Sunsets on Grand Cayman get written in grand style across the sky. Some evenings, the entire horizon glows like a smoldering blade of fire against the deep blue Caribbean sea. Other times, clouds piled like pillows are shaded in every pastel Easter egg hue by the waning daylight.
For the visitor intent on soaking it all in, finding an atmospheric spot to enjoy sunset is a rite of passage you’ll want to put on repeat throughout your stay in this sophisticated corner of the Caribbean. Read on for spots around Grand Cayman to sit back, relax and point yourself squarely west.
Smith’s Barcadere
As you head south of George Town, the capital of the Cayman Islands, the coastal road leads you past a sandy beach hugged by low limestone cliffs called Smith’s Barcadere (or Smith’s Cove).
Bathers can often be seen taking the mellow leap from the rocky outcroppings into water the color of glacial ice, although many times balmier, of course. The cove faces almost directly west and is a prime spot to do as the locals do—which is to say spread out a towel or beach blanket and catch the sunset from your own patch of paradise.
Kaibo
This iconic Grand Cayman restaurant and bar on a remote beach just south of Rum Point first opened in 1983 to welcome Queen Elizabeth II on her tour of Grand Cayman. Those same sunsets fit for royalty back then are all yours, too, of course, in a setting worlds away from the more developed strip of Seven Mile Beach.
For a fun way to get to Kaibo, hop a ferry from Camana Bay Harbour for the roughly 20-minute cruise across the North Sound. Once here, you’ve got decisions to make.
Dine at the upscale second-story restaurant called Upstairs at Kaibo, an open-air plantation-style spot where you can sip rare rums from the Caribbean and beyond while toasting the sunset. Or opt for a toes-in-the-sand dinner of wood fired pizzas on the beach, where the views are no less stellar.
Macabuca
Head to West Bay and the northernmost point of Grand Cayman to spin sunset to perfection with a perch at this oceanfront tiki bar that juts seaward on a rocky cliff. Macabuca’s daily happy hour, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., coincides with the spectacle in the sky.
You can sit at picnic tables right along the water’s edge to maximize the experience or pull up a bar stool under the thatched roof tiki hut. Afterward, consider heading just above the tiki bar to its sister restaurant, The Cracked Conch, where another waterfront deck beckons with the namesake seafood specialty on the menu as well as things like local snapper and octopus a la plancha.
Bar Jack
Layered with rum and perfectly creamy, is the piña colada at this beachfront bar and restaurant at The Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman on Seven Mile Beach the tastiest on the planet? More than one cocktail connoisseur seems to think so.
Sip one while training your eyes on the horizon to look for the green flash at sunset and life’s bound to feel pretty close to picture perfect.
Bar Jack fronts the widest stretch of Seven Mile Beach and has comfy outdoor sofas and tables where you can soak up the views. If you’re feeling peckish, there are casual bar snacks a la burgers and tacos or fresh guacamole and chips to enjoy while you salute another day in the islands.
The Beach House Experience
With 295 rooms, Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort on Seven Mile Beach is hardly diminutive, but it’s been designed in such a way that guests feel they have their own private quarters (a beach house, if you will) on the white sands of Seven Mile Beach.
Guest room balconies face almost directly west, so you don’t even need to leave your room to catch the nightly show as the sun limbos its way lower. The resort does offer some incentive to get down on those sugary sands to enjoy, however, in the form of the Sunset Ritual at the Beach House Experience (a curated program of recreational and dining experiences offered by the resort).
Comfortable beach furniture that happens to be the perfect Instagram foreground for your sunset shots is pulled onto the sand so you can position yourself comfortably for maximum views.
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