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TBPB/BGI - Bridgetown - Little Arches Boutique Hotel, Christ Church - January 2025.

My wife and I have stayed here 6 times since February 2017. Whilst it is not at the airport, it is on finals for runway 09 and aircraft pass very slightly to the north of the hotel at 850 feet. Everything is readable with a normal set of binoculars and even at night aircraft are easy to see so it is not a question of spotting light bulbs at night. I’m unsure how visible aircraft would be from the hotel if departing from runway 27, but during my time staying at the hotel I’ve only ever known one landing and no departures from 27.

The hotel only has 10 bedrooms, and aircraft are visible from most without leaving the room. If you are in a room on the wrong side of the hotel, the use of SBS/FR24 and or Airband radio will give you enough notice to slip out and see aircraft. There is a restaurant (Café Luna) on the roof which is open to the public as well as hotel guests, and this has excellent views of landing aircraft. Whilst the hotel and café are well positioned to see aircraft, they are not in the best position for photos however a short walk will provide plenty of better spots.

Excluding aviation considerations, it is an excellent hotel. The standard of service is second to none and the management and staff will go out of their way to do make sure guests have a memorable stay. They are spotter friendly so you won’t get asked any questions. The food and service at Café Luna are excellent; both hotel and restaurant have won numerous awards. It is adults only.
So, lots of pros but three cons:
  • Because there are so many repeat guests, rooms book up a year or more in advance in advance so if you are thinking of a spontaneous holiday here, you are unlikely to be able to book.
  • It is not cheap.
  • Because it is a small hotel, the swimming pool is tiny, but the beach is only 50 yards away.
Alternatives: 30 yards to the north of Little Arches is The Abidah by Accra hotel which is a new build and opened post COVID.  It’s a much larger hotel and although I don’t know that much about it, I would guess that room availability would be better than Little Arches and prices lower. The hotel is still to the south of the 07 approach but a little closer. I would guess that rooms that face north would be the best option whilst rooms that are east or west facing would be OK but not as good. I strongly suspect that south facing rooms would have little or no view of aircraft.

There are also a number of hotels to the north of the 07 approach heading towards the Saint Lawrence Gap area. However the further west you go along the coast, the further away aircraft are. That means that you either need a fairly powerful telescope if you want to read off registrations or you rely on trackers etc. Nighttime viewing can also be reduced to just looking at “light bulbs”. All that said, any hotel with rooms that have a sea view as far west as the Dover Beach Hotel would fall into this category. As long as you can get a room looking in the right direction,  then the Bougainvillea Barbados would be fine. Ditto the Turtle Beach albeit this is currently closed for refurbishment.      

Credit Chris Mellon.


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