1. North-east beaches

The north-east beaches are reached via Sangre Grande: it takes about two hours to get to Toco from Port of Spain, depending on traffic, and another hour to double back along the north coast to Matelot. Trinidad’s best surf and surfing competitions are at Sans Souci, Salybia, Matelot and Toco, along the north and north-east coasts.

Between October and April, waves vary in size, but from May to September the water is usually calm and idyllic, great for swimming. Because of the currents, though, check with locals for advice on the safest bathing areas. Still rural, this area has some of Trinidad’s most picturesque villages and seaside spots.

On the east coast, Saline Bay is great for a picnic and a dip in the sea. Balandra Bay, protected by a narrow stretch of land, is good for swimming, and even bodysurfing at the rougher end. Salybia is a long, scenic bay, often windswept with surging breakers. Changing room and shower facilities are available. In August, Olorisa (Orisa devotees) hold the Osun Festival here to pay homage to Osun, goddess of fertility and beauty. On the north coast, Sans Souci is a slightly sloping bay with often choppy waves, a favourite with surfers.

2. Turtle-watching

The huge, endangered leatherback turtle, the largest of all the surviving turtle species, is a regular visitor to beaches in both Trinidad and Tobago. During nesting months (March–August), females heave themselves out of the ocean to come ashore and lay their eggs, laboriously digging a nest in the sand, then covering it up and camouflaging it after laying. Two months later, the eggs hatch, and the baby turtles make a dash for the sea; few survive the predators and make it to maturity.

Turtles come ashore in greatest numbers from about 10 pm into the early-morning hours, and are most plentiful around the full moon (as are the mosquitoes!). The experience is magical. Matura is a major leatherback turtle nesting site and a protected beach. Turtles also come ashore at Paria Bay and other deserted beaches along the north coast. Grande Rivière is the second largest leatherback turtle nesting ground in the world. (The river meets the sea here, making for good river and ocean swimming.) The village is one of Trinidad’s most visitor-friendly communities, with a number of small hotels, guest houses, and cottages for rent. Permits are required, however, to go turtle watching; to minimise disturbance to the animals, only a limited number are given out nightly. If you stay overnight, the hotels and guest houses can usually help to obtain permits. Good tour operators can also arrange permits for you the Grande Rivière Visitor Facility at 670-4256.

3. Galera Point & Toco Lighthouse

At the north-eastern tip of Trinidad, a mile or so east of Toco, Galera Point is a rocky outcrop where the Caribbean meets the Atlantic. In February Orisa devotees celebrate the Olukun Festival (Celebration of the Ocean) here. The Toco lighthouse, built in 1897, stands on a promontory above crashing waves, with a park and picnic area around it. This is a particularly magical spot on clear, windy, moonlit nights.

4. The University of the West Indies

The University of the West Indies (UWI) occupies a sprawling campus dotted with majestic samaan trees at St Augustine, about 30 minutes east of Port of Spain. Its Centre for Creative and Festival Arts hosts plays, performances, exhibitions and lectures by Caribbean artists and scholars throughout the year. The schools (or “faculties” as the British call them) include science and agriculture, engineering, humanities and education, law, medical sciences, and social sciences. Within these faculties, departments cover a wide range of subjects and majors (e.g. theatre arts, zoology, economics, accounting, public administration, nutrition). There is always something interesting happening on campus. Call 662-2002 for information.

5. Mount St Benedict

Monks often know where the best views are. Established in 1912, and reached via St John’s Road in St Augustine, about 30 minutes east of Port of Spain, Mount St Benedict is the oldest Benedictine monastery in the Caribbean. It perches 800 feet above the plains, a 600-acre complex with a glorious view south, across the island’s central plains to its southern extremes. The monastery has 100 acres of tropical nature park, much of it rain forest, with walkways and trails. Inexpensive shuttle buses operate during the day from the bottom of St John’s Road. The Pax Guesthouse, tel. 662-4084, was established in 1916 (making it the oldest guest house in Trinidad and Tobago), and offers comfortable accommodation, including a teahouse and terraces for bird-watching. It is a favourite retreat for birders and hikers, whether as a day trip or overnight. The Upper Room Art Gallery and Artists’ Retreat also offers simple accommodation, studio space, tours, and meeting rooms to local and visiting artists. 

6. Lopinot

The quiet village of Lopinot is nestled in one of the higher and most beautiful valleys of the Northern Range. It was developed as a cocoa estate in the early 1800s by a French count, Charles Joseph de Lopinot. His former tapia estate house, prison and slave quarters have been turned into a museum. Indeed, the count is supposedly still around, for his ghost is said to canter on horseback through the estate on stormy nights. Lopinot is a major centre for Trinidad’s Christmas music, parang (festive songs, sung in Spanish and telling the story of the nativity); it’s popular for picnics, river-bathing, and sports (there’s a volleyball net, and lots of room for football, cricket, kite-flying or frisbee). Limestone caves in the surrounding hills beg to be explored (but you need a guide: enquire at the museum or community centre). The museum itself is open daily from 6am to 6pm, and a guide is available free of charge from 10am. Lopinot is reached from the Eastern Main Road via a signposted turning to the north at Arouca; the drive takes about an hour from Port of Spain.

