Grenada Attractions

St George's

The picturesque hillside town of St George's surrounds a deep horseshoe-shaped harbor and is widely regarded as one the prettiest spots in the Caribbean. It has a charming setting, steep twisting streets and pastel-hued 19th-century Creole houses, many of them roofed with red fishscale tiles brought over as ballast on ships from Europe. Cargo vessels, cruise ships and colorfully painted wooden schooners from Carriacou dock in the busy harbor, known as the Carenage. It's surrounded by mercantile houses, warehouses and quayside cafes, then by the steeply tiered streets of St George's and, finally, backed by Grenada's lush green hills.
The winding maze of streets and alleys on the west side of the Carenage are fun to wander around; check out the policemen directing traffic at blind street corners. The Grenada National Museum in the center of town incorporates an old French barracks dating from 1704. Its hodgepodge of exhibits include fragments of Amerindian pottery, an old rum still and a grubby marble bathtub that once belonged to Empress Josephine. The hilltop Fort George, established by the French in 1705, has fine views from the harbor's western promontory across the town's red-tiled roofs and church spires and over the Carenage. In the fort's inner compound you can see the bullet holes in the basketball pole made by the firing squad that executed Maurice Bishop. The spot is marked by fading graffiti reading 'No Pain No Gain Brother.'
The late 18th century Fort Frederick protects the harbor's eastern entrance and has panoramic views of Grenada's southwestern coastline. The fort is well intact, thanks in part to a tragic targeting blunder made during the US invasion of 1983. The US intended to hit Fort Frederick but mistakenly bombed Fort Matthew, just a few hundred yards to the north, which was being used as a mental hospital at the time of the attack. Â?

Grand Anse & Morne Rouge

Grand Anse, Grenada's main resort area, is a long lovely sweep of white sand fronted by turquoise blue water and backed by hills. Throngs of vendors hawk T-shirts and spice baskets along the beach, while others offer to braid hair, so if you want total peace and quiet, cross the peninsula of Quarantine Point (once a leper colony) to the sleepy, picturesque U-shaped bay at Morne Rouge. A boat also connects the two beaches. Â?

Grand Etang Road

This road cuts across the mountainous center of the island through the Grand Etang Forest Reserve, passing close to waterfalls and a number of hiking trails. While both tortuously narrow and twisting, the road is lined with ferns, bamboo, heliconia and buttressed kapok trees, making for a rousing if formidable drive through the rainforest. Annandale Falls, close to the village of Constantine, is a 30ft (10m) waterfall in a grotto of lush vegetation with a pool beneath the falls that's deep enough for a swim. A short drive past Constantine is the Grand Etang National Park, which has some grand views of the western coast, numerous hiking trails and a crater lake. Â?

Sauteurs

The largest town on Grenada's northern coast takes its name from the French word for 'jump.' This is the site where in 1651 retreating Carib families leapt to their deaths rather than surrender to approaching French soldiers. Carib's Leap is the name given to the 130ft (40m) high coastal cliffs where the tragic event happened. From the cliff ledge you can look down on the fishing boats along the village beach and see eroded rock formations and nearby islands.