Grand Anse Beach

Beaches & CovesSaint George,Grenada

Two and a half kilometres of pale sand on Grenada's sheltered west coast, below the red roofs of St George's, facing open sea at sunset.

September·Quiet month

Sep–Nov

The rainiest, quietest stretch: October is the wettest month and hurricane season peaks, leaving Grand Anse at its emptiest. Grenada sits at the southern edge of the storm belt where direct hits are rare, and the beachfront stays open.

Year-round Sheltered turquoise water, pale sand and sunset over open sea are here every month — the ridge behind the bay keeps the Atlantic swell off all year. The weather turns: dry December–May, wetter June–November.

Grand Anse Beach is two and a half kilometres of pale sand on the sheltered west coast of Grenada, in the parish of Saint George, below the red roofs of the capital stacked on the headland at its far end, facing open sea at sunset, and it is the island's beach, walked end to end on firm sand, drunk on at the spice market with a rum punch grated with nutmeg and left from by the whale boats that lift their passengers straight off the sand. The beach is protected from the Atlantic by the island, so everything on this coast is built facing east and the water is calm, turquoise over sand and shelving gently, with the hotels set back behind the trees in a line that the law keeps low; the vendors at the Craft and Spice Market at the beach's northern end grate fresh nutmeg over the rum punch, Grenada's own garnish from the spice the island lives on, and the walk runs the full crescent to Quarantine Point at the southern end and back, with the road above the bay giving the whole arc at once, white sand, turquoise shallows and the roofs of St George's. Hurricane Ivan in 2004 came the wrong way, from the west, and wrecked the sheltered coast that had never been hit. The seabed off the leeward coast drops away steeply, so animals that need open-ocean depths live close to the shore, and the boats run out from the sand to sperm and pilot whales that stay all year and to the humpbacks crossing on their winter passage from January to April, with dolphins on most trips. Once a year the fishing villages bring their own boats to this beach and race them at the Grenada Sailing Festival, five-metre hulls cut from local hardwood and rigged with bamboo masts, launched off the sand. The bus from the capital runs the length of the beach road, and the water is warm all year. Grand Anse is the beach a capital looks down on, and the whales are a boat ride off it.

Worth knowing

Good to know

The seaweed that fouls Grenada's Atlantic beaches almost never lands here — sargassum rides the trade winds onto the windward coast, and only an unusual westerly pushes it into this bay.
The picture everyone comes for faces north, not out to sea — from the middle of the sand, the red roofs of St. George's and the green ridge behind them close the frame.
The shade is at the back of the beach, not on it — sea grape and almond trees line the top of the sand, so midday here means a rented lounger or an early start.
The crowd stays where the hotels are — the middle and northern sections take the day-trippers; walk south toward Quarantine Point and the sand empties within a few hundred metres.

Things to do

1
Walk the full crescent to Quarantine Point
The sand curves for about two and a half kilometres and stays firm near the water, so the whole length is an easy walk out and back. Behind you rise the hills of St. George's; ahead is the headland closing the bay. In the heat of the day, take the shaded sea grape path behind the sand instead. Once a year the same beach becomes a grandstand, when crews from Gouyave, Woburn, Carriacou and Petite Martinique rig hardwood boats with bamboo masts and race them in the bay.
2
Take a nutmeg-dusted rum punch into the sunset
The vendors at the Craft and Spice Market grate fresh nutmeg over a rum punch — Grenada's own garnish, from the spice the island lives on. Carry it down to the waterline: the bay looks due west into open sea, so the sun goes down into the water with no land in the way.
3
Climb the road above the bay for the whole arc
From the slope behind the beach the crescent appears all at once — white sand, turquoise shallows, and the red roofs of St. George's stacked on the headland at the far end. It is the view that put this beach on Grenada's postcards.
4
Board a whale boat straight off the beach
Boats collect their passengers from the sand and run out to where the seabed falls away. Sperm whales and pilot whales are the regulars; a humpback is the prize. Operators are honest that nothing is guaranteed — some trips come back having seen nothing.

Watch

Nearby

12 km