Bermuda Villas, Cottages and Suite Rentals
If you are planning a Bermuda trip and the idea of a hotel room feels limiting, you have other options. Villas, cottages, suites, and cottage colonies offer more space, often with a kitchen, a private patio or garden, and a slower pace than a hotel room. They suit honeymooners, families, longer stays, and anyone who wants to cook a few meals or just spread out.
I have been writing about Bermuda's accommodations since 2008, and the picture has shifted in recent years. Several large cottage colonies that defined Bermuda hospitality for decades have closed. What remains is a smaller but still rich set of choices. In this guide I will tell you what to expect, what each currently operating property is like, and how to pick the right one for your trip.
What to expect
A few things are worth knowing before you start looking.
Bermuda is expensive. Cottages and villas are no exception. The more affordable options start around 200 to 300 USD per night for two people. Mid-range cottage colonies run 350 to 600 a night. Luxury properties such as Cambridge Beaches can run 700 a night and well above for premium rooms. Add a 7.25 percent hotel occupancy tax, a 4.5 percent tourism tax, and often a service charge of 10 to 15 percent on top of the room rate. Always ask for the all-in price before booking, not just the room rate.
Most cottages and villas have a kitchen or a kitchenette, which is a real advantage in Bermuda where dining out adds up fast. Even a few simple breakfasts and lunches prepared in your own kitchen can save you 100 USD or more a day for a couple. Grocery stores are well stocked but pricey, since almost everything is imported.
Some properties require a minimum stay, often three to seven nights. Others charge by the night like a hotel. Cottage colonies that operate as resorts (Cambridge Beaches, Coral Beach Club, Fourways Inn) usually accept shorter stays. Smaller standalone cottages may prefer five nights or longer.
WiFi is now standard at most properties, but the speed varies. Confirm before booking if you need to work remotely.
You cannot rent a car as a visitor in Bermuda. Plan to use the bus and ferry system, rent a scooter, hire taxis, or use a small electric Twizy. The location of your villa or cottage matters more than it would at a destination where you can drive yourself everywhere.
📖 Planning a trip to Bermuda?
Get our practical Bermuda travel guides with insider tips and ready-to-use planning insights.
View Guides
Used by thousands of travelers planning Bermuda trip
The kinds of accommodation in this category
To keep things clear, here is how I think about the choices.
Hotel suites are larger units inside a regular hotel, with a separate living room and sometimes a kitchenette. You get the convenience of hotel services (restaurant, room service, daily housekeeping, concierge) plus more space. Hamilton Princess, The Loren at Pink Beach, Rosewood Bermuda, and a few others have suite categories.
Cottage colonies are clusters of individual cottages on a shared property, with a clubhouse, restaurant, pool, and often a beach or waterfront. They feel like resorts but with cottage privacy. Cambridge Beaches and Coral Beach Club are the surviving classic examples.
Standalone cottages are private rentals, sometimes one or two units on a residential property. You get full kitchens, private outdoor space, and complete privacy. Grape Bay Cottages is the clearest example.
Guest houses with cottages offer a few rooms in a main house plus one or two separate cottages on the same property. Family-run, personal, often the best value. Granaway and Greenbank fall into this category.
Currently operating properties
I will go through the main ones, what they offer, and who they suit. All information here is verified as of 2026.
Cambridge Beaches, Sandys Parish
This is Bermuda's flagship cottage colony, operating since 1923 on a 23-acre peninsula at the western end of the island. The property has 87 rooms across cottages and suites, four private beaches, two pools, a spa, three restaurants, tennis courts, croquet, and a marina.
Cambridge Beaches is adults-only. Children under 13 are not accepted. This makes it a particularly strong choice for honeymooners, anniversaries, and adult couples wanting quiet. The atmosphere is more refined than party-resort, more cottage charm than glass-and-steel luxury.
The property is far from Hamilton, about an hour by bus or scooter. That isolation is part of the appeal but can feel limiting if you want to explore daily. Most guests settle into the property and venture out a few times during their stay rather than commuting in and out.
Rates are at the high end. A standard cottage room in summer typically starts above 700 USD a night. Suites and pool cottages run higher.
If you can afford it and you want the classic Bermuda cottage colony experience, Cambridge Beaches is the most complete version still operating.
Coral Beach Club, Paget Parish
Coral Beach Club is a private members-only club with 9 cottages, 26 rooms, and 5 suites on 26 acres above one of Bermuda's prettiest stretches of pink sand on the south shore. The club has been operating since the 1940s in its current form, with parts of the property dating to the 1600s.
Photo: Coral Beach and Tennis Club
Because it is members-only, you cannot just book a stay. You need either an introduction from an existing member or reciprocal membership at a club with a Coral Beach connection. Cruise ship passengers can use the club for a day without introduction.
The cottages vary from one to five bedrooms and are individually styled, with kitchens, fireplaces, and private patios. The setting, food, and tennis facilities are excellent. The lodging itself, by recent reports, is showing some wear and the property has been in slow renovation. Pay luxury prices, expect classic charm rather than modern polish.
