The Royal Naval Dockyard

Description:

• The Dockyard, with its Bermuda Maritime Museum, is the number one tourist attraction on Bermuda. Even if you plan to spend all your precious Bermuda time on the pink sandy beaches, try to schedule at least a half-day to check it out.

  The Royal Naval Dockyard has been transformed into a park, with Victorian street lighting and a Terrace Pavilion and bandstand for concerts. When the Bermudian government bought this dockyard, which had been on British Admiralty land, in 1953, it marked the end of British naval might in the western Atlantic. A multimillion-dollar cruise-ship dock has been built and a tourist village has emerged; today, vendors push carts filled with food, dry goods, and local crafts. There's a full-service marina with floating docks, a clubhouse, and showers. The area also houses the Bermuda Maritime Museum, the Neptune Theatre (a 118-seat cinema showing feature films two times a night, with matinees Fri-Sun; tel. 441/291-2035), the Crafts Market, and the Bermuda Arts Centre, which are all described above. The entire dockyard is closed Good Friday and Christmas Day. For more information about the Dockyard and its Maritime Museum, call tel. 441/234-1333 or visit www.bmm.bm.

  Ferries from the City of Hamilton stop at Ireland Island, at the western end of Bermuda, once each hour 7am-6pm. Fare $4 each way. (In addition to the regular ferry route, additional runs have been added to the schedule to allow visitors greater access to the Dockyard's after-dark activities; depending on the day of the week, you might still be able to catch a ferry from Hamilton to the Dockyard at 8pm and then return to Hamilton as late as 11:30pm. Call 441/295-4506 for information on these later schedules.) Buses (no. 7 or 8) leave the City of Hamilton for the Royal Naval Dockyard Mon-Sat every 15 min. 6:45am-11:45pm. The trip takes 1 hr. and costs $4.50 for adults, $1 for children 5-15, free for children 4 and under. Note: Drivers accept this exact bus fare in coins only.

• © Frommer's 2013

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Very Highly Recommended 2010