How to Spend under $150 a Day on Grand Cayman

I was so excited to write an ode to pennypinching on Grand Cayman, one of the Caribbean's dearest spots. There's nothing I like more than turning conventional travel wisdom on its head by demonstrating how a supposedly expensive place can actually turn out to be budget-friendly.

Three nights on Grand Cayman dampened my enthusiasm for such a post. It is indeed possible for a solo traveler to spend around $150 a day there, but such a budget leaves precious little room for splurges and little surprises.

Be that as it may, here's my four-step guide to enjoying Grand Cayman on under $150 a day.

1. Stay at Eldemire's Tropical Island Inn south of George Town. About a 20 minute walk from the southern edge of the capital, it's nestled in a residential neighborhood of mostly low-lying houses. Rooms are simple and the house itself feels down-at-heel in a comfortable, tropical way. There's a gospel shop on the ground floor and a tiny pool on the premises. I paid $103.50 per night for my air-conditioned en suite room with a television. I'm fairly sure that Eldemire's is the cheapest hotel within striking distance of George Town.

2. Walk everywhere. In many places, there are no sidewalks, so you'll need to walk on the right side of the road, facing oncoming traffic. Taxis should only be utilized for transportation to and from the airport.

3. Squat. Beaches may be public, but they're colonized by hotels, and lounge chair use is restricted to guests. The only option for a true shoestringer is to assume entitlement and squat. I was lucky to find an abandoned picnic table near a building site (Grand Cayman is in a state of construction frenzy) on Seven Mile Beach, where I was able to swim and finish my Michael Connelly masterpiece in seclusion.

4. Most importantly, avoid tourist restaurants. Corita's Copper Kettle on Edward Street filled me up twice for CI$8 ($10), once for breakfast and once for lunch. Breakfast was the star meal. I had a frankly delicious fritter sandwich of egg, sausage, and jelly. Also good: Chicken! Chicken!, in the West Shore Centre on West Bay Road north of George Town, where my jerk chicken and jicama cole slaw was perfectly balanced with a Ting, and ran about CI$12 ($16). Another find was Champion House II, on Eastern Avenue just north of  Shedden Road, where my curried snapper with all the fixings plus a beer cost under CI$15 (under $19). (Champion House is quite some distance into George Town, and I was the only tourist on the streets. For a few minutes there, with people congregating in the streets and the odd bit of Spanish wafting through the air, things no longer felt like stripmall suburbia.)

These suggestions aside, the question emerges: Is it worthwhile for serious budget travelers to spend time on Grand Cayman? I'm inclined to say no. It's possible, and even fun in a shoestringer challenge sort of way, to get by on a strict budget. But for most travelers, having to walk miles every day under the tropical sun in order to avoid spending over $200 a day isn't the sweetest prospect. It makes more sense to let your money stretch on a more budget-friendly island.

Comments

[poet with a day job]

Take that Rachel Ray...for a second there I thought you were just getting super excited about chicken in general...

['randa]

this is exactly how i felt about greenland: i was so stoked to prove that it can be done "on the cheap," but you just have to sacrifice too much (sleep in a tent every night, eat out of cans, etc.). not worth it.

really impressed with your ability to tackle this!

[poetloverrebelspy]

Hi, I can't find any other way to contact you on this site. I wanted to encourage you to submit this awesome post (and any other that's relevant) to the Travel on a Shoestring carnival for the Caribbean.