drivers holding signs for the people they were picking up – it actually would have been really easy. You can also hire this company to take you just about anywhere you’d like to go on the island which we would really like to do next time.
If you choose to get a taxi like we did, there will be a line of them waiting outside the airport. Someone will guide you to the right taxi for your party size. They had very large vans for bigger groups. We had our own car seats – our infant is still in her infant seat and we have the Graco Contender Slim for our toddler. Both were easily installed in the taxi.
You could also rent a car. If you just plan to hang out at the resort, you don’t need one. But if you want to explore more of Nassau, it could be nice to have.
Every option of transportation to Baha Mar will allow you to stop at a grocery store on the way to the resort for an additional fee. It’s a reasonable fee, around $5, and will still save you a lot of money to bring your own food/drinks instead of buying it all through the resort.
Other Things to Know
While the water is drinkable, it doesn’t taste good. Housekeeping was really good at replenishing the water bottles and we never needed to ask for more.
At check in, you’ll receive rubber wrist bands. These act as your room keys and also as your credit card. It was really convenient.
If you book a standard room, the only refrigerator in your room is only for for-purchase beverages. I’m told that if you even touch the alcohol, you’ll be charged. You can rent refrigerators for $50/week. If you need a fridge for medical purposes (or in our case, milk for our infant), you can get one for free. The suites have full sized refrigerators in them.
Hopefully this guide on traveling to Baha Mar with kids helped you decide whether Baha Mar is the right fit for your family. Or if you are going to Baha Mar, hopefully it made you feel more prepared for your trip.