If you can secure access, Coral Beach Club offers something genuinely different: the sense of a private island club, with one of the best beaches in Bermuda right outside.
Fourways Inn, Paget Parish
Fourways Inn is a small cottage colony with 11 cottages clustered around a freshwater pool on a property dating to 1727. Its real claim to fame is the on-site restaurant, which has long been one of the most respected fine-dining spots in Bermuda. Many guests come for the cottages partly because of the restaurant.
The cottages themselves are spacious, well-kept, with private balconies, refrigerators, microwaves, and continental breakfast brought to your room each morning. Andy and Alex, who run the property, are known for personal attention to every guest. Repeat visitors come back year after year.
Pricing is moderate by Bermuda standards. Standard rooms start around 165 USD a night, suites around 189 to 210 USD, plus taxes. For Bermuda, that is excellent value.
Location is central in Paget Parish. Buses are a short walk away. Hamilton is 10 minutes by bus or taxi. The south shore beaches are about a mile away.
This is my pick if you want a small cottage colony experience with great food, attentive hosts, and reasonable prices. Particularly good for couples celebrating an occasion.
Granaway Guest House, Warwick Parish
Granaway is a 1734 pink manor house on Harbour Road overlooking the Great Sound. It has four guest rooms in the main house and one separate cottage with full kitchen, fireplace, and private garden. Hosts Carol, Michael, and Francisco have been running it for many years.
The cottage at Granaway is a special place. Hand-painted Italian floor tiles, a fireplace for cool winter evenings, air conditioning for summer, full kitchen, and a private sunning garden. It works for couples wanting privacy or a small family that does not need separate bedrooms.
Photo: Granaway
Continental breakfast (fresh muffins, fruits, sometimes bananas from their own garden) is served each morning in the dining room or delivered to your room on a Bermuda cedar tray. The pool sits in a tropical garden behind the house.
A back gate opens onto the 17th hole of Belmont Hills Golf Course. The Belmont ferry stop is a five-minute walk away, with direct ferries to Hamilton in about 20 minutes. The south shore beaches are a short cab ride.
Rates are at the lower end of Bermuda's price range, around 175 to 225 USD per night for double rooms in summer, 250 to 325 USD for the cottage.
Granaway suits travelers who want character, history, and personal hospitality over the polish of a resort. The reviews from repeat visitors going back two decades tell you what to expect.
Kingston House, Hamilton
Kingston House is a small bed and breakfast on Turnstile Lane in Hamilton, run by Harry and Marlie Powell. The property is a stately two-story Bermuda stone building built in 1921 by Harry's grandfather as the family homestead, converted to a B&B in 1999.
The house has four guest rooms, all with en-suite bathrooms, hardwood or Italian tile floors, central air conditioning, smart TVs, hair dryers, and heated towel rails. The grounds include a heated lap pool, mature gardens, wide porches, and a guest galley with refrigerator and microwave for self-service use. WiFi runs throughout the property.
Photo: Kingston House
Breakfasts are chef-cooked to order with locally sourced eggs, fresh fruit, artisan breads, fair trade organic coffee, and a wide selection of teas. Vegetarian and gluten-free options are available. The breakfast room opens onto a pool patio.
Kingston House is adults-only and non-smoking. The atmosphere is quiet and personal, with most guests being older couples or solo business travelers. The Powells are well-known for personal hospitality and detailed local knowledge.
Location is in a quiet residential garden suburb on the west side of Hamilton, about a mile from the city centre. Hamilton's restaurants, shops, ferry terminal, and bus terminal are 10 to 15 minutes' walk. The walk into town has limited sidewalks in places, so a taxi is wise after dark. South shore beaches are 15 to 20 minutes by taxi.
The property holds a Tripadvisor Travelers' Choice award with a very high rating across more than 330 reviews.
Kingston House suits travelers who want a small, refined, family-run B&B in central Hamilton over a hotel or beach resort. Particularly good for adult couples, solo travelers, and business visitors who value quiet character and a quality breakfast over beach proximity.
Greenbank Cottages, Paget Parish
Greenbank sits on the Salt Kettle peninsula in Paget Parish, with beautiful water views of the Great Sound. The Ashton family has run it for over 65 years. It is now managed by Melanie, the daughter of the family.
The main house is around two centuries old, with cedar beams that came as ballast on colonial-era sailing ships. Rooms and cottages have private patios with garden or harbour views. Most units have fully equipped kitchenettes. Two double rooms without kitchens have continental breakfast delivered to the door.
Photo: Greenbank Cottages
The property has its own dock for swimming. The Salt Kettle ferry stop is a minute's walk away, with the pink ferry route running directly to Hamilton in about seven minutes. Bus connections are not as convenient, so most guests use the ferry into Hamilton and rent scooters or use taxis for the south shore beaches.
Rates are reasonable by Bermuda standards. Repeat guests come back every year.
Greenbank suits travelers who want quiet, water views, ferry access to Hamilton, and a small family-run property over a corporate hotel. Less polished than a resort, more authentic in feel.
