Grand Cayman for beginners.

The basics

Fly into Owen Roberts International (GCM), rent a car, and you'll be on Seven Mile Beach in about 15 minutes.

• When to go: Winter is peak season, with highs in the low to mid 80s°F (about 28–29°C). Hurricane season runs June through November, so book travel insurance if you go then.
• Want to explore? Rent a car. You drive on the left, the speed limits are low and the roads are easy. You'll want one for the Rum Point day trip.
• Staying put on Seven Mile? Skip the rental. You can do the whole beach strip with buses and the odd taxi.
  • The bus is cheap. Public minivans cost CI$2–2.50 for a short ride (about US$2.50–3). Look for a number in a coloured circle, flag one down anywhere along West Bay Road and tell the driver where you want off. They run roughly 5 a.m.–7 p.m. on weekdays, with a thinner evening service, and they're unreliable on weekends. If you're riding to the end of a line late in the day, ask the driver if a bus is coming back.
  • Taxis fill the gaps. Figure about US$25–40 from the airport to a Seven Mile hotel for two, and US$15–25 for short hops along the beach. Grab one for dinner and leave the driving to someone else.

Money, and how not to spend all of it

The quick conversion: CI$1 = US$1.25, fixed. Flip it around and US$1 is CI$0.80. So a CI$20 cocktail is really US$25, and if a menu price looks fine, add a quarter. US cash works everywhere, but your change comes back in Cayman dollars. When you pay by card, choose Cayman dollars on the terminal; picking your home currency gets you a worse rate.

I'll be honest: Cayman is pricey. Restaurants and groceries cost noticeably more than at home. A few things I do every time:

1. Pack the basics. Customs is pretty relaxed about what you bring for your own trip. Adults can bring 1 litre of spirits, 4 litres of wine and a case of beer duty-free, plus packed snacks and staples. Michael and I have arrived many a time with nearly a case of wine between us and a suitcase full of non-perishables for the kids, with no issue. Rules change, so check the current allowances (and the rules on fresh food) before you pack.
2. Shop at Cost-U-Less. It's a Costco-style warehouse store, the place for bulk essentials. When we bring the family, we rent a condo, do one big shop there on day one and eat a lot of meals at home. Then the dinners out are the special ones.
3. Fill the gaps at Foster's in Camana Bay, and use the salad bar. It's the island's biggest supermarket, right off Seven Mile, for fresh produce, meat, seafood and everything Cost-U-Less doesn't carry. My favourite hack: don't buy a whole bottle of salad dressing you'll leave behind. Get exactly what you need from the salad bar, plus whatever veggies you want, already washed and chopped and ready to pack for the beach.
4. Get a kitchen. A condo with a kitchen pays for itself fast, especially with kids. See Where to stay.

Seven Mile Beach, with no agenda

My single best piece of advice: spend at least one full day on Seven Mile Beach with no plan at all. That's the trip.

It's actually closer to 5.5 or 6 miles long, nobody's counting, and the whole thing is public. Walk it end to end in the morning before it warms up. Swim when you're hot, nap when you're not, and get a rum punch when it feels right. The water is calm, shallow and ridiculously clear, so it's an easy beach for kids and nervous swimmers.

Where to set up:

• Seven Mile Public Beach, just south of the Kimpton Seafire: free parking, restrooms, showers, a playground and picnic cabanas. Best for families.
• Governor's Beach: quieter, with fewer vendors, shaded by seagrape trees and with coral heads close enough for beginner snorkellers.
• Cemetery Beach, at the north end: the best snorkelling from shore, with a reef a couple hundred yards out. Strong swimmers only, and bring a bright float.

Go early. The sea is usually calmest between 7 and 10 a.m., and the sand is yours. Stay for sunset. Seven Mile faces west, the sunsets are spectacular, and nobody leaves before the sun goes down. Look for the blue and white signs along West Bay Road. They mark the public paths down to the sand between hotels.

Cruise ship days

Check the cruise schedule before you plan your week. On a big day, George Town can have five ships in port and more than 25,000 extra people on the island, and Tuesdays are usually the busiest. The crowds pile into George Town, the south end of Seven Mile, Seven Mile Public Beach and Stingray City, mostly between mid-morning and about 4 p.m., when everyone heads back to the ships.

If you want the relaxed version: on ship days, stay at the north end of Seven Mile or in West Bay, or go to Spotts Beach, where you can swim near sea turtles. Book the first Stingray City boat of the morning, or go after 2 p.m. Weekends, especially Sundays, are the quietest.

George Town, if you like a little bustle

If you're cool with crowds, ship day is actually a fun time to wander George Town. It's the island's capital and the cruise port, all within a few walkable blocks of the waterfront.

• Cayman Craft Market on North Church Street, beside the Waterfront Centre: silver thatch baskets and hats, Caymanite jewellery, woodcarvings, local jams, spices and hot sauce. It's the best place for souvenirs that were actually made here.
• Hamlin Stephenson Market at the Cricket Grounds on Huldah Avenue: local produce, homemade food and island snacks, open Monday to Saturday. Locals actually shop here.
• Camana Bay Local Harvest Market, Wednesdays 10 a.m.–3 p.m., just off Seven Mile. In high season it grows into a farmers' and artisans' market along the Paseo.
• The waterfront itself: duty-free shops along the harbour, and a drink at Rackham's over the water. It fills up around 3 p.m. on ship days, so go earlier or after the ships leave.

Where I eat

Four places, four moods. Book Tillies and Pom Pom ahead, especially around sunset.

Pick by how dressed you want to get: Macabuca for a swimsuit cover-up, Cracked Conch next door for a proper dinner.

Worth leaving the sand for

Three must-dos, one perfect day trip and the dive shop I send everyone to. Even better, three of them happen on the same side of the island.

Stingray City. A shallow sandbar in the middle of the North Sound, waist-deep, where friendly southern stingrays glide right up to you. It sounds like a tourist trap. It's not. Go on a morning boat before the crowds, and shuffle your feet.

Rum Point (best day trip). Drive about an hour around to the North Side, claim a hammock and do Seven Mile's slower, sleepier cousin. The beach bar claims to have invented the mudslide, and I'm not here to argue. Build the whole day around it:

1. Starfish Point, just down the shore: shallow, calm water full of huge orange starfish. Look, photograph, and leave them in the water. Lifting them out hurts them.
2. Lunch and hammocks at Rum Point. Swim, snorkel, repeat.
3. Bioluminescent Bay after dark, if you can. Book a kayak or boat tour and every paddle stroke lights up the water. Go on a dark night near the new moon; a bright moon washes it out.

Diving with DiveTech. My best friend Joanna's place, and I'd say that even if she wasn't. I've trusted her with my life on more than one occasion, and I'm still here. DiveTech is on the quiet northwest coast in West Bay, with daily boat dives and snorkel trips, shore diving right off their dock and free pickup from Seven Mile and West Bay hotels. First-timers are in good hands.

Where to stay

Stay on Seven Mile Beach. You'll spend most of the trip on it, so you might as well wake up there.

The two condos are where the Cost-U-Less plan really pays off.

If you only have four days

Pack: reef-safe sunscreen, your own mask and snorkel, water shoes for Starfish Point, and one nice outfit for Cracked Conch. That's honestly it.

Sources: beach & transport · currency · customs allowances · buses · cruise crowds · markets. Prices and hours checked October 2026. Nothing in this guide is sponsored.