Grand Cayman Island One Day Itinerary
The Cayman Islands is a chain of three islands in the Caribbean. People flock to the Cayman Islands for the warm climate, the tropical island vibes, and the spectacular beaches. Grand Cayman is a popular cruise ship destination. If, like us, you visit Grand Cayman for just one day, we’ll show you what you can see and do on a bus tour of the West Bay of Grand Cayman Island.
Quick Cayman Islands Facts
The Cayman Islands is an island chain south of Cuba, west of Jamaica, and east of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Cayman Islands are a self-governing British territory. As such, the islands have a distinct British feel to them, from architecture, dialect, and government. And yes, residents drive on the left side of the road.
Three islands, Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, and Cayman Brac comprise the island chain. Grand Cayman is the largest and most populated of the three islands. Grand Cayman is home to the capital city of Georgetown.
Most people visiting Cayman Islands will arrive on Grand Cayman.
Arriving at Grand Cayman by Cruise Ship
Grand Cayman does not have a harbor suitable for cruise ships. Coral reef surrounds the island. As such, cruise ships anchor away from Georgetown and then tender boats traverse the waters from the ships to Georgetown. Once landing at Georgetown, passengers find a plethora of souvenir shops and restaurants at the drop off point.
From here, you can venture further into Georgetown. Or, you can catch a shore excursion. This is what our family did.
We booked a bus tour of Grand Cayman’s West Bay. The tour, took us around Georgetown. From there, we made four stops – at Conch Shell House, Tortuga Rum Company, Hell (yes, we took a bus trip to Hell and back), and finally Seven Mile Beach.
Here’s the one-day itinerary of stops on Grand Cayman’s West Bay.
First Stop: Conch Shell House
After driving through Georgetown and learning some of it’s history and governmental structure from our bus driver/tour guide, we stopped at Conch Shell House.
Yes, it is a house covered in conch shells. The house built in the 1930s has 4000 conch shells embedded within the home. The home was restored in 2006.
You cannot tour inside the home, as it now serves as a business. But you can walk around the perimeter of the home, snap a few pictures, and read some faded informational placards about the home.
Second Stop: Tortuga Rum
After visiting the conch shell home, we re-boarded our bus and headed to Tortuga Rum.
There was some miscommunication. The first location was closed on the day of our tour. So we went off the map (so to speak) landing at a second location in the West Bay.
I’m not sure what we missed with the first location closure. But, our alternate location, right on the sea, was a fun stop for pictures.
Rum was maybe the most sought after commodity in the Caribbean during the 1600 to 1800s. And pirates did patrol the sea.
Tortuga Rum plays to that history with pirate statues and historic cannons on site.
Of course, you can sample the rum cake, and purchase them too.
Our family did not spend a lot of time within the shop, but did venture out to the back patio area and walked toward the sea while waiting for other tourists to make their purchases.
After we loaded back on the bus, we were ready to head to Hell.
Third Stop: Hell
As a family, we thought it fun to say that we had been to Hell and back. I know many people head to this small area within the West Bay to say the same thing.
Hell gets its name from the black limestone formations in this boggy part of the island. How it got its name is a matter of some debate, However, it most likely got the name when a British Commissioner turning the region, saw the bizarre rock formations and allegedly claimed, “My God, this must be what Hell looks like.”
However, it got it’s name, the Cayman Island residents have milked the name for all it’s worth.
While visiting, you can get your passport stamped for a $1 fee. You can mail a postcard from the Hell Post Office. You can purchase merchandise proclaiming your trip to Hell and back.
It’s very kitschy. Frankly, I grew a little tired with the number of ways shop vendors could make jokes using the word Hell.
The limestone formations themselves are marvelous to see and take pictures of.
I enjoyed seeing the cobwebs knit within the rocks.
We also witnessed fish swimming the the boggy water.
We witnessed many birds flying and resting on the razor sharp formations. And we saw how nature manages to make a way in the most extreme conditions when spotting shrubs and trees growing among the rocks.
Final Stop: Seven Mile Beach
Our fourth and final stop was a short visit to Seven Mile Beach. The world renown beach is where the rich and famous come. Most of Cayman’s high end resorts span the seven mile stretch of West Bay beach.
Unfortunately, our stop at Seven Mile Beach was a short 20-minutes, leaving us little time to do much more than take pictures or pull off our shoes and walk quickly through the sand.
I think our family would have preferred spending a little more time at the beach.
Unfortunately, the tour had reached its end. So we re-boarded the bus for our trip back to Georgetown.
Final Thoughts on the Bus Tour
We did enjoy the bus tour and a few spots along the west bay district. However, our family found the tour underwhelming. Often, we spent too much time as some spots (Conch Shell House and Tortuga Rum) and far too short a time at Seven Mile Beach. I also think the time allotted for Hell is too long for what is available in the region. There truly is not a lot to see and do here.
When booking our shore excursion, we thought this would be a fun way for our family to see a few unique places on the island. However, I think we would have been better served by booking an excursion to just one location where we could really feel like we had a full experience.
I am, however, pleased we took a mini-tour of the island during our short stop over at Grand Cayman. We did get to see a lot and learn a good deal about the Cayman Islands too.
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