There are scenes in Barbados that make you catch your breath, for reasons both picture-perfect – those glorious beaches! Those blue waters! – and profound. We’re travelling in our rental car along the motorway, about 5km east of the capital, Bridgetown, behind lorries full of sugar cane. The roads are fringed with frangipani and palm trees, and lined with large wooden carts filled with coconuts. Bajan drivers often don’t indicate, and our nerves are soon as frayed as a pile of old ropes. We come upon a bronze statue in the middle of a roundabout, hands outstretched, broken chains hanging from his wrists. It’s the Emancipation Statue, a figurehead of Barbados, symbolising the breaking of the chains of slavery. It’s a sharp reminder of a land and a people who have been through centuries of turmoil. Barbados, in the east of the Caribbean, is a former British colony that achieved independence in 1966. There are echoes of that rule everywhere, from the Bajan fondness for cricket to the Georgian-style architecture in Bridgetown.Barbados is a tiny island nation famous for its azure waters, powder-white sands, a moneyed elite scarfing down shrimp on yachts, and as the location where Simon Cowell spends Christmas. It’s that, and it’s different. Barbados is textured: idyllic, historic, relaxing, complicated. We’re here for a week with our three-year-old, and sometimes the landscape tilts so dizzyingly into different world views that, like a kaleidoscope rotating, it gives you vertigo. It’s rum shacks, dirt roads, hot air, the scent of hashish floating on the breeze, singing frogs in the night-time, a fondness for Chris de Burgh’s Lady in Red (yodelled at us in two hotels) and retro moments such as, when driving into a forecourt, having attendants pump your gas. It’s kind locals, stunning beaches, island time (“Soon time!”), and your pulse slowing to move in happy rhythm.Since early April, Aer Lingus has operated a temporary direct service from Dublin to Barbados, primarily to facilitate passengers from the now-closed Manchester route. The route is set to close on May 31st, but there are hopes that it may be continued if Irish interest is high enough. It’s an exciting prospect for my husband – as a former resident of the Caribbean, in St Lucia, he was a regular visitor to Barbados. It’s not long before he’s talking about favourite varieties of rum, perusing his old copy of To Hell or Barbados and enthusing about haunts such as Champers. It’s also exciting for me, a first-time visitor.We’ve opted to go resort-hopping for the week, because although the island is small – just 34km long and 23km wide – the experience in each location is vastly different. The dramatic east coast of Barbados, facing the Atlantic Ocean with its strong swells, is primarily for surfers. The west’s Caribbean side is where you’ll find powdery beaches, tranquil waters and lavish hotels, and the south is a lively mix, offering sometimes uncertain waters, but also convivial nightlife (locals recommend Oistín’s on Fridays for its famous fish fry) and more moderately priced accommodation.Sugar Bay Hotel, Barbados Sugar Bay Hotel, Barbados Champers Barbados is often viewed primarily as a couples destination. In recent years that has been changing a little, with hotels adapting their facilities to suit families. At the beach-fronted Sugar Bay Hotel on the island’s south coast, the hotelier has created a man-made reef, making it easy to bring kids for a dip without fearing the current. Swimming there one morning, I see tiny crabs scuttling over the reef, a fish whisking through shallow waters. There are other delightful surprises. At the swim-up bar, where we sit pink-faced after jumping on the hotel trampoline, we look up to see a monkey scarpering over the rooftop, tail dangling. At the Barbados Wildlife Reserve, vervet monkeys gather in the woods every morning to scoop the apple slices and bananas scattered for their feeding, and enchant the families who have come to gawp. The woods are a helpful respite from the heat: in April the daytime temperature is 30 degrees. We are relieved by the heavy cloud cover, surprised the humidity doesn’t stress us out more. I put it down to the way everything moves to the slower, undulating rhythm of Bajan time, a sense of whatever will be will be. “Did you get the reggae reggae bus?” laughs