Grape Bay Cottages, Paget Parish
Grape Bay Cottages are two private self-catering cottages on a private beach in Paget. The property has been run by Maria and Doug Frith for many years and consistently ranks at the top of Bermuda's specialty lodging on Tripadvisor.
The two cottages, Beach Crest and Beach Home, each have two bedrooms, full kitchen, living and dining room, bathroom, fireplace, and private patio. Beach Home sits directly on the beach. Beach Crest is slightly elevated and overlooks the bay. Each accommodates four adults or a family of five.
Photo: Grape Bay Cottage
Both cottages have full kitchens, cable TV, DVD player, WiFi, air conditioning, charcoal barbecue, and beach equipment including chairs, umbrellas, and a drinks cooler. Maid service runs Monday through Saturday for bedrooms and living rooms but not for kitchens, since these are self-catering.
The beach is private and quiet. Grape Bay itself has small sand and rock pools at the eastern end which are good for children. The cottages are often booked six months ahead. Minimum stay is five nights. Rates start around 315 USD per night plus taxes.
Location is central in Paget. The nearest bus stop on Route 7 is a 10 to 15 minute walk. The nearest grocery store is 15 minutes' walk. Hamilton is 10 minutes by taxi.
Grape Bay Cottages suit couples or small families who want a private beach house experience, are willing to cook for themselves, and value quiet over hotel amenities. The repeat-guest pattern, with some travelers returning for over 20 years, tells you what kind of place this is.
Properties that have closed
If you have been to Bermuda before or read older guidebooks, you may remember some grand cottage colonies and guest houses that no longer operate.
Pink Beach Club closed in 2013 and was redeveloped into
The Loren at Pink Beach, a 60-room boutique hotel that opened in 2017. The Loren is operating but is a very different property from the original cottage colony.
Horizons and Cottages, which dated to 1922 as Bermuda's oldest cottage colony, closed in 2010 and has been used as long-term residential housing since.
9 Beaches, an eco-resort on the western tip with 84 cabanas on stilts, closed in 2010 and remains closed. Various redevelopment plans have not materialized. The beaches themselves are still publicly accessible.
Mazarine by the Sea on the north shore in Pembroke, run by the Dismont family for over 45 years, has closed.
Clear View Suites and Villas in Hamilton Parish closed in 2018. Garden House in Sandys Parish closed.
If your memory of Bermuda includes any of these, plan around their absence. The replacement options are fewer but still solid.
How to choose
A few practical thoughts on matching property to traveler.
If you are a couple celebrating an occasion (honeymoon, anniversary, milestone birthday) and budget allows, Cambridge Beaches gives you the complete classic Bermuda cottage colony experience. Adults-only, beautiful peninsula, full resort amenities.
If you want a cottage colony experience at a more reasonable price with great food and personal attention, Fourways Inn is the strongest current choice. Smaller, more intimate, with one of Bermuda's best restaurants right on the property.
If you want a charming, family-run guest house with a separate cottage and Bermudian character, Granaway is hard to beat. Long history, repeat guests, harbor views, ferry to Hamilton.
If you want to be right on a private beach in your own self-catering cottage, with privacy as the priority, Grape Bay Cottages is the answer. Book early, since they fill up months ahead.
If you want quiet water views, ferry access to Hamilton, and reasonable prices in a long-running family-run property, Greenbank Cottages on Salt Kettle is a strong choice.
If you want a refined adults-only B&B within walking distance of Hamilton, with chef-cooked breakfasts and the character of a 1921 Bermudian family home, Kingston House is the practical choice. Particularly good for adult couples, solo travelers, and business visitors who value quiet character over beach proximity.
If you have access to Coral Beach Club through a member, take it. The beach alone is worth it.
For longer stays (a week or more) almost any of these properties become more affordable per night, and the kitchen in your unit will save real money on food. Multi-bedroom cottages also work well for two couples or a family willing to share, splitting the cost.
Sunset from Grape Bay Cottage
Photo: Grape Bay Cottages
A final thought
Bermuda's cottage and villa accommodation is a smaller world than it was twenty years ago, but the properties that remain offer something hotels cannot. Space, character, kitchens, and a sense of staying somewhere rather than just sleeping somewhere.
If you are still deciding, my suggestion is to choose based on what you want your days in Bermuda to feel like. A cottage colony with a clubhouse and beach service feels like a resort vacation. A small guest house with a separate cottage feels like staying with friends in their family home.
A private cottage on a private beach feels like having your own piece of the island for a week. All three are valid Bermuda experiences. The right one depends on your travel style.
Whichever you choose, book early for summer (May through September). The supply is small, the demand is real, and the best units go months in advance.
About the Author
By Raj Bhattacharya
Raj has been writing about Bermuda since 2008, when he launched bermuda-attractions.com, one of the longest-standing independent guides to the island. A Certified Bermuda Specialist (Bermuda Tourism Authority), his work draws on personal visits, local contacts in Bermuda, and questions and trip reports from thousands of readers over the years.
Related Articles
|
Visitors' Reviews and Comments
Review and share your experience.
|
