The short version
- Grotto Bay sits five minutes from the airport, closer than any other resort in Bermuda. On a short stay, that matters more than it sounds.
- All-inclusive is available here, but it is optional and requires a minimum of three consecutive nights. Without it, you pay for meals as you go.
- Bermuda is in the North Atlantic, not the Caribbean. The sea is comfortable from June through October and cool the rest of the year.
- Two private beaches, natural caves on the grounds, and a spa where treatments take place above turquoise mineral water.
Is Grotto Bay actually all-inclusive?
Yes and no, and the distinction is worth understanding before you book.
The all-inclusive plan exists at Grotto Bay, but it is added on top of the room rate. It can be arranged before arrival or at check-in, it applies to everyone in the room, and it requires a stay of at least three consecutive nights. Children aged 4 to 17 have their own rate.
What it covers: American breakfast buffet with tea, coffee and juice, lunch and dinner at two restaurants serving Bermudian-inspired menus, seasonal weekly theme buffets, unlimited beverages at two bars and the rooftop lounge, afternoon tea with fresh baked treats, non-motorised water sports including kayaks, paddle boards and snorkel gear, and the gratuity on food and beverage.
If you stay two nights, the plan is not offered and you order à la carte. If you plan to eat out more than every second evening, work the numbers through with your advisor before adding it. Restaurant meals in Bermuda are expensive, and the plan pays for itself quickly once you settle in for the evening.
Getting to Bermuda from Canada
A non-stop flight links Montreal to Bermuda, but the schedule has tightened. A few departures a week remain, seasonally, and the window is narrow. Outside those departures you connect, usually through Toronto or the US east coast.
This is precisely the kind of file where an advisor earns their keep. Combinations shift from one season to the next, and a poorly chosen connection can add half a day to the journey. Call 1 866 628-6241 before you lock in your dates rather than after.
L.F. Wade International Airport is a five-minute drive from Grotto Bay. On an island where getting around takes time, reaching your room almost immediately after landing is a real advantage, especially on a four or five night stay.
When to go, and what the sea is really like
Here is the point that surprises Canadians most: Bermuda is not a winter sun destination.
The archipelago lies in the North Atlantic, roughly a thousand kilometres off the coast of North Carolina. The Gulf Stream softens the climate without making it tropical. From November through March, highs sit around 20 to 22 degrees and the sea drops to 19 or 20. That is pleasant for walking, for golf and for sightseeing, far less so for spending the day in the water.
Swimming becomes comfortable from June through October. The sea peaks near 27 degrees in August. Hurricane season runs June to November, with the peak from August to October. At this latitude storms lose intensity, but they still bring wind and rain, and cancellation coverage earns its place during that stretch.
April and May are the driest months of the year. For sunshine and walking without heavy heat, that is the best window Bermuda offers.
Which room to choose at Grotto Bay
The property holds 225 rooms spread across a dozen cottages built in traditional Bermudian style, on 21 acres at Bailey's Bay. Every room has a private balcony or a walk-out patio.
Superior rooms occupy the ground floor and open directly outside. Deluxe rooms sit on the second and third floors with balconies. Ocean Front rooms line the water's edge, and Ocean View rooms perch on the ridge with long views over the ocean.
Castle Lodge is the newest part of the resort, with refreshed rooms and suites, some elevated over Castle Harbour and others on the lower level facing the gardens. It is also the only section designed from the outset with accessibility in mind, which makes it the answer to the issue described further down.
Rooms sleep up to four. Children under four stay free when sharing with their parents.
The beaches and the pools
Grotto Bay has two private beaches, which is uncommon in this inventory. The main one forms a sheltered crescent, the water is shallow and calm, and it is one of the few places in Bermuda where young children can wade without constant watching.
Understand what they are: bay beaches, not the wide pink sand stretches of the south shore. If the picture in your head is Horseshoe Bay, that sits at the other end of the island and is visited as an outing. Here you trade scale for calm and convenience.
A freshwater pool and an outdoor hot tub overlook the bay. An oceanfront fitness centre rounds things out. Kayaking, paddle boarding, sailing and snorkelling are on site, and a dive shop arranges outings.
The caves and the spa: what makes this address unusual
The property sits on a network of limestone caves running down to the water's edge. Cathedral Cave is open to explore, and it is the memory most guests bring home first: a vault of stalactites above water clear enough to see the bottom.
Natura Spa takes the idea further. Treatment tables float above turquoise mineral water in private cabanas set beneath the formations. Nothing comparable exists elsewhere on the island, and it is the argument that tips undecided travellers toward this resort.
Both features cost nothing extra to discover for guests staying on site. Spa treatments are booked separately.
