Bimini Beaches: Which One to Pick From the Cruise Port

Bimini’s beaches start at the gangway. The free public beach is at the landward end of the Resorts World Bimini pier, and the resort tram’s last stop drops you there. The rest, Radio Beach, Blister Bay and Spook Hill Beach, form one continuous west-facing strip about two miles south, reached by taxi or golf cart.

Bimini beaches compared: distance from the ship, cost and what is there

Short version: Blister Bay for quiet sand and snorkelling straight off the beach, Radio Beach for food, bars and the safest swim, Paradise Beach at the pier if your time ashore is tight, and a resort day pass if you want a lounger, a pool and a toilet without planning anything.

Bimini beaches map

Each pin shows how far that place is from the nearest cruise pier. Tap a pin for directions.

• Resorts World Bimini Cruise Port PierWhere ships dock
• Paradise Beach (Kayy’s Beach)Beach · About 4 km from Resorts World Bimini Cruise Port Pier
• Spook Hill BeachBeach · About 1 km from Resorts World Bimini Cruise Port Pier
• Shell BeachBeach · About 6 km from Resorts World Bimini Cruise Port Pier
• Fisherman’s VillageShops · About 1 km from Resorts World Bimini Cruise Port Pier

Where the ship docks at Bimini, and how the tram works

Resorts World Bimini Cruise Port has one berth on North Bimini and takes a single ship a day, so no second sailing turns up to share the sand. There’s no tendering: the ship ties up and you walk off. What you walk down is a wide, flat, paved pier that is long, entirely unshaded and has nowhere to sit.

A free tram runs from the pier into the Resorts World complex every 10 to 15 minutes, with ramps fitted and room for wheelchairs. It calls at Fisherman’s Village for the shops, then the resort and casino, then the free beach at the end of the line. Take it even for the short hops.

There are no buses and no rental cars on the island. Golf carts are the other option: ABC Golf Cart Rental at Resorts World Bimini on King’s Highway hands over a four-seater or a six-seater for the day, while vendors at the port rent on the spot at whatever the day’s rate is, from older and cheaper to nearly new and not.

Pay cash, check the tyres, brakes and reverse before you drive off, and take the vendor’s number in case it dies. Getting around the Bimini cruise port covers the rest.

Paradise Beach: the free public beach at the end of the pier

Entry to the beach at the end of the tram line is free. It’s the only beach on Bimini that can’t make you late, because you can see the ship from the sand.

It’s also known as Kayy’s Beach. It sits past the Virgin beach club and the pool.

The sand is free; the seats are not. Chairs and umbrellas here are hired by the set rather than per person, and a set can cost more than a day pass at the resort, so price both before you commit. A food truck serves the beach for a fee.

Two things to plan around. Shade comes from trees and umbrellas, not natural cover.

Toilets are the weak spot here, though the port has portable stalls on the public beach at the end of the pier. The stretch just past Resorts World trades as Pablo’s Bimini Tropical Experience, with free entry, chair and umbrella hire and tropical drinks. Cruise lines sell it as a beach day excursion.

Watch the name. The port operator has marketed a two-mile “Paradise Beach” as part of Resorts World, which is not the same place as the free public beach at the end of the tram line. If a driver or a tour desk says Paradise Beach, ask which end of the island.

Radio Beach in Alice Town: two miles, a few dollars a head, the best swim

Radio Beach is the main public beach in Alice Town. It’s free to walk onto, with food shacks and bars along the road edge and vendors working the sand.

It’s about two miles from the pier, seven to ten minutes by taxi, and the fare is a few dollars a head each way. Fares are per person, not per cab, so a family of four pays four ways.

The swimming is why it beats the pier beach. A reef offshore softens the current, the shallows are largely wave-free, the bottom is sand and the slope is gentle.

That adds up to one of the safest swims in the Bahamas. Snorkellers work the rocky reef at the north end.

It faces west, so it doubles as the island’s sunset beach, with the ship visible in the distance and the grounded Gallant Lady freighter offshore.

Set expectations at local beach rather than resort beach. Chair and umbrella hire is run by whoever is working that stretch, so what you get varies: a single chair, a pair with an umbrella, or a cabana with three loungers for the day.

All cash, all negotiable. Some spots have restrooms and outdoor showers, some don’t.

You’ll see litter, flies around the shacks, chairs held together with zip ties and slow service, and drinks aren’t cheap.

Eat from the shacks along the road edge: conch fritters, jerk fish, conch wraps. A bar sits across the street and a coconut seller sometimes works the sand.