one English tourist when he hears our accents, referring to the tooth-rattling local bus. “I’ve decided it’s okay if my time is now. I’ve lived long enough.” It’s easy to forget your cares in Barbados. We decline the bus, but staying at the gorgeously tranquil Waves resort on the west coast, we take a five-minute water-taxi cruise (offered throughout the day) from Waves to its sister resort Crystal Cove, where we can access the kids club. Twinning sister hotels to maximise facilities for guests is a smart decision, and one several hotels on the island operate. Sea Breeze House on the island’s south coast has modern, brightly renovated rooms with captivating ocean views and a buzzy atmosphere, designed to appeal to different generations. The all-inclusive hotel is linked to its sister property O2 Beach Club, with guests allowed to access the O2 for a daypass fee, as I discover over a coffee with Jacqui McDermott from the hotel. Snorkelling in Barbados. Photograph: Paul Larrier Sea Breeze Beach House Waves resort, Barbados Tourquise waters off Reeds Bay McDermott was born in London, and has been loving life in Barbados for 26 years, meeting her Manchester-born husband when he was building the island’s Hilton. Her top tips for a great stay? “You must go on a catamaran, swim with the turtles and drink our fantastic rum.” The best rum? “It has to be Mount Gay,” she says, laughing. Barbados is known as the birthplace of rum, and from never drinking the stuff in my life, I become an island convert, partly because Barbados is whack-a-mole for the stuff. When I jump on board a catamaran to go snorkelling, once sails are hoisted, never mind that it’s morning, staff serve up spritzers with gusto.Mid-snorkel, marvelling at the stingrays flapping beneath me like envelopes that have lost their sealant, I surface to discover swimmers bobbing about, supported by foam noodles, with glasses of rum punch aloft, delivered to them in the water by a Tiami Cruise crew member. Everyone is smiling from ear to ear. Back on board, I get chatting to a Barbadian family, there to celebrate their daughter’s 26th birthday. They mention places they enjoy in Barbados, such as St Nicholas Abbey in the parish of St Peter. It’s a former sugar cane plantation that’s now a rum distillery, museum and antique railway. Theo, the family patriarch and former airport worker, thumps his chest. Tears spring to his eyes. “When I see the plantation, I know where we come from,” he says. For Theo’s son, a hotel worker and computer science student, pride in his country stems from a younger generation. Rihanna, a famous Barbadian, is captured in a monument at National Heroes Square in Bridgetown, with a note recognising her musical achievements. “Rihanna was three years ahead of me at school,” he says. “She was modelling. They liked her eyes. It was later she started to sing. She comes back here all the time.”“You’re Irish,” he adds. “So you know JP McManus, John Magnier, Denis O’Brien. I have met all those guys.” “Where?” I ask, a bit astonished to be having a chat with a young Barbadian about Denis O’Brien on a catamaran in Barbados (although maybe that’s exactly where such a conversation would take place). “At parties,” he says. His mother explains he works at Sandy Lane, the starry hotel on the west of the island owned by McManus, Magnier and Dermot Desmond. “You can go for lunch, for afternoon tea. They have two boutiques.” A monument to Rihanna Curiosity gets the better of me. We set off on a typically hair-raising drive for a financially perilous lunch (about $120 per person) at Sandy Lane resort. Once the booking is made, an email arrives, warning no photos may be taken at the resort, unless they’re for personal use only.We sit on the Bajan Blue terrace at a white linen-clad table, looking on to fuchsia-hued beach loungers and yachts moving across the horizon, as American couples and tech bros dot the tables around us. It’s all a bit stiff and awkward, and I feel a keen urge to protect my lunch – a delicious piece of barbecued fish with vegetables – from the small black birds clustering nearby, anxious for a peck. The heat is oppressive. Is it worth it? Not yet. We make for the gift shop, a blissfully air-conditioned space full of chichi dresses, Hamptons-style resort wear and roll-up chess boards. We line up to buy a pair of