Thirsty Thursdays: Top 11 Bars in Dominica🇩🇲The Green💚Island🏝️

“You should never fight your feelings. You have to follow nature’s law” – Embrace.

I arrived into Dominica a little later than expected and it was really a crazy few days of whackpacking travel in December 2021. Here is why – I was backpacking in Dominica during the pandemic, after some truly personal struggles and I ended up doing 17 PCR tests in 12 countries in a one month period.

Everyone was mask loyal and the process for me to backpack through about 15 countries in a 6 month period was tasking me, and at times stressing me out, with a hat-trick of countries having to fall by the wayside – Bermuda, Martinique and quirky Mustique/The Grenadines (though I did manage to backpack Saint Vincent). I battled on, motored on and revelled in the uncertainty of it all, where by accident and flight/boat issues, I managed to backpack through Tortola, Beef Island, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, Guadeloupe and Curacao.

Getting Into Dominica

What might surprise you was that Dominica was very difficult to get into – back in December 2021 it was extremely strict. I needed a visa, a hotel booking, a flight in and out, a stringent online process, a payment of XCD$100, a PCR test in advance, 2 COVID vaccinations, another PCR test on arrival, and another one on departure. Below are only some of the protocols I had to adhere to in order to add this country to my 230 country whackpacking journey, including paying XCD$100 in advance for an Antigen test to be done on arrival.

Due to all that madness, I only focused on three places here when backpacking Dominica🇩🇲-

1.Jacko Falls.
2.Emerald Pool and Emerald Falls.
3.Backpacking the sights of the capital city Roseau.

Luckily, Jacko Falls, Emerald Pool and Emerald Falls are close to each other, so you can hire a driver or get a taxi to cover both on the same day. I needed this to save time due to having to do a wild FOUR COVID PCR tests in FIVE days. Nuts, but true. My timeline was a bit like this…

26th December – PCR test in Saint Lucia (so that I could get out of Saint Lucia and into Dominica!).
27th December – Early morning I got my negative reseult in Saint Lucia. Evening flight to Dominica. PCR test on arrival at the airport Dominica (so that I could get past immigration and actually into Dominica). That PCR test result took 45 minutes and was an instant negative.
28th December – PCR test in Roseau, Dominica (so that I could get out of Dominica and into Guadeloupe!).
29th December – Early morning I got my negative result in Dominica. Evening flight to Guadeloupe.
30th December – Flight Guadeloupe to Saint Martin / Sant Maarten and had to do a PCR test on arrival as the old one was expired and I had to backpack Guadeloupe, Saint Martin, Sant Maarten and Antigua in the space of 3 days. Later that day, I went back to the PCR test hut and got my negative result. Phew! Not only was wearing a mask becoming monotonous, but I even whipped all my clothes off for proper social distancing at Jacko Falls. Some might say Wacko Jacko!

As well as that hat-trick of Roseau, Jacko Falls and Emerald Falls of course, I planned to visit the bars…and I was certainly looking forward to this one!

This time, I’ll list the bars in chronological order that I was in them.

1.Monkey Hill Bar

My taxi driver was really an excellent guy. If I wanted, I could stop anywhere for photos, for a beer, for a snack, to check out a place. He knew I wanted to try my first ever Dominica beer on arrival and he took me to a bar in Monkey Hill. Due to COVID restrictions at the time, it was after the watershed and I could only buy this beer to take away. Of course, I chose the national beer, Kubuil, which would become my standard for a hat-trick of fast days here. Instead of drinking it in the car, I drank it in the car!

2.Roseau Valley Hotel Bar

I stayed in the magnificent Roseau Valley Hotel – please book it – I had a superb suite with a view into the greenery of this beautiful nature island. There is a bar on the right hand side by the lobby. Unfortunately as I was there during COVID, there were no other guests and no need to open that bar 24/7 but just ask the staff to get you a beer and they will bring you some.

(3.Red Herring – The Windsor Park Bar!!)

I’ve thrown in a red herring in here as a fake news alert! The reason is I was shocked that Dominica play their home matches at a stadium called Windsor Park, the same name as Northern Ireland’s national stadium! I had the same hat on that I have worn at Windsor Park in Belfast in 4 different decades!

And then suddenly 21 years later I had to get a PCR test in Windsor Park!