Blister Bay: the quiet end of the same sand, with snorkelling off the beach

Blister Bay is in Bailey Town on North Bimini. It’s not a separate island or a water-taxi ride: it’s the same almost continuous two-mile stretch of west-facing beach as Radio Beach and Spook Hill, further along, where the crowd thins out. You reach it by the same taxi from the pier.

Entry is free and the hire is the cheapest on the island. A local vendor rents two chairs and an umbrella by the set, cash only, and keeps the sand raked and the seaweed cleared. A second outfit, Bimini Link, hires the same set and sells a VIP package with a cooler, a Bluetooth speaker and a tent upgrade for a little more.

The reason to choose it is the water. Calm, good visibility, fish close to shore, stingrays and parrotfish over sand you can stand on: no boat, no tour, no guide.

Shade is limited to umbrellas and the trees near the road. Seaweed can still come in.

There’s cornhole and beach volleyball on the sand, with conch salad for sale. What’s under the surface is covered in this Bimini water sports and marine life guide.

Spook Hill Beach: shallow water and no facilities

Spook Hill Beach sits in Porgy Bay beyond Radio Beach, named for its closeness to the local cemetery and the memorial park. The water is shallow, there are no high waves and it stays clear, which makes it the pick for families with small children and for snorkellers who want flat water.

Go with everything you need. There are no proper facilities on the beach.

You may find a snack bar and pop-up beach bars, but don’t count on a toilet. A few bars and restaurants in the area have bathrooms.

The beach is lined with pine trees and narrows at high tide, so carry water and shade, and treat a toilet as something you find rather than something that’s there.

Resorts World day passes and Virgin’s Beach Club at Bimini

Two different things get sold as the Bimini beach club, and which one you can buy depends on which ship is alongside. Virgin Voyages’ Beach Club at Bimini is the adults-only club inside the Resorts World complex, with its own lagoon pools.

On a Virgin call it’s included in your fare: beach, loungers, umbrellas, towels, both pools, food, soda and water, wifi, lockers, showers and changing rooms, a DJ, morning yoga and the tram. Alcohol and premium drinks go on your band.

Cabanas, the Mermaid Hideaway and shore excursions are extra. Nobody else gets in on a Virgin day and no day passes are sold, so Virgin sailors should read this guide to the Beach Club at Bimini for cabana tiers and how the club is laid out.

On days when no Virgin ship is in, the same club is run for other lines and sold as a day pass, through your cruise line or at the property, with food and drink extra. Royal Caribbean sells a Resorts World Pool & Beach Experience as an excursion, usually for more than the gate price. Paying at the door with a card works.

A pass covers beach and pool access with a lounger and umbrella plus the changing facilities. It doesn’t cover food, cocktails, or cabanas, which carry a minimum spend in the hundreds and are priced separately again through Virgin. Move for the shade: the best spots go first, so be off the ship early if you haven’t booked one.

Doing it yourself or buying a shore excursion

The excursion premium mostly buys transport and a guaranteed sunbed. A taxi charged per person plus chair hire on the sand costs a fraction of what the ship charges for the same day, and you choose when to leave.

A day out with food and drink on the island runs from modest to pricey depending on how many cocktails you put away. A do-it-yourself day on a public beach runs from free to a few dollars.

Paying wins in four cases: a short call where hunting for a taxi costs you beach time, a young family who need a lounger and a toilet sorted, a group carrying no cash, and anyone who’d rather not watch the clock. If that’s you, book a Bimini beach excursion before you sail and have the transfer and the lounger waiting.

Cash, cards and what to carry ashore

Bring cash. Chair and umbrella hire, beach vendors and the conch shacks take notes only, and ship cards and bar tabs do not work off resort property.

Don’t plan on finding a cash machine you can use, and don’t assume a foreign card will work. Treat Bimini as cash-first and come ashore with what you need rather than planning to draw it there.

Pack for heat and glare rather than for a resort. The pier has no shade and nowhere to sit, so a hat and a cover-up matter for the walk alone.

The ground between the taxi and the water is roadside, sand and unpaved, with very few proper pavements. Wear shoes you can walk a mile in and carry the flip-flops.

Shade on the public beaches is umbrellas and roadside trees and nothing else. Pack reef-safe sunscreen rather than buying it ashore, and add a dry bag for cash and phones, a quick-dry towel, and repellent if you plan to stay for sunset, when the sandflies come out.

Getting back to the ship before all-aboard

Bimini is a small island with one long pier, and the return is the part people get wrong. Trams fill and the wait stretches at peak times.

Neither the last tram nor the last taxi back is posted anywhere. That’s the one irreversible mistake on the island.

