How to explore Bermuda like a local

“You really feel like a local, and you can get around without paying lots for taxis, at least during the day,” says Mussolini. Just remember, of course, you’re driving on the other side of the road.

The cluster of almost 200 islands, knitted together with causeways, splits into three major chunks, but it’s never more than 2 miles wide at any point. The west is where you’ll find the classic beaches, like Horseshoe Bay and Warwick Long Bay, which claims to have the pinkest sand. It’s also where Frizell’s bar sits on the 23-acre site of the 85-room Cambridge Beaches, which originally opened in the 1920s before a major overhaul for its centenary.    

Come here for adrenaline-charged water sports and book the brand-new Sunrise cottage with its own private pool and jaw-dropping sunrise views, says Frizell, who points to the countless uninhabited spits of land in and around the bay.

 “I love to throw a book in a backpack, get on a boat and sail to a deserted island, land on the beach and read there for a few hours,” he says. 

Don’t miss the Vixen, either, a shipwreck in shallow enough waters that its bow pokes out of the ocean. 

“Throw an anchor down, swim over the wreck and you’ll see fish feeding on it. It’s like they’re waiting for you to arrive.” 

Bermuda’s balmy temperatures (expect consistent 80s all summer long) make it the northernmost site in which to find coral, he adds.

The center of the island is dominated by the urban hub of Hamilton, and the offices full of insurance companies and banks — and that Pink Palace, of course. Azura is a brand-new addition to the hotel scene here, a 37-room boutique hotel that opened last summer on South Shore beach just 10 minutes away.

Kristin White, a tour guide who also runs the Long Story Short boutique, grew up here and recommends the often-overlooked beaches amid the urban hubbub, like Admiralty House Park. “Every Tuesday evening during the summer, locals go up there to jump off the cliffs,” she says.

White is now based in the east of the archipelago in the historic hub of St. George, the original colonial-era capital.

 “It feels like you’ve stepped back in time, because half of them were built before 1900 — it doesn’t look real,” she says.

If you want to overnight in the east, says White, the best option is Hillcrest, a locally owned 14-room former B&B with a buzzy pool scene right in the heart of town. Try some rockfish ribs at Wahoo’s, run by two expat Austrians, or hit Achilles for sundowners — it’s positioned perfectly looking west. 

There’s a strong Indigenous American influence here, too, thanks to enslaved people brought over from New England; tribes come to this part of the island for an annual powwow every June. St. David’s Island was  where the once off-limits American military base sat. Today, it hosts Cooper’s Island Nature Reserve.

 “It’s one of the beautiful places in Bermuda,” she swoons. “The beaches are so pristine, with thick, white, soft sand.” 

That’s one island cliché no one wants to debunk.