Almond Beach Village

Overall, a wonderfully friendly and relaxed atmosphere at the resort.
Good on-site security and you are not bothered too much by sellers on the beach.
Service is second to none, and the food in all the restaurants is superb.
Excellent family resort with plenty of activities to keep everyone amused.
The only thing I would say that could do with improving, is that some of the rooms would benefit from a bit of re-decorating.

We went to almond beach to get married. The wedding, the wedding coordinator and everyone involved in arranging our wedding were excellent.
The wedding day was one of the happiest days ever and it all went well. I would recommend it to anyone.
I was however disappointed with the accommodation, the room was dull and a bit of a let down. We were Howe ever upgraded at no extra cost but would not recommend the basic room.
Don’t expect any great nightlife. The bars also close at 11pm.The pools and restaurants and the entertainment were all very good. I wish though they would keep children out of the adults only pool.
Finally I would like to say something about the staff. I think the Bayan people are the happiest folk I have ever come across, it was a pleasure to meet them. The staff in the hotel were the exception, they were great.

The simple fact that there are 395 rooms at this accommodation pales into significance in the wonderful choice of your sunbed around any one of the 7 adult pools. Suddenly you forget there are so many people staying there. The whole ambience and service offered within the reef restaurant was outstanding. If you are travelling to Barbados and take my advice and choose the village then it would be a good move to upgrade to the superior beachfront rooms in St Bernards block down by the reef restaurant. Oh and the 9 hole golf course is top class too for those budding Tiger Woods out there.

We went to the Almond Beach Village last year and loved every minute of it! Don't believe any of the bad reviews before 2005, as it's all been refurbished now and looks wonderful. The rooms aren't amazingly lavish, but they are clean and functional - and anyway, you don't go to the Caribbean to sit in your room all day do you!? I'd say that was the only disappointment.
However, the rest of the hotel was marvellous. The grounds are lush, the beach is breathtaking, blue waters and gorgeous soft white sand - I would advise watching the sunrise one morning! It's never that busy even when we went in the midst of July, and lots of water sports to do like kayaking, windsurfing, waterskiing, banana boating, pedalos - and jet skiing was great too, although you had to pay for it and it’s not exactly cheap!
Very impressed with the service, especially from the girls in Enid's! Every one of the staff happy to do anything for you, nothing is too much trouble!
There are many pools to choose from but I'd say the adult over 16s pool is by far the best. But there's also loads to do for the kids - they have two pools for themselves and a kids club which I was told was brilliant!
Now to the food, there were 4 restaurants so there was a variety of cuisine to choose from which was nice! All the food was delicious and I never had any complaints. The buffet was covered from flies, lots of choices for breakfast, and there’s a mini buffet with pizza and chips etc. running throughout the day - so it's impossible to be hungry! (and very easy to put on weight - I'd watch that!)
The bars are open from early morning until late in the evening (and then if you still want a drink you can go to the nightclub) and the bartenders are a good laugh, they also knock up some brilliant cocktails, I recommend the Tequila Sunrise and Banana Daquiri. The beauty of it is that they're all free...
Anyway, if you want to get away from the hotel complex, the hotel is very good at organising excursions, the catamaran snorkelling trip is wonderful, you have a party on a catamaran with a dancing competition and lots of complimentary alcohol he he and then jumping in the waters to snorkel with the beautiful tropical fish along the reef. Also, there’s a very interesting 4x4 island tour, with an experienced tour guide who will show you the other side of the island including caves! He knows all the local info and it's well worth going on!
And if you need some pampering, you can hop on the free bus to the Spa (it’s over 16s only), it’s small but good to treat yourself a little.
Of course there's always golf if you fancy a game, it’s only a small 9-holer but its great fun, even if you have to use special balls!
The nightlife is pretty good too, the evening entertainment finishes at about 11, and then the nightclub is open from 11-2am, and all the fun party people go there, a lot of current music is played. However the noise doesn't seem to travel to any of the rooms as it is quite far away.
Overall I have to say I was very impressed with the Almond Beach Village, I seem to have addressed everything you can do there, so next year we are going to go there again, put our feet up and relax!

Flight to Barbados was with BMI - big mistake! Virgin also fly here and I would recommend you fly with them because the service on BMI wasn't very good, but I have heard such good reports from other holiday makers who went with virgin.
Anyway, resort was amazing. Although it was our honeymoon and the Village is a family resort, we decided not to go to the beach club and spa down the road, despite it being adults only, and what a good job we didn't! The beach club and spa is tiny compared to the Village. (For those who don't know, they are both Almond resorts but you can use the facilities at both regardless of which one you are staying at. there is a free bus that runs between the two).
The Village has everything you could possibly wish for. The adults only pools were fantastic, and the kids facilities were amazing. The food was wonderful, however my husband doesn't like what he calls 'posh' food, so we spend most of our time eating at the courtyard cafe which serves pizza, burgers and chips from 12pm until 8pm.
The only downside to the food is the fact you have to book in at the restaurant you want to go to. If you forget and ring late, you may not get in. That’s mainly why we ate at the courtyard cafe because you didn't need to book. You also don't need to book at Enid's which serves traditional Bajan cooking. The best bit was the breakfasts. Pretty much everything you could wish for, piping hot ready for you to help yourself. You don't need to book this, and its in both the courtyard cafe and the horizon restaurant.
The water sports that are provided by the hotel are amazing. The free snorkeling equipment was brilliant and well worth a go. We decided not to book the trips provided by Thomas Cook, instead we booked through the hotel and saved a fortune. We swam with turtles which was the most amazing thing i have ever done, and it was a bargain at US$ 30 each.
The currency is in either Barbados dollars or you can use American dollars, but if you do, your change is given in Barbados dollars - very confusing. The Barbados dollars works out at 2 Barbados dollars to 1 American dollar and the prices are usually listed in both currencies, but it’s easy to work out if it isn't.
The beach towels are provided and you can change them as often as you like at the water sports centre located on the beach, or the kids centre.
I would recommend the 4x4 island tour the hotel runs. The guide knows everything about the island and you get to see bits that you wouldn't normally - even if you hire a car. The daily bus to Bridgetown is free but needs to be booked a day in advance. Its a good chance to do some duty free shopping, but there isn't much there apart from jewelry shops. There is a big department store called Cave Sheppard that sells the usual perfumes and clothes, and is worth a look.
The golf course on site is great. There are no green fees to pay, you just pay to hire the clubs, which is US$ 5 a set. As they only do men’s clubs, we only hired one set at per round, and shared them. It not only halves the cost, it means that one of you can have a rest from pulling the trolley! You can take your own and not pay anything to play, but you have to use special balls that only they sell. They are quite expensive, but the golf pro usually has a few you can buy cheaper than in the shop. They don't go as far for safety reasons but are still playable.
I would highly recommend this place, as my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed ever minute of it. But be warned - the sun is very, very strong. Unless you never burn, cover up with a lot of sun cream. I was using factor 30 and still managed to burn my shoulders. You have been warned!
My rating is only 9 because of the fact that you had to book everything in advance. I was on holiday and wanting to relax, not plan every aspect of my day. Other than that, it was perfect.

I went on my holiday with all of my family. We had been before it is the most beautiful and luxurious holiday. I have never been anywhere better.
I really enjoyed my stay. Now we will be going every year. The staff were so kind and lovely the kids club was great for our little ones free hair braiding was great they really enjoyed it. Thank you for such a good holiday.