The short version
- Hamilton Princess sits in town, on Hamilton Harbour. Its beach is elsewhere, on the south shore, and a hotel shuttle takes you there.
- Around 300 works of art through the corridors, lobby and restaurants: Picasso, Matisse, Warhol, Banksy, Koons, Haring. It is a museum you sleep in.
- Open since 1885, known as the Pink Palace, comprehensively renovated since 2012.
- Five restaurants, two pools including an adults-only one, an 8,000 square foot spa and a 59-berth marina.
First thing to understand: where is the beach?
Hamilton Princess is not a beach hotel, and that is the point to settle first because everything else follows from it.
The hotel stands on Hamilton Harbour on Pitts Bay Road, a few minutes on foot from downtown. In front of you are sailboats, the marina and harbour water, not sand.
The beach exists, on the other side of the island. The Princess Beach Club occupies a crescent of pink sand at Sinky Bay on the south shore, and the hotel shuttle runs there from the main entrance. On site: three beaches, hammocks strung above the water, rock pools of warm seawater, cabanas with food service, tennis and pickleball, and a children's play area.
For a good many travellers this is the best of both worlds: town on foot morning and evening, private beach in the afternoon. For anyone who wants to open the patio door onto sand, this is not the address, and your advisor will point you to the south shore.
The art collection, and why it changes the stay
The Green family bought the hotel in 2012 and invested heavily. They also hung their collection here, and it has become the signature of the house.
Roughly 300 works are spread through the property: Picasso, Matisse, Magritte, Warhol, Banksy, Jeff Koons, Yayoi Kusama, Takashi Murakami, David Hockney, Keith Haring, KAWS, Robert Rauschenberg, Ai Weiwei. They are not shut away in one room. They hang in the corridors, at the spa, in the restaurants, where you pass ten times a day.
Specialist-led tours run on weekends, and the concierge also provides access to a self-guided route. Even without any background in art, rounding a corner into a Warhol on your way to lunch changes the texture of a stay.
That is the argument to hold onto if you are undecided: no other hotel in the archipelago offers it.
Getting to Bermuda from Canada
A non-stop flight links Montreal to Bermuda, with a few departures a week in season. The window is narrow, and outside those departures you connect, usually through Toronto or the US east coast.
Combinations change from one season to the next, and the good departures go early. Call 1 866 628-6241 before you settle your dates rather than after.
Allow about thirty minutes by road from the airport to Hamilton. A taxi is the normal answer, and your advisor can book the transfer in advance.
When to go
Bermuda lies in the North Atlantic, roughly a thousand kilometres off the coast of North Carolina. The Gulf Stream softens the climate without making it tropical.
From June through October the sea is pleasant, peaking near 27 degrees in August: that is Beach Club season. From November through March, days run around 20 to 22 degrees and the sea drops to 19 or 20.
Here is why this address holds up better than the others in winter: when swimming turns bracing, you still have an entire town to explore on foot, a spa, an art collection and five restaurants. An isolated beach resort has no such reserve. This is the Bermuda address that stands up all year.
April and May are the driest months. Hurricane season runs June to November, peaking August to October, and cancellation coverage earns its keep then.
The rooms
The hotel holds roughly 386 rooms and suites, making it one of the largest properties in the archipelago. Views divide between the harbour and the town, and the price follows the view.
A Fairmont Gold floor works as a hotel within the hotel, with its own lounge and dedicated service. Family suites are available too.
The useful advice: say precisely what you want to see from your window. On the harbour side you get sailboats and sunsets. On the town side you pay less and sleep just as well, but the view is not the postcard. Your advisor has the request written onto the file, which a booking site does not do.
Eating and drinking
Five dining outlets on site. Crown and Anchor, which also serves afternoon tea and runs weekend events. Intrepid for steaks, seafood and the raw bar. The Duchess, café and gelateria. 1609, on the water, in season. And the marina bar.
The real luxury of this address is not being captive. You are on foot from Front Street and all of central Hamilton, the only real town in the archipelago. A good table is five minutes' walk away, an advantage isolated resorts cannot offer.
The pools, the spa and the marina
Two pools: an infinity pool overlooking the harbour, and an adults-only thermal pool built for quiet. The Driftwood spa covers 8,000 square feet.
The marina holds 59 berths and runs full service. Boats and water sports equipment are rented there, and several outings at sea leave from it.
Getting around without a car
Visitors cannot rent cars in Bermuda. It is a long-standing government rule, made to protect the character of the island and its narrow roads.
What remains: public buses, pink on main routes and blue on local lines, ferries, metered taxis at regulated rates, 50cc scooters requiring no motorcycle licence, electric minicars restricted to drivers 25 and over, and bicycles. Multi-day passes cover buses and ferries together.
On this front Hamilton Princess is unbeatable. The bus terminal and the ferry dock are in town, within walking distance. You can range across the whole archipelago from your room without ever getting on a scooter, and walk home in the evening. No other hotel in Bermuda offers that freedom.
What to do in Hamilton
Front Street with its pastel shopfronts, the Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity and its climbable tower, the Bermuda National Gallery, City Hall, and the harbour terraces at the end of the day.
The ferry reaches the Royal Naval Dockyard in about twenty minutes, home to the national museum and the old Royal Navy warehouses. In the other direction, St. George's, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, makes a day trip.
And the Railway Trail, the old rail line turned footpath, is picked up a few minutes away and crosses the island well clear of the road.
Who it suits
Hamilton Princess is built for travellers who want town as much as sea, who plan to dine out and explore, for lovers of art and architecture, for an off-season stay where the beach is not the whole programme, and for business and conference travel.
If you want to open your door onto sand and move only for meals, say so to your advisor. We have the seaside addresses you want: Coco Reef on the south shore, Grotto Bay with its two private beaches, or The St. Regis Bermuda Resort at St. George's.
What to know before you book
The beach is reached by shuttle, and that has to be accepted from the outset. In poor weather or out of season the Beach Club may run on reduced hours, so check its schedule with your advisor against your dates.
This is also a large hotel, with the movement and bustle of a near-400-room property that hosts conferences. Anyone after the hush of a small address will find it elsewhere.
That said, Hamilton Princess does exactly what it says, and has done since 1885. It is the institution of Bermuda, the one that has seen everybody pass through, and it holds its rank.
Booking with an advisor
Three things are settled better by phone: the view from your room, the hours and workings of the Beach Club shuttle for your season, and the flight combination from Montreal, which needs care this year.
For the destination as a whole, see our page on travel to Bermuda and our selection of places to stay in Bermuda.
A Voyages AquaTerra advisor will take your call at 1 866 628-6241.
