Bermuda is a tiny island in the Atlantic Ocean with over 64,000 inhabitants spread across 20.54 miles squared (53.3 km2)…aka it´s about 24 miles end to end with many islands linked together. The culture is a mix of British, Portuguese (Azorean), African, Irish and American. Bermuda is not part of the Caribbean (900 miles/1440 km away), it is actually Mid-Atlantic but it does share some history and cultural elements with the Caribbean islands. Geologically Bermuda is different; a dormant volcano with limestone on top, it´s crater´s a mere 200 ft below that extends 7 miles from the North coast to form a reef…none of which was created by tectonic plates like many Caribbean islands were. Culturally, Bermuda is linked to many Caribbean islands, although distance wise it is far away, it´s part of CARICOM, the socio-economic trade group in the Caribbean even while most of it´s trade is with the USA.

Bermuda is closest to North Carolina in the USA, some 643 miles/1035km away and although I flew from North Carolina it often routes through Philadelphia, Newark, Miami, Atlanta, Toronto and a couple other US cities (under 3 hour flight). It is a British Overseas Territory with plenty of North American standards. It obviously forms part of the infamous Bermuda Triangle which runs from Bermuda to Puerto Rico and Florida forming a triangle area of odd disappearances…lucky for me I made it back to let you know all about it.

Bermuda was discovered by Juan de Bermudez of Spain in 1503 and later incorporated into the Virginia British settlement in 1607 when a boat, the Sea Venture, ran into Bermuda´s reef and those lucky survivors, rebuilt boats but decided to stay. Back then it was called Virgineola and it wasn´t officially settled by the British until 1612 in the City of St. George, now the British´s oldest continually inhabited city in the New World.

Bermuda, has these interesting aspects you need to know about:

Currency: Bermudian Dollar which is pegged to the US Dollar and US Dollars are accepted in Bermuda (as are cards)
Driving: Left side of the road
Outlet: North American outlet
Language: Officially English but also some Portuguese
# of Islands: 181 islands!
Inhabited since: 1609 (no indigenous tribes were here); 1612 English town created
Population: over 64,000
Entry: Cruise ship, sailboat or fly BermudAir, Air Canada, American (not recommended), United, Azores Airlines, Jet Blue, Delta, British Airlines into BDA and most will just require this entry form to enter
Exit: When exiting back to the US you go through immigration in Bermuda
Timezone: Atlantic Standard Time AST/ADT, which is 1+ from EST/EDT

Bermuda has been on my list to visit for at least 15 years and I always wanted to do it as a cycling trip. Finally in May (2025) I was reminded about Bermuda and immediately got excited! I had been looking at going to a new country to get the last 2 countries to 100 countries goal completed but none seemed to be calling me. I realized Bermuda was very close to North Carolina (where I´ve been living), I saw that flights were a good price ($500-600 round trip) and although doing the original plan of camping and cycling wasn´t easy to do here I could still cycle there so that is exactly what I planned to do for a week!

Unfortunately the airline had other plans for this trip. I flew American Airlines and they rerouted my bike box through JFK instead of onto my plane out of Charlotte, North Carolina even though it had 4 hours to make that original plane. Therefore it arrived the next day….Then when I received it, I found it broken!! I won´t be flying American Airlines again and I wouldn´t recommend you do either, especially with a bike! Not only did they mishandle and break it they also won´t fess up to their mistake and provide any compensation. Only after bugging them twice did they offer something…a whopping 5,000 miles…aka a measly $50…that I can´t use to fix the bike! I´ve packaged my bikes in the same type of bike box on 5 different continents with multiple airline carriers but only American Airlines has mishandled and broken a bike!

The main part that they broke was the back wheel and it wasn´t just bent but it had a straight hole in the rim! This was definitely mishandling especially since there wasn´t even a hole in the box where this happened (holes were elsewhere)???!!! The other piece they broke was the tire lever/skewer…but I guess I could have avoided that by remembering to take it out…oops but still…completely bent. I´m confident that even if it was in a hard case bike box there would be plenty of damage with that awful baggage handling!

Luckily for this trip I decided to stay with a warmshowers host. Warmshowers is a website where people offer lodging from one cyclist to another cyclist. Frank, my host, has lots of bicycles and tools so we were able to replace the damaged parts temporarily and I was able to ride my pedal bike (bike) while I was visiting!!! He even had some bikes to borrow if needed. Frank was a complete life saver for my cycling trip because without that I´d either have to rent a road bike, which is about $85 a day or repair it there which was about $400. If I rented I would only have cycled a couple of days but instead I was able to cycle every day with the help of Frank!

Bermuda is known as an island the rich and famous go on vacation and therefore is expensive. Everything is pretty much imported and highly taxed since it is an island. For example, on my first day I went grocery shopping to save some money. I bought sandwich meat, cheese, 1 yogurt, cereal, 6 bananas and cookies for a total of $41. I didn´t even get bread, mainly because they only seemed to have the cheap white and wheat bread…turns out most make their own bread here, but basically everything was between $2 to $6 dollars higher than in the US…items I bought were around $6 each but had I purchased that cheap bread…it alone was $10!!! I totally recommend travel insurance for an expensive place like Bermuda.