Eating and drinking on site
Five outlets: Palm Court and Hibiscus for meals, the Rum House Bar, the Bayside Bar and Grill at the water's edge, and the Panorama Lounge on the roof. The all-inclusive plan covers lunch and dinner at two of the restaurants, and drinks at two bars plus the rooftop lounge.
Opinion on the food is divided. Some guests report very good meals, others find the cooking ordinary. That is the honest picture: the catering is decent and plentiful rather than refined, and anyone travelling for the table will be better served elsewhere.
The Swizzle Inn, Bermuda's oldest pub, is a few minutes away on foot. It is worth an evening, if only to see the place.
Getting around without a car
Visitors cannot rent cars in Bermuda. It is a long-standing government rule, adopted to protect the character of the island and its narrow roads, and it admits no exceptions.
What remains: public buses, pink on the main routes and blue on local lines, ferries linking Hamilton, the Dockyard and St. George's, metered taxis at regulated rates, 50cc scooters that require no motorcycle licence, electric minicars restricted to drivers 25 and over, and bicycles. Multi-day passes cover buses and ferries together.
The island covers about 54 square kilometres and nothing is more than about ninety minutes away by bus. Even so, where your hotel sits carries far more weight here than elsewhere. Grotto Bay is in the east, near the airport and St. George's, well away from Hamilton and from the big south shore beaches. Budget travel time if you intend to move every day.
What is there to do around Grotto Bay?
Bermuda's east end is the oldest and most history-dense part of the archipelago, and Grotto Bay sits right in it. That argument often goes unmade to travellers who pick a hotel on its beach alone.
St. George's, a World Heritage Site
Founded in 1612, St. George's is the oldest continuously inhabited English town in the Americas and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You walk narrow lanes lined with lime-washed stone houses, between St. Peter's Church, King's Square and the fortifications. Allow half a day, more if you go into the museums.
Crystal Caves, in the same parish
Crystal Caves and Fantasy Caves lie in Hamilton Parish, close to the resort. Walkways descend over underground lakes of improbable clarity, beneath stalactites formed over millions of years. Two boys found them in 1905 while chasing a lost cricket ball, and the story is still told on site.
Tom Moore's Jungle, next door, is walked on foot among mangroves and water holes. The entrance is unmarked and the place stays surprisingly quiet.
Beaches in the area
Shelly Bay, in the same parish, is a shallow, calm beach where Bermudian families gather on weekends. Tobacco Bay, over by St. George's, offers dramatic rock formations and clear water, and ranks among the best shore snorkelling on the island.
For the wide pink sand of the south shore, Horseshoe Bay included, plan a day out. The bus goes there, but the route crosses the island.
Who it suits, and who it does not
It suits a family that wants calm, shallow water, a couple looking for something the resort next door cannot offer, a short stay where every hour counts, and anyone who wants an all-inclusive without paying luxury rates. Divers and paddlers do well here too.
If your picture of Bermuda is a long pink sand beach you can walk to from your room, if you plan to dine out in town every evening, or if contemporary rooms matter to you, say so to your advisor. The archipelago has the address you want and it is in our inventory: that is the whole point of choosing with someone who knows all eight.
On mobility, be honest with yourself. The grounds slope, the stairs are many, and the older cottages have no elevators. If steps are a problem, ask specifically for Castle Lodge when booking: it is the section built for accessibility, and your advisor can have it confirmed on the file.
What to know before you book
The resort scores 4.2 out of 5 across more than 3,700 reviews, a solid rating carried by real volume. The criticisms recur consistently enough to name them.
Rooms in the older categories have aged, and their bathrooms are small. Beach towels sometimes run short at peak hours. Service swings between warm and perfunctory depending on the moment and the person. Roosters and feral chickens roam the grounds and wake light sleepers early, which amuses half the guests and exasperates the other half.
None of it prevents an excellent stay, which is exactly why we write it down. Guests who arrive knowing what to expect go home talking about the caves, the bay and the spa. Our job is to say so before the booking rather than after, and that is the difference between a trip that works and one that disappoints.
Booking with an advisor
Three things are settled better by phone than online for this address: the all-inclusive plan and its three-night minimum, the choice of section based on your mobility, and the flight combination from Montreal, which needs care this year.
Our advisors know the Bermuda inventory and can weigh Grotto Bay against the other addresses in the archipelago. If you are torn between a calm eastern bay and pink sand on the south shore, look also at Coco Reef, set directly on the south coast, or The St. Regis Bermuda Resort at St. George's, in another bracket entirely.
For the destination as a whole, see our page on travel to Bermuda and our selection of places to stay in Bermuda.
A Voyages AquaTerra advisor will take your call at 1 866 628-6241.