The work-around: fix a return time with your driver when they drop you, take their number, and start walking back to the gangway with time in hand rather than leaving the chair at all-aboard. Virgin’s call is the long one, with the club open into the evening, often to about 7.30pm, and a beach bonfire before a midnight sailing on the Fire & Sunset Soirees itineraries.

South Bimini: Shell Beach and Tiki Hut Beach

South Bimini is the quiet island, the one with the airport. A small shuttle boat crosses in about ten minutes and runs roughly every half hour to hourly from early morning to late evening, for loose change each way. The crossing plus the transfer at each end is what usually swallows a port call.

Shell Beach sits centrally on South Bimini’s undeveloped west coast. It’s the best shelling and the most pristine sand in the group.

Tiki Hut Beach runs about two miles along the same shore. Neither has facilities worth the name.

Honeymoon Harbour, off Gun Cay, is the trip that needs a boat: a half day of around four hours that pairs the Sapona snorkel with a stingray and shark stop, meeting at Resorts World Bimini. Sellers price it per adult, and some price per group of up to seven.

The Sapona wreck itself lies in 15 to 20 feet of water with trips leaving from Bimini Big Game Club or Resorts World. It’s the best water in Bimini and it rarely fits a short call.

No clothing-optional beaches in Bimini

There are none. Public nudity, including topless sunbathing, is illegal in The Bahamas, and the country recognises no naturist or nudist beaches anywhere in the archipelago. Bimini’s sand is public and local custom is conservative, so pack swimwear you’d wear on any Bahamian family beach.

Where to eat near Bimini cruise port

Start with conch. The conch shacks line the main road through Bailey Town, a few minutes’ walk apart and cash only.

The food shacks along the road edge at Radio Beach in Alice Town do fritters, jerk fish and wraps. Fisherman’s Village is the nearest cluster of bars and restaurants to the ship, steps from the Hilton and a short walk or tram ride from the pier.

• Conch salad: chopped to order and mixed tropical style with mango and pineapple, from the roadside shacks in Bailey Town.
• Conch fritters and jerk fish: whole snapper flash-fried and finished with jerk sauce, from the shacks at Radio Beach. The flies are persistent there, so take it somewhere else to eat.
• Coco loco: rum and coconut juice served in a freshly cut coconut, from a seller on Radio Beach.
• Cracked conch, fried grouper, peas and rice, mac and cheese: the plates to order in the bars of Alice Town and Bailey Town, with a Goombay Smash to drink.

For a table and a seat rather than a shack, this Bimini restaurants and local food guide covers the sit-down side.

What to wear in Bimini for a beach day

Dress for a working beach rather than a resort one. The pier has no shade and no seating, so a hat and a cover-up earn their place before you reach any sand. The ground between the taxi and the water is roadside, sand and unpaved, so wear shoes you can walk a mile in and carry the flip-flops.

For women, a swimsuit under a loose cover-up or sundress works for the beach, the shacks and the bars. Covered shoulders make you comfortable in town.

For men, board shorts and a t-shirt, with a rash guard for snorkelling at Blister Bay. Nothing needs to be smart; everything needs to dry.

If you want more ideas, see these Bahamas cruise outfit ideas and cruise outfit ideas for men.

Best photo spots in Bimini

Your own ship from the pier, with the Welcome to Bimini sign, is the shot everyone takes and it’s hard to beat from the water’s edge. Radio Beach gives you white sand with the ship in the distance and, because it faces west, the sunset.

The grounded Gallant Lady freighter sits offshore from the same beach, and the Dolphin House Museum in Alice Town, built from shells, coins and bottles, is the one for colour.

Bimini beach FAQs

Can you walk to a beach from the Bimini cruise port?

You can walk to a free public beach from the Bimini cruise port: it sits at the landward end of the pier, and the free resort tram stops there every 10 to 15 minutes. The pier walk is flat but long and completely unshaded, so most people ride.

Is it safe to swim in Bimini?

Swimming in Bimini is safest on the west-facing beaches. Radio Beach has a reef offshore that softens the current, wave-free shallows and a sandy, gently sloping bottom. Blister Bay and Spook Hill are calmer still. Jellyfish turn up in late summer.

What is the capital of Bimini?

Bimini has no capital because it isn’t a country. Alice Town is the main settlement on North Bimini, and it’s where Radio Beach and the road-edge food shacks are.

Which Bimini beach has proper toilets and showers?

The resort side is the reliable one for toilets and showers: the beach club has changing rooms, showers and lockers. On the public sand it’s patchy, with restrooms and outdoor showers at some spots along Radio Beach and portable stalls at the pier beach.