Hotels and airbnb are around $300 a night so before I even booked the trip I had to figure out where to stay for a whole week. I looked into pet sitting but nothing was on trustedhousesitters. If you do try this angle I suggest joining the Pet Connection Bermuda group on Facebook for opportunities! Since this was a cycling trip I found warmshowers to be perfect. Similar to couchsurfing, warmshowers is free, it´s an exchange, usually of room for knowledge but can be a cyclist to ride with or mechanical help or any other thing related to cycling. I´ve done couchsurfing before but haven´t used it in years but though I would try warmshowers again (I´ve used it in Spain). There aren´t many hosts in Bermuda but I wrote 2 and both responded as available and willing to host. Yippie, I had two places to stay!! The hard part was deciding which host…a problem I´ve never had with warmshowers…usually 1 answers or maybe only 1 is available. I thought about splitting the stay between the two but in the end I choose one for housing and met up with the other because again, it is an exchange.

Bermuda is known to be very safe and I felt safe but I cycled and ran everywhere unlike most tourists so I did see neighborhoods that made me question the safety of the island. Frank said there are areas that at night you should definitely avoid but in the day are safe…and I can totally see that. I also saw plenty of characters who obviously lived on the street and just like anywhere else also have their issues. Well on day 2 of my trip I had my bag stolen…I forgot it on a bench while cycling the rail trail. So yes, chances are high that most people will return lost items (Facebook – Bermuda Lost and Found) but there are always some bad apples so things can and do still happen here. Locals are very friendly and helpful; even the police were helpful and nice to deal with. Many who learned my bag was taken and not returned were shocked because it is super uncommon that things don´t get returned.

By staying with a local I learned a lot about the history and culture of the island which made me even more impressed with Bermuda and having chosen to visit. You can also learn a lot about Bermuda by visiting the National Museum at Dockyard ($18). It is totally worth the visit but give yourself a few hours (about 3) and pack water, some snacks, a hat and get ready to learn while taking in some amazing views at the old British Navy Fort. Also don´t miss the dolphins!

Some curious things I also learned about Bermuda is that nearly everyone get´s their potable water from rain (aside from those near the electric plants) and therefore all roofs are specifically designed to catch and retain water into 8,000-16,000 gallon cisterns. The roofs are all white and terraced, which obviously pairs well with the amazing blue water found everywhere on the island, so that the rain drains down into a pipe to collect below the house which is later pumped into use inside the house. Learning this made me curious about how they deal with sewage, electricity and trash! As for sewage almost everyone except residents in St. George, Old Navy Base (aka airport area) and Hamilton (due to higher density) use septic tanks. Trash is all burned, in fact, the only things recycled on the island are glass and metal/aluminum cans. I stayed near the waste plant and never saw any dark smoke yet know they burn trash daily at really high heat (400C/752F) and turn it into energy for the island. Yes, maybe some residue drifts down to homes but most blows away with the wind (99%)! As for energy, BELCO has supplied it since 1908 using fossil fuels (currently oil) to power everything and have been investing more in natural sources (sun, wind) by 2035. As far as major industries in Bermuda, I learned that besides tourism that reinsurance (as well as general insurance) and the finance (fintech) industries are huge here and that some aerospace (NASA, SpaceX, ESA -European Space Agency) is there as well.

TIPS FOR CYCLING:

As a cyclist in Bermuda it is important to take space on the roads here because there are wall. Drivers respect bikes mostly but give yourself space in case as they pass you need to move back over to give them space…this way you don´t end up against the wall if they do! It is not the same as riding in the US where you get over as far as you can to make space for the car; in Bermuda it is acceptable to make sure you have room and feel safe. It might happen that a scooter decided to zoom past you without giving much room, just be aware that this happens. If you have trucks behind you and traffic is unrelenting you might pull over and let them go ahead. Roads are generally fine but there are potholes and grates so don´t expect perfection and definitely go around things like this on the road! Bermuda is not flat but rather has many little hills that add up, the highest point is 79m/259ft (Town Hill), to wear you out.

• Take space on roads for you and your bike
• Stay away from the limestone walls
• Avoid the potholes and grates
• Not flat, has lots of little hills
• Watch out for locals on scooters, they do some crazy things

Interestingly enough in Bermuda you can´t rent a car, the two options a visitor has in Bermuda is to rent a scooter or a mini electric vehicle (rent or rent). Having a car in Bermuda is restricted to 1 per household, so with 64,000 people on this 24 mile long island most get around by car or scooter. Scooters for visitors also have restrictions, visitors need a day permit to use a scooter which is only provided by the rental agency. In fact, living here you must get a Bermudian drivers license to own one, foreign licenses don´t work. Business owners in Bermuda however have no restrictions on the quantity of vehicles owned and therefore is a nice work around many use. If no car, scooter or bike know that it is very easy to get around by bus (very frequent, no bikes allowed), ferry (great little commuter option for around $4.50 one-way, bikes allowed; some even allow scooters) or taxi.