What was even more crazy for me, was that I actually HAD to go there anyway – a visit was mandatory as this building (and the airport in Marigot) were the only places you could get a COVID PCR test. I had to go sharply on Day 2 at 9.00 a.m. because the result takes 24 hours and I was flying out the following evening. The queue was massive and annoying, as it was in those COVID PCR Loyal days. I wanted to have a beer out the back at Windsor Park but sadly there was no sport being played – cricket and football were cancelled due to the pandemic. Plus I never drank alcohol before my PCR tests as I always worried it might affect the result. I did most of my 17 PCR tests in the mornings, apart from Saint Martin, Seychelles, Poland (twice), London, Northern Ireland and the first one in Dominica.

I saw the bar at Windsor Park, but alas it was shut. I wanted a beer after doing my PCR test, and so I made the short walk down a hill to the city centre of Roseau, where I found the handy wee Bar 52!

4.Bar 52

Downtown I spied a very local wee bar in a wooden building, it was open and welcoming so in I popped and had an ice cold Kubuli in here.

We all had to wear masks but I still chatted to the customers and staff.

They had the lovely Dominica Flag in the window and a sign saying NO MASK NO ENTRY.

I was lucky to be one of the only 4 guests they were allowed, a trait at the time where each bar in Dominica had a limit of how many guests could visit.

5.Ruins Rock Bar

I loved the quirky Ruins Rock Bar and felt sad that COVID had cut their trade. This was a massive room with a cool kitchen, a bar of beers, cocktails and lots of flags up!

I had a cold Kubuli and a spicy fish roll here. I was their only customer at that time sadly.

6.JR’s Bar And Grill

I popped in here to the trendy JR’s Bar And Grill during the late afternoon and managed to watch Leicester City v Liverpool live on the TV whilst sipping a cold Kubuli, the local beer of course.

JR#s surprisingly had good Wi0Fi, the only bar on this list with Wi’Fi except for my hotel and the iffy Airport Wi-Fi!

7.Hi Rise Beach Bar

Hi Rise Beach Bar is probably the pinnacle and the highlight due to the incredibly impressive and emotional balcony sunsets!

This was the bar to really chill out and enjoy Dominica. I loved life again! They also sold an exclusive craft beer of their own, called Sairi, so I had a few of these. It was so good, I also popped in the day after to buy 2 to take away, so that I could drink one down by Emerald Falls.

In here, I drank a fair few rum punches, which I got addicted to on all my trips to the Caribbean!

I will give a shout out to the barman here, Jameh in the photo below. I watched the sunset and nightfall and moonrise here.

8.La Petite Bistro

I munched a pizza in La Petite Bistro in central Roseau. In fact, I couldn’t finish it and ended up getting a taxi after a final beer, back to the Roseau Valley Hotel and I brought the pizza with me and it was my lunch the next day!

9.The Orchard (At Arrivals in the Airport)

You can have a drink in The Orchard even if you are not getting a flight, and yes you could even do that during COVID. I’m hand luggage loyal so I didn’t need to check any luggage in to my flight. I had a quick beer in here, then got my boarding pass for the direct flight with Winnair / Air Antilles from Dominica Marigot to Pointe A Pietre in Guadeloupe.

10.The Airport Oasis (At Departures in the Airport)

My flight had a slight delay and in the bar at departures I had another quick beer. Except it was the same bar with a different name and a different door. Answers on a postcard! Surely I couldn’t enter from arrivals and departures? By this point they must have closed the front door entrance for the non-passengers.

I had a second beer in the same bar from the other side!

11.The Belfast Rum Bar (Airport Shop, Departure Lounge and Flight)

In the end, my flight was delayed further giving me less time in Guadeloupe and more time in the airport to finish drinkpacking Dominica Away. By now, I had missed sunset and I had a nosey in the shop and found they had souvenirs, and alcohol…

They had a Belfast Rum punch, so naturally I was way too curious so I had to buy it and try it in the departure lounge. I had never drank this before ever, noe even seen it. Dominica away and due to my flight delay I got to drink Belfast Rum in the Caribbean! They had spices too, but they were over 100 ml so I skipped them as they’d be blocked on my next flight, but the Rum would be finished.

When my flight was called I quickly bought another mini-bottle of the Belfast Rum punch as it was the first time I’d ever seen it. I had no idea it existed and as I write this in February 2025, I haven’t seen it since. I met a guy called Tajuma who was sitting beside me on this short flight to Guadeloupe and we shared the rest of the Belfast Rum together on ROOT till that there Guadeloupe…

Here are some videos I made from the bars of Dominica: