Essential Bahamas: Top Experiences You Can't Miss

There's more to the Bahamas than sun, sand and waves.

There's more to the Bahamas than sun, sand and waves. With hundreds of islands and thousands of cays, each more beautiful than the next, the Bahamas are teeming with things to do, whether you're feeling adventurous and want to try your hand at kiteboarding or would rather spend an afternoon hitting the links at an award-winning golf course. If you're considering staying at one of the many luxury vacation rentals in the Bahamas, here's just a taste of the many things you can do during your getaway:

Junkanoo: Boxing Day Parade

Thinking about skipping out of the cold winter months and heading south? Every year on December 26, the streets of the city of Nassau come alive with the sights and sounds of ornately dressed dancers and intricately decorated floats for the Junkanoo parade. Tracing back to West African tradition, the parade celebrates the end of slavery, and while numerous locations around the Bahamas will be buzzing with festivities, no other parade will be as big as the procession in Nassau. The parade has become so popular that the city holds two more during the year - one on New Year's Day and the other in the middle of the summer.

Kiteboarding in the Exumas

The beauty of the Bahamas reaches another level in the Exumas, a glittering archipelago of more than 350 cays and islands located about 35 miles southeast of Nassau. To get there, you can easily charter a boat or small plane that will land just about anywhere you desire. Once you're on an island, you can either while away the hours laying on the beach, or, if you're feeling adventurous, you can give kiteboarding a go. Although kiteboarding is rather difficult, once you manage to catch the wind, the experience is nothing short of exhilarating. If it's particularly gusty out, you may even catch some air!

SCUBA Diving in Andros

You may find yourself taking home a unique sand dollar when you visit Andros, the largest but most sparsely populated island in the Bahamas. The waters surrounding the island are among the most impressive in the entire country, attracting divers from around the world to don their fins and oxygen tanks for what could be the best underwater adventure of their lives. Andros is home to the world's third-largest barrier reef, giving you the opportunity to see thousands of fish and sea creatures.

Grand Bahama's Fish Fry

Every Wednesday night, Smith's Point, a small village on the island of Grand Bahama, hosts an exciting fish fry that just about everyone attends. Locals and visitors alike flock to the seaside market, where eagerly line up to try the catch of the day, whether it's lobster, snapper or grouper fish. The air permeates with the smell of fried fish, and each are battered with a secret Bahamian recipe. Be sure to stay late - locals love dancing probably as much as they love their seafood.

Are you interested in luxury vacation rentals?  Contact Villas of Distinction today at 800.289.0900where a qualified villa expert will help you explore which luxury villa best suits your lifestyle.