Renting a car, how much time to allow?

[2-laner]

We are wanting to rent a car and just drive around the island. Places we are thinking about are the lighthouse, Queen Elizabeth's garden, Rum Point, and maybe 7-mile beach if time allows. How much time should we allow ourselves? I know it can vary a lot, depending on time spent at each place, but, right now we are not sure even how big the island really is and the distance between the sights. Was hoping for a past self-driving tourist's point of view on this. As well as places they thought were well worth the visit.

[drew sailbum]

Driving one way, without stops, from George Town to Rum Point is about 45 minutes. The direct route goes right past The Lighthouse restaurant in Breakers and the (short) turn off to the QE II Botanic Park on the way to Rum Point.

 

Seven Mile Beach is a different direction from George Town than the route to Rum Point.

[Merv1]

Not sure how long you will be in port for, but about 4 years ago we rented a moped and immediately drove out to Rum Point. We spent most of our day there, (and it was leisurely, it did not feel rushed) and then had time to spend about 1 to 1 1/2 hours on 7 Mile Beach before returning the scooters. We had maybe 20 minutes/half hour to do some poking around in shops right near the pier, before getting back on the ship. Google a map of the island and then use mapquest - you should easily be able to figure out distance between points, etc. I would say it took about 45 minutes to get to Rum Point, as the other poster mentioned.

[2-laner]

We have from 7AM until 4 PM. How is traffic around the island? I assume the areas away from the city are pretty open and less traffic. But I didn't know how it was getting around 7-mile beach and the city/airport area itself.

[Merv1]

We did not find navigating the "city" difficult on the scooters, but we live in a fairly congested area in the northeast - we are used to traffic, both in town and on our highways. If I am recalling correctly, it did not take long to get out of the city, and then the drive to Rum Point was very light with traffic. Nice roads, easy to navigate, and easy to find where we needed to go. Not confusing at all. Keep in mind you will be driving on the "wrong" side of the road ... something that takes a bit of getting used to.

[mdrobtx]

We have from 7AM until 4 PM. How is traffic around the island? I assume the areas away from the city are pretty open and less traffic. But I didn't know how it was getting around 7-mile beach and the city/airport area itself.

 

You'll find your typical rush hour thru Georgetown about the time you are tendering and getting off the tender. Once you get outside of Georgetown a couple of miles it gets clear real quick.

I would suggest going out to Rum Point first. Then head back towards 7 mile and anywhere else.

We did this on our last stop in GC. We took the long way to Rum Pt. and hung out there for awhile. Drove back and checked out Hell. Then 7 mile beach.

We were there the same time schedule that you have and could have done the whole roundtrip again if we'd wanted.