Destination: Nassau/Paradise Island, Bahamas

The verdict: Atlantis Paradise Island Resort is very accessible, but once you venture into downtown Nassau, accessibility gets iffy.

Downtown Nassau’s sidewalks are narrow and uneven, and many of the sites are only moderately accessible. Luckily, though, Atlantis Paradise Island Resort’s accessibility is excellent. The place is so huge, and offers so much to do, that you could happily spend a week there without being bored.

Bahamas Parliament Square. In the Bahamas, pink buildings are government buildings.

The sites

Atlantis Paradise Island Resort: Very accessible This gargantuan, 2,317-room resort dominates Paradise Island, which is located just over a bridge from Nassau. It’s beautiful, clean, and super-manicured: I called it “Disney World with a passport.” To some, that’s a reason not to go. It’s got none of the grit, history, or character of downtown Nassau. But when the goal is a relaxing, accessible vacation, grit isn’t always high on the list of desired attributes. Day passes to its attractions are available to people who don’t actually stay at the resort.

Paradise Island on the Atlantis Resort

The gorgeous, white-sand beach at Atlantis Paradise Island Resort

Here are some reasons Atlantis is a great disabled destination:

• All public areas of the resort are accessible.
• Zero-entry pools and beach and pool wheelchairs make the beaches and pools very accessible.
• Wheelchair rentals are available through the on-site Cardinal Mobility.
• The resort is huge, but a series of free shuttles whisk you from destination to destination within the resort complex.
• The resort’s open-air Marina Village shopping and dining area has accessible entrances to its shops and restaurants, and its wide terrace, pretty marina views, and outdoor entertainment make it a great place to relax and stroll.
• Accessible rooms are available in several of the resort’s towers
• More than 50,000 animals representing more than 250 marine species are on view at Atlantis’s impressive and majestic marine habitats and aquariums. Highlights are the Predator Lagoon filled with hammerhead, reef, and other sharks, and The Dig, which imagines the ruins of an excavated, evocative Lost City of Atlantis.

Chloe loved The Dig

• A shuttle is available to bring handicapped guests to and from the airport, but it’s expensive and needs to be booked pre-travel.
• The resort’s 13-page online access guide is an incredibly detailed resource for the resort’s accessibility, with includes a map of the resort’s elevators and accessible walkways and guidance about which of the resort’s attractions are appropriate for people with disabilities.

Pirates of Nassau Museum: Moderately accessible. The likes of Blackbeard and Calico Jack haunted the shores of Nassau during the Golden Age of Piracy in the late 1600s and early 1700s. This museum tells the swashbuckling story of the pirates of Nassau and was a bit scary for Chloe (who was five years old at the time of our visit). It’s only moderately accessible, though. Most of the museum has flat surfaces, but a couple of steps in and out made it a bit of a challenge.

The painting “Marooned,” by Howard Pyle, at the Pirates of Nassau Museum depicts the ultimate pirate punishment, marooning: Being left on a deserted island with a bit of food, water, and a loaded pistol to make suicide easier.

Bites of Nassau food tour: Not accessible. This is a fantastic tour for the able-bodied. For more than four hours, a local guide will take you into restaurants and shops barely trodden by tourists, and treat you to a full, traditional Bahamian lunch; island-made chocolates and beer; spices and hot sauces; and more. You can sample the Bahamian lemonade, switcha, fried plantains, the bush medicine “fever grass tea,” and rum cake. The tour not only features a lot of walking, but is not accessible for anyone who has trouble with stairs. We took Chloe on this tour because the website said it was stroller friendly, but there were many sets of 10-20 stairs involved, and it was extremely difficult to carry Chloe, her walker, and her stroller up and down. If I had known how inaccessible it would be, I wouldn’t have done it. BUT it was a great tour and worth the difficultly we had. I’m glad we went.

Chloe sampling the hand-made chocolates at Graycliff Chocolatier on the Bites of Nassau Food Tour.

Ardastra Gardens & Zoo: Moderately accessible. Chloe loved this zoo and botanical garden, with its lizards, parrots, free-range flamingos and peacocks, and petting zoo. It’s got an accessible entrance, but its walkways are slightly uneven, and its bathroom is not fully accessible. Hand-feeding the parrots (one landed on my husband’s head!) was a major highlight of our visit.

These flamingos were free to wander the zoo grounds.

Hand-feeding the parrots at Ardastra Gardens & Zoo

Nassau Straw Market: Accessible. Get ready to do some haggling at the Straw Market, a huge, indoor market filled with endless rows of nearly identical souvenirs, trinkets, jewelry, clothing, and tchotchkes. Chloe and her walker were a big hit with the shop owners, nearly all of whom shouted words of encouragement and blessings as she zoomed between the stalls in her walker.
“What does she have? Will it go away?” one woman asked me, slumped on a folding chair, sitting in front of a display of hand-woven bags and Bahamas magnets, her face full of concern. “I’ll pray for a miracle.”
There’s an entrance ramp into the market from the sidewalk, and the aisles between the stalls are relatively wide and have smooth surfaces.

Chloe walks through the Straw Market in her walker.

Disclaimer: As always, the views expressed here are my own and are judged by our family’s individual experience.