A brand new country in the Caribbean named Trinidad and Tobago. It has much to offer tourists looking for a pleasant place to stay in tropical splendor.
At the crossroads between North and South America, they offer a variety of flora and fauna that is normally only found in a large area. Trinidad is crossed by a chain of steep mountains and surrounded by a necklace of beaches.
The melting pot in which Trinidad’s population has been melted has been fed by three major contributions: those from Africa, India, and Europe.
One of the basic characteristics of this part of the land is that you can find British society with French and Spanish variants in Trinidad and Tobago. Moreover, one of the best carnivals is celebrated here with the name Trinidad Carnival 2023.
Africa is at the origin of the music and the specific dances of Trinidad and Tobago; the influence of the East is found in the architecture and the craft tradition animating the colorful bazaars of Port-of-Spain.
Trinidad is less than four and a half hours from New York and less than eleven and a half hours from London by jet. Most major international airlines include it in their scheduled services.
The Trinidad-Tobago route is operated several times a day at a regular rate by British West Indian Airways and by two modern steamers that make the crossing in six hours. Finally, Port-of-Spain is one of the favorite ports of call for cruises in the Caribbean.
The latest addition to Trinidad’s tourist network is the air-conditioned Hilton Hotel on the side of a mountain overlooking Port-of-Spain, which was opened in the summer of 1962. Hotel prices in Trinidad and Tobago are reduced by about 15% between mid-April and mid-December.
Palaces and greenhouse plants
In Port of Spain, you can visit Savannah’s mosques, Hindu temples, and Victorian gingerbread mansions. In this 200-acre park, cricket, field hockey, soccer, and rugby matches are played year-round, and horse races are held in June and December.
Shopping provides a welcome diversion, and there are good opportunities: English woolens and china, French perfumes, Oriental jades, silks, jewelry, liquors, saris, and locally made wood and straw goods.
Evenings are filled with the sounds of steel band, calypso, and limbo, typical Trinidadian folk art forms. The cuisine is Creole, but visitors can choose from various American, European, and Chinese restaurants in addition to their hotel dining room.
Trinidad and Tobago is committed to preserving its way of life as an independent country. Carnival remains a spontaneous celebration rather than an organized spectacle, and this authenticity is a big part of the appeal to visitors.
You can find excellent Trinidadian rums for as little as $2.50 (W.I.) a bottle, and the world-famous angostura costs no more than 35 cents (W.I.). With Trinidad Carnival 2023 packages, you may get even more discounts from your hotel.
Trinidad is a veritable hothouse of tropical plants that compete across the countryside. The Botanical Garden of Port-of-Spain has gathered these natural treasures in a way that satisfies aesthetics and science.
The island has over 3,000 kilometers of good roads. Guided tours are available, and you can find self-drive cars for rent. Maracas-Bay, about 20 kilometers from Port of Spain, is especially popular.
Three hours are enough by the Skyline highway. Cut through the gorges and the plantations, and it descends to Maracas, a semicircular bay ideal for bathing and picnics. The highway goes 9 kilometers beyond Las Cuevas, another popular beach.
The eastern coast of Trinidad is a series of beaches where it can swim. Swimmers who prefer fresh water will splash around at the Blue-Basin, fed by a waterfall and only 15 kilometers from Port-of-Spain.
In the footsteps of Robinson Crusoe
The trip from Trinidad to Tobago and back costs $24 (W.I.) by air and $13 by sea. You can make the trip during the day and get a glimpse of Tobago.
But it takes a little longer to savor its paradisiacal atmosphere. The island is said to have inspired Daniel Defoe, and it has not changed much since the days of Robinson Crusoe.
There are nine hotels and guesthouses in Tobago. In all, two hundred and four rooms. The largest hotel has only fifty rooms. Prices vary from $9 to $25 (W.I.) in summer, per person per day with a bath, all meals included, and from $12 to $45 (W.I.) in winter.
Meals are necessarily taken at the hotel because there are no restaurants on the island. The cuisine is American or European, but local specialties – especially fish dishes and the famous calaloo soup – are also served.
You can dress as you like. In the evening, there is dancing in at least one of the hotels. Steelband music, calypso serenades, and limbo contests are the place’s specialties.
Tobago is only 40 kilometers long and has 320 kilometers of paved roads. Coconut and cocoa plantations are perched in the mountains. Like Robinson Crusoe, tourists can spend most of their time on the island’s beaches: bathing, underwater swimming, spearfishing, and catching midnight lobsters.
Small boats can be rented for fishing or exploring the coral reefs. One of the main attractions of Tobago is the Bucco Reef, one of the most famous places in the world for underwater fishing.
Independence and calypso
Independence is the new theme that inspires composers in Trinidad, the birthplace of calypso. The latest songs reflect a whole range of patriotic feelings. Everything is a subject of inspiration for the calypsonians: politics, great people, love. Calypso was initially a form of popular music.
It sets to music, in an easy-to-remember rhythm, the events of the day and generally bears the mark of spontaneous inspiration. Among the most famous calypso tunes: Rum and Coca-Cola and the immortal It was love, love alone, that forced King Edward to give up his throne.
Trinidad Carnival 2023
Just before Trinidad Carnival 2023, a great agitation takes hold of the calypso composers in January and February. They sing their works in large halls called “tents,” and the one chosen by the judges on Fat Sunday will be crowned King of Carnival.
The calypso stars enjoy enormous prestige, and their names are known to all. So, you must think about buying Trinidad Carnival 2023 packages if you have not visited this place during carnival before.
Trinidad’s Carnival is one of the most joyful in the entire hemisphere. Prizes are awarded for the costumes, and the spirit of invention and respect for tradition are equally rewarded.
In the background, the strains of the Steelband and other percussion instruments, popularized only since 1945, are now indelibly associated with Trinidad and Tobago. Calypso has been called the only living folk music of the British Commonwealth and is surely one of the most important elements of Carnival.