7. Arima

Arima, about 45 minutes east of Port of Spain, is the largest town in North Trinidad and the third largest in the country. It is the home of the only organised community of Trinidad’s original inhabitants, the Caribs.

The Carib Santa Rosa Festival is held on the last weekend of August, in honour of Santa Rosa de Lima (the first Roman Catholic saint of the “New World”): it is hosted by the Santa Rosa Carib Community Association, formed in 1974 and headquartered on Paul Mitchell Street.

Arima’s open-air market is particularly lively on Fridays, with a full range of local produce, bartered with distinctly Trinidadian style. Cleaver Woods Recreation Centre is near the western entrance to the town, with nature trails, a thatched visitor centre and an exhibit on the first inhabitants of the islands, including cooking and fishing utensils, drawings and furniture (take precautions here due to the woods’ isolated nature).

In the town, the Arima Dial (clock tower) on Broadway is one of Trinidad’s best-known landmarks: it was purchased in Nice, France, by one-time Mayor John Wallen, who donated it to the borough in 1898.

Santa Rosa Park, Trinidad’s only horse racing track, is in Arima, and reaches a peak of activity in September when the Royal Oak Derby, the Santa Rosa Oaks, and the Caribbean Champion Stakes are run. It has both anti-clockwise and clockwise turf tracks, and an anti-clockwise sand track. 

8. The Asa Wright Nature Centre

This is Trinidad’s most popular bird-watching retreat and most famous eco-centre. It is located about 90 minutes east of Port of Spain in the Arima valley, and is home to such bio-diversity that the New York Zoological Society established a research station there in 1949.

Originally a coffee and cocoa plantation, the estate and its house, Springhill, were bought in 1947 by a retired English solicitor, Dr Newcome Wright, and his Icelandic wife Asa, both avid naturalists and bird watchers. When Newcome died, Mrs Wright sold the land on condition that it remained a conservation area; a non-profit trust was set up in 1967. Care was taken to preserve the great house, which is the Centre’s base (and is celebrating the centenary of its construction in 1906-8).

The 193-acre Centre is open to day visitors: the admission covers a half-mile guided tour and some access to the grounds. Twenty-five guest rooms are on offer for overnight visitors, who enjoy greater access to the trails and caves, including the oilbirds’ habitat. Guests can enjoy meals on the veranda where up-close encounters with hummingbirds, honeycreepers and bananaquits are frequent; books on Trinidad and Tobago’s natural environment are on sale at the gift shop. Take your swimwear, because there’s also a beautiful freshwater pool you can bathe in. The Centre is open daily from 8 am to 5 pm. Reservations are recommended, even for day visits. For more information and reservations, call 667-4655 or visit www.asawright.org.

9. Hiking and eco-adventures

With the help of an experienced guide, the Northern Range can open up into a real ecoadventure. It crosses the entire width of the island, from Galera Point in the north-east to the Dragon’s Mouth in the north-west.

El Tucuche, the island’s second highest peak (by just thirteen feet), can be climbed via several hiking trails, some of them fairly strenuous and lasting several hours. The 2,300-acre forest reserve around the peak is an animal sanctuary, so keep an eye out for deer, armadillo, agouti, manicou (opossum), quenk (wild pig), the golden tree frog, anteaters, the orange-billed nightingale thrush, and exotic orchids. The beautiful El Naranjo Tropical Gardens are located on the slope of El Tucuche.

The Aripo Caves, which reach 300 feet below ground, are a rewarding and fairly strenuous hike of about five hours each way. About four miles east of Arima, a steep road follows the Aripo River to Dandrade Trace and the start of the trail. After a challenging hike down rocky terrain, you come to the caves with their stalagmites, stalactites, bats, and colonies of the rare, nocturnal, fruiteating oilbirds, which roost and nest in the caves, navigating by echo-location. Oilbirds are gregarious, with thousands inhabiting a single cave.

Beyond the Asa Wright Nature Centre, about four miles off the Arima-Blanchisseuse Road (at the 12.5 mile post), the village of Brasso Seco is the starting point for several premium hiking trails and a rare vantage point for bird watchers hoping to catch a glimpse of the rare and endangered pawi or piping guan. A popular trail from Brasso Seco leads to the Paria Waterfall. It begins with a 60-degree turn off the road at the 4.75 mile-post; the trail is clear with no turnings, and winds towards the north. The hike can be completed in two to three hours, depending on the weather and the physical condition of the hiker. The waterfall itself is also accessible by taking the trail from the Blanchisseuse end. For information, advice and area guides, call the Brasso Seco Tourism Action Committee at 669-6218.

The Maracas Waterfall, which plunges into the upper part of the Maracas valley, is best seen during the rainy season (June-December). You can get as close as about 2 km by car, parking at Waterfall Road, and hiking the rest of the way. Other popular waterfalls and hikes in the Northern Range include Guanapo Gorge, Lalaja and Sombasson Waterfalls (on the north-east coast); the Rio Seco Waterfall (off Crown Trace in the Salybia/Matura area); Rincon Waterfall (near Las Cuevas); Aripo Waterfall (off Wallerfield Road in the north-east); and Cyril’s Bay Waterfall (North Coast Road).

Always go hiking or exploring with a guide, tour or group, particularly if it is your first time. Hikes and trips with local groups are listed daily in the local papers, and are available through official tour guides. Waterway exploration should be avoided during the rainy season because of flash flooding.