Ordinary car hire simply does not exist for visitors here. Private cars are reserved for residents and strictly rationed, to keep the narrow lanes clear, which means the boats and buses are not a fallback but the actual transport system, and the timetable ends up shaping your day. One more thing is worth knowing before booking anything: despite the pastel houses and the pink sand, this is not the Caribbean. It is a subtropical island out in the North Atlantic beyond the American east coast, kept mild by the Gulf Stream and a long way north of the tropics. What looks like a single island is really a cluster stitched together by bridges, reading as three ends of one long hook: Saint George's and its forts in the east, Hamilton and the ferry terminal in the middle, the Royal Naval Dockyard inside its fortress walls in the west, with the pink south shore beaches at Horseshoe Bay strung between them.
The airport sits at the eastern end, with short flights from the American east coast and longer ones from Britain and Canada. Almost everything is imported, which makes this an expensive place to eat and sleep, and the warm months take the good rooms early. The local dollar is pegged to the American one and both circulate freely, so there is no currency puzzle to solve on arrival. It is worth a moment to compare flights and hotels for Bermuda and choose your parish before your hotel, because without a car the distance between your bed and the beach becomes a daily decision.
Entry is simple, but it is widely misreported. The paid travel authorisation introduced during the pandemic, with its fixed fee and proof of vaccination, was abolished years ago, and commercial sites still selling it are selling nothing. What replaced it is the Bermuda Arrival Card, a free digital form that every non-resident arriving by air or yacht completes before landing, with no approval process and no fee attached. Cruise passengers are exempt from it entirely. Bring the passport book rather than a card, since the card is not valid for international flights, and expect to be asked for a return or onward ticket and the name of somewhere to stay. Because third-party pages contradict each other, check the official government site rather than a search result.
Where you stay matters more than usual. In Hamilton, city hotels stand near Front Street and the ferry terminal, which is the best base if you intend to live on public transport. Along the south shore in Warwick and Southampton, resort hotels face the pink sand below Gibbs Hill Lighthouse. In Saint George's, small historic inns and guesthouses sit around King's Square, quiet and a long way from everything else. Out west in Sandys, apartment rentals and cottage guesthouses gather near the Dockyard ferry landing.
Transport is the thing to get right, so what you book is a transport pass, a transfer and a boat trip, never a hire car, which is not on offer at all. A pass covers buses and ferries together, for a day or for several, and can be bought through the government transport app rather than hunted down at a kiosk. Cash is not accepted on the boats, so arrive at the dock with a token or a pass already in hand. The routes themselves need reading: the fast link between Hamilton and the Dockyard runs all year, the crossing from the Dockyard to Saint George's is seasonal and disappears over winter, and two of the remaining routes are weekday commuter services rather than sightseeing ones. Taxis are plentiful and costly. Anyone wanting their own wheels takes a scooter or one of the small two-seat electric rentals, remembering that driving is on the left, helmets are required, and scooters account for a real share of holiday injuries on wet, narrow roads. You can check transfer and boat trip options around Bermuda and buy a pass when you land.
Season decides both the swimming and the timetable. The sea is properly swimmable from late spring into autumn, which is also when the island is fullest and dearest and when the seasonal ferry actually runs. Winter turns mild, green and easier on a budget, with golf, walking and empty beaches instead of swimming, and a thinner boat schedule that pushes you onto the buses. The Atlantic hurricane season runs through late summer and autumn, so insurance stops being optional in those months and a flexible booking earns its small premium. The water is clear enough that snorkelling straight off the sand works without a boat, and the wrecks scattered offshore are the reason divers come here at all. Personally, I would base myself in Hamilton for the ferries, take the boat west on one day and the bus east on another, and let the beaches fill whatever is left.
Q: Do you need a travel authorisation for Bermuda?
A: No. The paid authorisation from the pandemic years was abolished, and sites still charging for it are selling nothing. Visitors arriving by air or yacht complete the free Bermuda Arrival Card before they land, while cruise passengers complete nothing. Check the official government site, because third-party pages disagree.
Q: Can visitors rent a car in Bermuda?
A: No. Ordinary car hire is not available to tourists, since private cars are restricted to residents. Visitors use buses, ferries and taxis, or rent a scooter or a small two-seat electric vehicle.
Q: How do the ferries in Bermuda work?
A: Colour-coded routes run from Hamilton, and one pass covers buses and ferries together. Cash is not accepted on board, so buy a token or a pass first. The crossing to Saint George's is seasonal, and two routes are weekday commuter services.
Q: Is Bermuda in the Caribbean?
A: No. It lies in the North Atlantic off the American east coast, well north of the Caribbean, and its climate is subtropical rather than tropical.
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