beach paddles for our little fellow behind an American couple in their 50s. The woman has picked out a pair of Linda Farrow sunglasses. She asks the price. “Don’t worry,” her beau says, with a flap of his hand. “I’ll take care of it.” The damage duly announced, the man turns pale. “What is that in US dollars?” Three sales assistants confer. “Honey, do you usually spend a thousand dollars on a pair of sunglasses?” he says, his tone a bit frantic. The woman stares straight ahead. “Um-hmm,” she says. “Um,” she adds for good measure. Like Beckett, she knows the value of silence. Her beau, defeated, relinquishes his card. The lunch? Enjoyable. The drama? Five stars.People-watching is fun in Barbados. At Champers , a glorious open-fronted restaurant overlooking cresting waves, I give up on eavesdropping to embrace the marvellous scenery and exquisite food. It’s where well-heeled Barbadians go to celebrate big occasions, which tourists also love. Our server mentions in passing that although she loves her job, she doesn’t eat in the restaurant: her kids come to drop off her lunchbox. Bridgetown, Barbados Bridgetown Parliament Lines of division – modern and historical, micro and macro – snake through the island. Our guide, Claudette Levi-Farnum (discoverheritagetours.com), addresses the subject directly on a walking tour of Bridgetown to provide “the unvarnished truth”. She retraces the history of the island, starting in 1536 with the Portuguese landing. She speaks vividly about English plantation owners, the Irish who were moved to Barbados in the 17th century as indentured servants, Barbados’s status as “little England”, and the island of today. “Every Barbadian has a right to free healthcare,” she says.We weave through the city, stepping carefully on to thin-edged pavements near a historic graveyard, and by street corners where old canons have been painted over. It’s busy, colourful and chaotic, as hawkers sell plastic footballs, itsy-bitsy swimwear and tamarind fruit, the brown curved pods with pulp that is tart on the tongue. As locals stream through streets, Claudette shows us some broken-down walls, to display how they are made from coral limestone, the stuff of the island itself. It’s another layer of history lifted and a reminder that for all we’ve learned in a week, we’ve barely scratched the surface. Enchanting, relaxing and multifaceted, Barbados is a fascinating place to holiday. Nadine O’Regan was a guest of the Barbados Tourist Board, Aer Lingus, Sea Breeze House and Sugar Bay Hotel Getting thereSugar Bay balcony view Aer Lingus flies direct to Barbados from Dublin three times a week until May 31st. Fares start at €229 each way. Sugar Bay Hotel is an all-inclusive resort with 138 rooms and suites: prices from €700 per night in May for an ocean front family suite, sleeping five. Sea Breeze House is an all-inclusive resort on the south coast, prices from €506 per night in May for a poolside room, sleeping four. Waves Resort & Spa is an Autograph Collection all-inclusive resort on the west coast. Rates in May for an ocean front room, all-inclusive, with one king bed and one sofa bed, from €598 per night.Travel tipsWith prices in Barbados often sky-high – in part thanks to a reliance on imports – an all-inclusive resort is a smart move. You need a travel visa for the island: it’s free from barbadosedcardform.com (don’t be fooled by the sites that charge). Don’t wear camouflage – it’s forbidden in Barbados. But do bring swimming shoes: there are often pebbles. All the beaches are public, so you can venture anywhere. A rash vest is also a good idea to protect yourself from the sun, and mosquito spray is a must. If you’re bringing a small child on their first long-haul flight, I’d recommend talking to them about it lot ahead of time. I also bought some cheap aircraft-friendly toys from Tiger, lots of snacks, and old favourite books and teddies for comfort. If I was doing it again, I would buy a blow-up toddler aeroplane bed so his legs wouldn’t dangle (we used a bag for his legs to rest on, which worked fine). Bulkhead seats are also ideal as you have more room to manoeuvre. We were surprised – and relieved – by how easy the experience was in the end. For all our worries about the flight time, our three-year-old’s take on the matter was definitive: “Barbados was the best holiday ever.”