Favorite Routes to Cycle:

South Road – Quite literally the road along the South side of Bermuda. It is the most beautiful drive they say as all the beaches are just beautiful…although many you need to walk down to see/visit. It is a highly transited road but mainly because it is beautiful so you find many tourist on scooter and in tiny electric cars plus some lighter traffic from the local cars compared to other roads (whole island only had 3 main roads). Since they drive on the left, it is best to ride this road leaving from Hamilton vs Dockyard (cruise ship area) but either way it will be quite enjoyable and there are lots of pull outs to stop and take in the views.

Tucker´s Town – Is a private residential area but you can cycle through there and it is well worth it because for me the views here were even more jaw dropping. You could include it with the South side of Harrington Sound or the tail end (not touristy) of South Road. As you get out toward Tucker´s Town traffic drops off a lot so roads are more enjoyable. You do go through a security post to ride in…as long as you look professional enough and like you won´t do any harm….say hi, and roll on in. It won´t be a fast route once you are inside as it is a narrow road but trust me you will not want to go fast either.

Tobacco Bay Loop – You should definitely visit St. George, the first and oldest settlement on Bermuda and when you do make a loop up Government hill to Tobacco Bay and around the peninsula via Barry Road and Cut Road and you will likely laugh at how ridiculously beautiful and jaw dropping this area is. If you have time, stop for a snorkel at Tobacco Bay, you will see why once you are there!

I cycled more than this and here are some places you might avoid: Rail Trail by bike – shouldn´t do with road bike, lots of dirt, rocks, some glass and trail has barriers you must lift bike over often; Spanish Point, roads are not great and views are just ok…mainly looking at cruise ships; Flatts Village along North toward airport – it´s just really narrow with lots of walls and lots of cars; Middle Road – basically like the main highway, you can cycle it just fine but know there is a very steady stream of vehicles; Hamilton – you will cycle here but go slow through town as there are a lot of cars lurking and moving around.

Great Bike Shops: Winners Edge or Bike Works

Bike Rental Options:

https://shop.socialcyclesbda.com/fee-rental-bike-road.html

https://oleandercycles.bm/rentals/pedal-cycles

FAVORITE PLACES TO RUN:

Bermuda Rail Trail – Don´t miss this trail, it runs the entire island with stunning views and beaches along the way that take you over bridges, paved and dirt paths, carved out limestone, roadway and sidewalks. Every piece I ran was so enjoyable! Details

South Shore Park – Over 2 miles of sandy trails (half hard packed, half not) taking you to various beaches and overlooks to some of South Bermuda´s prized beaches (lots of shade)…worthy of a sweat and dip! You can also add Astwood Park and Southlands Park to your route if you take the bit of road segments in between.

Cooper´s Island Nature Reserve – This nature reserve used to be closed off for NASA operations but since 2001 they started rehabilitating it and now it is open to the public to swim, run, ride in one of the most stunning spots on the island! You will find plenty of runners here in the evening enjoying this somewhat hidden spot behind the airport.

Arboretum – was nice with some hills and quite a few runners but the trail is not too long so unless you don´t mind being on repeat I´d head elsewhere. If you want a challenge you could add on the Botanical Gardens but you will have to navigate some roads. This was my least favorite spot to run.

Looking for a run group, Grateful Miles Run Club (Instagram) has a social 3-5km run every Sunday at 6:45 am (location varies) — others to check are Swans and MAAC

The race to do is the Bermuda Half Marathon Derby in late May.

OPEN WATER SWIMMING SPOTS:

Clearwater Beach (Coopers Island) – Superb, blue, shallow and calm beach at the beautiful Cooper´s Island Nature Reserve. I did a mini triathlon out at this beach.

Shelly Bay Beach – Often you will see swimmers in this roped off beach area out for a swim, especially on Saturday morning!

Clarence Cove – Nice little cove for a well protected swim. I didn´t make it out here but it seems really nice for a swim. This is the closest spot to Hamilton for a great swim.

Harrington Sound – For something different try the Sound and swim from the Harrington Sound Public Dock across from the Harrington Sound Primary School (10k in October)

Long Bay Beach – Closest to the Cruise port is a spot locals use for swimming…but I didn´t visit or swim there

Open water swimming races

OTHER SPORT RECOMMENDATIONS:

Triathlons – Supersprint triathlon in June and July every Thursday for $10 Info. I did it and enjoyed, it was very fast, short, fun, good for beginners and great way to meet some locals. Crowd is mixed but many youth participate.

Triathlon race at end of June or race at end of October

Great information on training in Bermuda from the Olympic gold medalist Flora Duffy (triathlete)

Bermuda National Sports Centre – Pool $20, 6am to 7:30 pm – Cricket games were always going on -Soccer and field hockey fields – Athletic track is not open to the public

Golf is also popular here and there are plenty of great courses all over Bermuda. If you ask me, Tucker´s Point or Point Royal looked so nice….but non golfer here.

More Bermuda Recommendations

Festivals

Weather Radar (best option and expect plenty of rain)

More races in all sports

Unique Bermuda Volcano