Nassau and Paradise Island

Best months by our weather score: March, April, May. Daytime highs, rain and sunshine are 2016–2025 averages at Lynden Pindling International Airport (Open-Meteo historical weather archive); sea temperatures are 2022–2025 averages for the nearest sea area (Open-Meteo marine archive). Months marked in the storm row fall in the Atlantic hurricane season (June 1 to November 30); the score takes that risk into account.

Gateway airport

Lynden Pindling International Airport (NAS)

US nonstops

ATL, AUS, BNA, BOS, BWI, CLT, DCA, DEN and 15 more

Distance

2,520 mi from Los Angeles, 1,099 mi from New York

Passport

Needed for US citizens

Hotel, one night

$119 on Jan 13, 2027 · $100 on Jul 14, 2027 (Nassau (New Providence))

Visitors a year

1,228,991 overnight visitors (2025), plus 6,084,224 cruise passengers

Bringing a dog

Possible: Department of Agriculture import permit (US$10 plus 12% VAT, $11.20) that travels with the dog, plus a veterinary health certificate showing active rabies immunity; no quarantine is listed.

Hotel prices: Cheapest room for 2 adults, 1 night, in a property Google Hotels classes 3-star or better, sorted by lowest price, total with taxes and fees as Google shows it, Google Hotels (Kayak's hotel results load only in a browser and could not be read automatically), checked 2026-10-20. Cheapest: The Oasis retreat in January, Sun Fun Hotel in July; big Cable Beach and Paradise Island resorts cost far more.. Visitor figures: Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Research and Statistics: Stopover Visitors by Major Islands 1974-2025 and Cruise Visitors by Island Summary 1989-2025.

Go if you want short flights, a big resort and a full activity menu. Teenagers get a water park, snorkel boats and day trips; parents get direct flights from most large US cities.

Skip it if your idea of the Bahamas is an empty beach. Downtown and the beaches nearest the cruise pier fill on ship days. Exuma is the quiet alternative, and Turks and Caicos has the calmer beach.

• Paradise Island is resort country, with Atlantis and Cabbage Beach. It is the most expensive area.
• Cable Beach, west of downtown, has the big beachfront resorts and the casino.
• Downtown Nassau and Junkanoo Beach are the cheapest. With taxes, Courtyard by Marriott Nassau Downtown/Junkanoo Beach was $207 and British Colonial Nassau $219 on July 14, 2027.

The very cheapest 3-star-rated rooms on Google Hotels were small inns: The Oasis retreat at $119 on January 13, 2027, and Sun Fun Hotel at $100 on July 14, 2027. Colony Club Inn and Suites was $167 in January and $126 in July. Check exactly where a cheap room is before booking; the State Department asks visitors to stay alert in the Over the Hill area south of Shirley Street.

Cabbage Beach on Paradise Island is long, wide and sandy, but it faces open water and can have waves and currents; watch for warning flags. Cable Beach is a long resort beach with generally gentler water. Junkanoo Beach, beside downtown, is convenient but crowded on cruise days. On the quieter west end, Love Beach has snorkeling close to shore.

None of them are bad. None of them are the Bahamas at its best either, so we score Nassau 7 out of 10 for beaches.

The big draw is Atlantis, with its water park, aquariums and marina on Paradise Island. In town, climb the Queen's Staircase to Fort Fincastle, walk past the pink colonial government buildings, and visit Fort Charlotte. If you are in town on Boxing Day or New Year's Day, the Junkanoo parades take over Bay Street.

Nassau is also the launch point for day trips to the Exuma Cays by boat or small plane, where visitors swim with the pigs at Big Major Cay. Add snorkel trips to Rose Island and you have several full days. We score things to do 7 out of 10. Prices vary by operator and we did not verify them.

One warning: the State Department says watercraft are poorly regulated, reports sexual assaults by jet ski operators, and bars US government staff from renting jet skis from independent operators on New Providence and Paradise Island. Use resort-run or licensed operators.

Winter and spring are dry and breezy, and they are the peak for both stopover visitors and cruise ships. Summer is hotter, more humid and cheaper. The climate table below shows each month.

The Bahamas lie in the Atlantic hurricane belt, where the season runs June 1 to November 30 and peaks around September 10, according to NOAA's National Hurricane Center. Our hurricane season guide explains the risk.

Fly into Lynden Pindling International (NAS). Wikipedia's airline table lists nonstops from Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Miami, New York JFK, Newark, Orlando, Philadelphia and Tampa, and seasonal service from Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Detroit, LaGuardia, Minneapolis and both Washington airports. Southwest adds Austin and Nashville, and Breeze adds Raleigh/Durham, in June 2027.

You need a passport valid for your whole stay with 2 blank pages, plus a return or onward ticket. No visa is needed for stays of one month or less. Our passport guide has the full list of rules.

The Ministry of Tourism publishes island splits. In 2025, Nassau and Paradise Island received 1,228,991 of the Bahamas' 1,838,168 stopover visitors, down from 1,349,311 in 2024. Exuma's airport received 69,437 foreign air arrivals, and Exuma had no first-port cruise visits. The two figures are measured differently, but the gap is clear: Nassau's stopover count is about 18 times Exuma's air arrivals, and Nassau takes the cruise traffic.

If you want both, fly into Nassau and add a few nights in Exuma; Bahamasair and Western Air both fly Nassau to George Town.

Nassau has the widest price range in the Bahamas. With taxes and fees, the cheapest 3-star-rated rooms on Google Hotels were $119 on January 13, 2027 and $100 on July 14, 2027, both at small inns. A branded downtown hotel such as the Courtyard by Marriott ran $207 in July. Beachfront resorts on Cable Beach and Paradise Island cost much more, and we did not price them for this page.

Budget separately for the things you came for. Water-park access, Exuma day trips and snorkel boats are sold by operators at changing prices, so compare current rates before you book. One way to keep the total down is to sleep downtown and spend the savings on one or two big days out. For other cheaper picks, see our cheap islands ranking.

Bites of Nassau Food and Walking Tour

Tastings, a cocktail and a guide are included. It is a walking tour in the heat of downtown, starting on Parliament Street.

3 hours

4.9★★★★★★★★★★(3,275 reviews)

Reserve

Rating as shown on Viator

Nassau: Snorkeling, Pig Beach, Swim with Turtles, and Lunch

Lunch and rum drinks are included, but the pig interaction itself costs $30 extra per person, and hotel pickup is not included. These are Nassau-area pigs, not the original Exuma pigs.

5.5 hours

4.8★★★★★★★★★★(1,073 reviews)

Reserve

Rating as shown on GetYourGuide

Original Exuma Powerboat Adventures

Lunch, an open bar, snorkel gear, pickup and gratuities are included; towels are not. The ride is about an hour each way and hard on backs in a chop.

Full day

4.7★★★★★★★★★★(550 reviews)

Reserve

Rating as shown on Viator

Booking through these links supports this site at no cost to you. Prices move by date, so we do not print them here; the official prices we checked are in the page above.