Elbow Beach - A Mandarin Oriental hotel

This intimate resort hotel is situated above Elbow Beach; one of the finest beaches in Bermuda. 50 acres of landscaped gardens are home to 98 luxury rooms, suites and cottages.

All accommodations are now located in on the hillside leading down to the beach (the wing adjoining the main building closed several years ago). The majority of rooms are Premier Garden View Rooms or Premier Ocean View Rooms. Both types average 480 square feet in area, quite large for Bermuda. Each features an open-beamed ceiling, an en-suite bathroom with walk-in shower and tub, private patio, a large work desk, flat screen HD TV, an audio system with iPod dock, mini-bar, and a coffee machine. For more space you can upgrade to a Premier Suite or Beachfront Suite. High speed wireless internet access is available throughout the resort for an additional fee.

Guests looking for complete privacy should consider booking one of the three standalone cottages. The Bird of Paradise cottage has the best location just above the beach. The 2,500 square foot one-bedroom cottage features a living room with a fireplace, a private oceanfront terrace, and separate beach access.

There are several dining and entertainment options. Lido, located above the beach, serves Mediterranean-inspired seafood while a casual dinner under the stars can be enjoyed at Mickey’s Bistro & Bar. The poolside restaurant, Blue Point, offers pizza and sandwiches while the Sea Breeze’s specialities are tapas and sushi.

For a change of scenery and menus you can purchase a Dinner Dine Around package. For a fixed daily price guests can choose to have dinner at the hotel’s restaurants or experience the cuisine at four other restaurants on the island. Participating restaurants are the Fourways Inn (classic French cuisine), Blu (steakhouse at Belmont Hills), the Harbourfront (at the BUEI), the Little Venice (upmarket Italian restaurant in Hamilton) and the dinner restaurants at Elbow Beach (Lido, Mickey’s, and the Sea Breeze).

The hotel boasts a good selection of sporting and recreation facilities. The jewel in its crown is undoubtedly the beach itself. Although much of the pink-sanded beach is open to the public, the hotel has a significant stretch with lounge chairs, umbrellas, towels, changing rooms and showers reserved exclusively for the use of its guests. Don’t worry about beach hawkers. There aren’t any in Bermuda. A full food and beverage service is available on the beach from Mickey’s.

Blue Water Divers operate from the beach and offer guided shore dives and scuba diving lessons. They also rent kayaks, snorkelling gear, sailboats etc. The concession is open between April and October. Strong swimmers can snorkel out 400 yards to see the wreck of the Pollockshields.

The hotel’s free-form swimming pool is adjacent to the main hotel building. It’s temperature-controlled so you can swim comfortably throughout the year. The pool is pretty big and has a shallow end for children, a Jacuzzi, and a deck with plenty of loungers and umbrellas. Private poolside cabanas, each with TV, music system, mini-bar, safe etc. are also available for hotel guests and visitors. They can accommodate 6 people but are quite expensive to rent.

Elbow Beach also boasts a luxury spa. There are six private spa suites where guests can enjoy a variety of treatments, the Finishing Touches Suite for manicures and pedicures, and a boutique. There’s also a fitness room with treadmills, bikes, weights machines, and free weights.

Tennis players will be pleased to learn that the hotel has 5 tennis courts (3 of these can be lit at night). Hotel guests enjoy 1 hour’s complimentary play each day. Tennis lessons and equipment rentals are available from the pro shop.

The nearest golf course is Belmont Hills, but Riddell’s Bay and Turtle Hill are also close by. The concierge can arrange tee times at all of Bermuda’s courses, even the private clubs. The hotel has a small putting green where you can practice before a game.

Guests can take a relaxing walk along the Railway Trail. The Paget section starts close to the Botanical Gardens and runs all the way to Southampton Parish. Sights on the way include Paget Marsh, Warwick Pond, and the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse.

Families and children are not forgotten. Elbow Beach has partnered with several of the island’s cultural and sporting organisations to create the Adventure Camp programme. Kids signing up can enjoy sailing lessons at the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club, take scuba diving lessons with Blue Water Divers, learn about marine biology at BAMZ, or improve their art skills at Masterworks.

Buses offer the cheapest way to see the island and there’s a bus stop right outside the hotel entrance. Bus number 7 stops here and goes to Hamilton and Dockyard. The bus journey to Hamilton takes just 10 minutes. Catch the bus to Dockyard and you could stop off at Warwick Long Bay (the island’s longest beach), Jobson’s Cove (magical beach), Horseshoe Bay (the most popular beach), the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse (great views of the island), Church Bay (the best snorkelling), Somerset Bridge (the smallest drawbridge in the world), or Fort Scaur (historic defences).

Tourists cannot rent cars in Bermuda but there’s a taxi rank right outside the main hotel building. If you want to explore the island with complete freedom you should consider renting a scooter. Elbow Beach Cycles are based at the hotel. In addition to regular gas powered scooters they also rent electric scooters, electric-powered bikes, and mountain bikes. Oleander Cycles are the island’s largest cycle livery and are also based in Paget.

Elbow Beach is situated on South Road in Paget Parish. The hotel is approximately 11 miles from LF Wade International Airport.