Fresh off breaking my ankle in Barbados two days prior, we landed in Grenada eager to see as much as possible during our 24-hour layover. Known as the “Spice Island of the Caribbean,” Grenada is famous for growing 30% of the world’s mace, as well as nutmeg and cinnamon. It is also known for having one of the nicest beaches in the Caribbean (Grande Anse) and a lush jungle interior packed with waterfalls.

Umbrellas

For our first & only dinner in Grenada, we headed to Umbrellas, a multi-story restaurant on the water. I hobbled up a few flights of stairs to the rooftop, where we sipped on passion fruit margaritas and rum old fashioneds, and ate conch ceviche (aka ‘lambi sousse’) and BBQ sliders.

Grande Anse Beach

The next day before heading to the airport for our flight to Saint Lucia, we checked out of our Airbnb, hopped in a cab with our bags and beelined to the beach. Grande Anse is only a 15-min drive from the airport, so this Gatorade-blue-water beach lined with restaurants, bars and shops is a very convenient layover destination. We scored a couple loungers right along the water, and ordered buckets of local beer.

West Indies Beer Company

Since we’re always on the hunt for chill places to play a few rounds of Monopoly Deal, we cabbed it over to this local brewery for an hour before our flight. This place had the best of breweries (dogs lounging, good food) and none of the worst (sorry, babies).

Waterfalls

We didn’t make it to any of the inland waterfalls (see: broken ankle), but we heard that the best one was Seven Sisters. How do we know? On Grande Anse, I tried to lie about how I broke my ankle because the truth was too boring.  I went with “climbing a waterfall!” only to be met with “oh, which one?” and me immediately fessing up that I was lying. Note to self for next time: do the research for the lie.

More for Next Time

With non-stop flights from Boston on JetBlue, Grenada is a spot I’ll definitely come back to — but probably not until after I’ve finished 50 Before 50. Here are a few things that came up in my research but we didn’t have time to do:

• Silversands: Super luxe resort on Grande Anse that gives me Turks & Caicos vibes.
• St Vincent & the Grenadines: An easy flight away is this laidback island country with more gorgeous beaches.