Barbados at Christmas means highs of around 29°C, a steady trade wind and a social calendar that runs from the Run Barbados weekend in early December to the Mount Gay Round Barbados Race in late January. The villas below are the ones we still have for Christmas week, New Year week or both, from beach houses in Fitts Village to estate homes on Sandy Lane.
Christmas and New Year are the island’s peak fortnight and most villas are booked a year ahead, so these lists are live and change weekly. Each villa shows its nightly rate, bedrooms and bathrooms. Tap through for the full listing and get in-touch, we will confirm dates, minimum stays and the best fit for your party.
These villas are available Xmas week.
These villas are available for Xmas and New Year week.
These villas are available for New Year only.
Why Christmas in Barbados
December is the start of the dry season, with daytime highs of around 29°C, warm sea and a trade wind that keeps the evenings comfortable. It is also when the island’s social calendar is at its fullest, and almost all of it happens on or near the west coast.
Barbados takes Christmas seriously. Bridgetown is lit up through December, the Police Band plays carols on the lawn at St Nicholas Abbey, and on Christmas morning half the island turns out in its best clothes for Queen’s Park. Boxing Day means the races at the Garrison, and Old Year’s Night ends with fireworks along the west coast from Holetown to Carlisle Bay.
This year has an extra reason to come early. Barbados marks 60 years of Independence on 30 November 2026, and the Diamond Jubilee celebrations carry on into December with parades, concerts and the lighting of the city.
A villa puts you in the middle of it with space for a multi-generational party, a kitchen for Christmas lunch and staff to run it. Our concierge team can arrange a chef, a driver, race-day tables, polo tickets, padel courts and tee times before you land.
What’s on in Barbados this Christmas and New Year
The season runs from Independence Day to the Round Barbados Race, and most of it is within 20 minutes of a west-coast villa. Dates below are confirmed for 2026/27 unless marked; we update this page as organisers publish.
Run Barbados Marathon & Wellness Weekend, 3 to 6 December
Now in its 43rd year, Run Barbados is one of the Caribbean’s longest-running road race weekends and the unofficial start of the season. The 5K, 10K and Fun Mile run on the Friday and Saturday, and the half marathon and marathon set off from Bay Street Esplanade at dawn on Sunday 6 December. Enter all three days and you qualify for a challenge medal; a new wellness programme runs alongside the racing. From a west-coast villa you are under half an hour from the start, with a beach to recover on afterwards.
Boxing Day at the Races, 26 December
The Barbados Turf Club races at the Garrison Savannah, inside the UNESCO-listed Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison, and Boxing Day is the meeting the whole island turns out for. Expect around ten races with three feature events, a first race at about 12:30pm and racing into the early evening with music and food stalls between. Entry to the grounds is free, grandstand tickets and hospitality lounges must be booked in advance. There is also a Friday meeting on 4 December, the first season of 2027 opens in early January and the Sandy Lane Barbados Gold Cup follows in early March.
Polo: The International Season Opens in January
Barbados has played polo for more than 130 years. The Barbados Polo Club at Holders and the Apes Hill Polo Club, both in St James, host the international season from January to mid-May, with Lion Castle and Clifton in St Thomas as further grounds. Club matches and chukkas run on Thursdays and Saturdays with the first match at about 3:30pm, and visiting sides from the UK, Canada, the US, Argentina and Scotland play through the season. January and February also bring the charity fixtures, which in 2026 included the Soroptimist Charity Match at Holders on 24 January and the Heart and Stroke Charity Match on 21 February. Tickets are sold at the gate; VIP tents and tables can be arranged through us.
Padel on the West Coast
Padel has taken over the west coast in the last two years. Apes Hill now has eight floodlit courts, one of the largest padel facilities in the Caribbean, and Sandy Lane has four floodlit courts for hotel guests, including a Christmas padel tournament. Royal Westmoreland has two lit courts for owners, members and villa guests with club access, and Sugar Hill has two courts beside its tennis club. For public bookings, Courtside Barbados in Holetown is open daily from 7am to 9pm with coaching, racquet hire and a bar, and Paradise Padel Club at Haymans in St Peter is a new padel-only club for keener players. Tell us when you book and we will reserve courts and a coach for your stay; estate villas at Apes Hill, Royal Westmoreland and Sugar Hill usually include access to their own courts.
Christmas Traditions: Carols at the Abbey & Queen’s Park
Carols at the Abbey is on Sunday 13 December from 4 to 6pm, with the Barbados Police Service Band playing on the croquet lawn at St Nicholas Abbey and carols from 5pm. Bring a wrapped gift marked with a child’s age and gender, as everything goes to children’s charities on the island. On Christmas morning Barbadians put on their best clothes and head to Queen’s Park in Bridgetown for music from the Police Band and a tuk band, family photographs and a lot of catching up, then home for lunch. A Christmas Day sea swim before you go is the local tradition.
Old Year’s Night, 31 December
New Year’s Eve is Old Year’s Night here, and the west coast hotels stage it in style: Sandy Lane’s beach gala dinner and Hilton Barbados on Carlisle Bay both finish with midnight fireworks, and most west-coast hotels stage a gala of their own. The best vantage points are Holetown, Alleynes Bay, Paynes Bay and Carlisle Bay, and villas on Paynes Bay and in Fitts Village see several displays from the terrace. Harbour Lights runs a big party, but location changes every year. Restaurant and gala tables go by November, so tell us early.
Sailing: Barbados Sailing Week, Mid-January
Barbados Sailing Week opens the Caribbean regatta season with dinghy racing, a coastal series, kite and wing-foil events and the headline Mount Gay Round Barbados Race. The round-island race is sailed every 21 January, Errol Barrow Day, a public holiday, and the fleet passes the west coast during the morning before the Mount Gay Red Cap party at the Barbados Cruising Club that night. The 2027 programme is expected to run from around 14 to 22 January; confirm closer to the time.
The Charity Season
The west coast’s charity calendar peaks over Christmas and January. The Sandy Lane Charitable Trust, which has funded children’s health and education programmes on the island since 2006, holds an annual Golf & Gala at The Country Club at Sandy Lane; dates and tickets come from the Trust. Carols at the Abbey and the January and February polo charity matches are the easiest ones to join as a visitor. If you would rather give locally, the Salvation Army and the Eden Lodge Youth Charitable Trust both run Christmas hamper programmes and we can point you to them.
Golf and Everything Else
Sandy Lane’s Green Monkey and Country Club courses, Apes Hill and Royal Westmoreland are all within 20 minutes of the villas below, and tee times between Christmas and New Year go early, so book with the villa. Catamaran days, turtle swims and the Oistins fish fry on a Friday night fill the rest of the week. If you are staying on, the Holetown Festival in February and the Gold Cup in early March are the next big dates.