Description: My husband and I booked a week diving in Tobago and split the time so that we had 4 nights at the Toucan Inn and then had to move to the sister hotel - Inn on the Bay - because someone had booked the entire hotel for his 40th birthday party and was flying over family and friends. I suppose that's proof positive that some people love this hotel. I quite liked it but not the extent that I'd drag my family over to stay there and I probably wouldn't rush back for another go.
The hotel is near to the airport - about a 4 minute transfer in a car or you can walk there in 20 minutes. It's on a quiet residential street and there's not much around other than a small parade of shops at the end of the road where you can stock up on beer, ice cream and sun cream and get conned by locals who know every scam in the book. We tended to stay in the hotel in the evenings because we didn't feel very secure wandering around after dark. There's also a couple of fast food places if you don't want to find a restaurant or eat at the Toucan.
The hotel has a great reputation for its restaurant which is called 'Bonkers' and is named after the hotel's tame toucan who lives in a large cage with another bird and squawks a lot. The restaurant is semi-open air with ceiling fans and a straw roof and the food is good although the service is on Tobago-time (i.e. really slow) so if you are in a hurry, nip down the road for a takeaway. The prices are around £10 a head for two courses with beer and water and the restaurant is always busy with both locals and tourists. The cocktails are famous across the entire island. Breakfast is good, freshly cooked and there's lots of it.
There are two types of rooms - those set around a sort of courtyard and pool-side huts. We had a courtyard room which wasn't as pretty as the poolside rooms but was much quieter - especially at night when the bands playing by the pool would have driven us crazy. Our room was of moderate size with a seating area and a large bed and a small terrace outside. The room had air conditioning and a good bathroom which was clean but basic and had a nice strong shower.
We paid very little for the holiday so we didn't expect a lot. The nearest little town is quite busy and there are lots of restaurants but it's was so hot and humid so we didn't tend to venture too far and having gone for the diving (which was excellent) we were mostly too exhausted to want to do much else after diving every morning. If we went again (and the diving was so good that I'd be tempted) we'd probably hire a rental car because there was very little to do in the area where we stayed and all organised tours seemed to be very expensive. Not having transport also restricted our options for eating out.
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