Grand Hyatt Baha Mar - Activities

You’ll find a variety of activities to do here at the Baha Mar. Some will cost money, but there are a decent number of free activities too.

*Checking out what the Baha Mar resort has to offer*

View other posts in this series:

Activity Sheet

When you check in, you’ll receive a detailed list of potential activities you could do, a list of restaurant opening times, and any events found at the resort. You’ll find a copy of what we received below.

What’s also nice is that age restrictions are generally listed on the sheet.

0010_241210211617_001 Download

Outdoor Sports

If you go outdoors past Pizza Lab, you’ll find the outdoor recreation area where you can play a variety of sports, including tennis, pickleball, mini golf, bocce, croquet, and basketball. It’s a pleasant outdoor area, but it’s first-come-first-served over here.

Mini Blue miniature golf is not complimentary and costs $25 + 10% VAT for guests aged six and older (free for those five and under) or $30 + 10% VAT if you’re not a resort guest. The hours of operation are:

Mon, Tues, Wed: 2PM – 10:30PM
Thurs to Sun: 10AM – 10:30PM

It’s a very simple course, so don’t be expecting any crazy obstacles like in Happy Gilmore. You can walk right up to the area even if you’re not a paying guest and sometimes I saw people leave behind their putters and golf balls unattended. I’ll let you read between the lines on that one.

The basketball court was a nightly routine for us, given eight-year-old Alex’s passion for the sport. It was also nice to get some exercise after a very filling dinner to help with digestion. Basketballs are just left on a rack by the side of the court, so if you want to play, there’s no need to talk to any employees. You can come here at any time of day (which we did) and you’ll generally find it’s not too crowded here though there are times when you’ll need to share with others. The outdoor court is pretty nice and most balls were properly inflated.

We didn’t much of an opportunity to try out the other sports here. Sometimes the equipment was left out and sometimes it wasn’t.

Cooking Class (Paid Activity)

Located right underneath Café Madeleine and next to the (not free) kids club, you’ll find the cooking class. There tends to be at least one class here daily and you can easily make reservations online.

We signed up both our children for the Mini Master Culinary Adventure to make Bahamian banana bread. It’s a little confusing online which ages are eligible to participate as the age range first states it’s open to ages 7-17, but then also lists that children under seven require adult accompaniment. I can confirm that it’s perfectly fine to bring a child younger than the stated age range. Accompanying adults do not need to reserve a spot and are free. It cost us a total of $187 (including VAT) for two spots in this cooking class.

We showed up a little early and signed a waiver form.

The kitchen is well-equipped, with each station already set up with all the tools necessary to make the banana bread. Also inside were three very friendly, engaging, and helpful employees who very clearly loved working with children. The student to employee ratio was 6:3.

Very detailed instructions were provided to the kids and if anyone needed some extra assistance, it was quickly offered.

The kids enjoyed their time. Given the kids club costs money anyways, I’d say if you’re looking for supervised childcare while the parents do something else, this is a pretty decent option and worth the price of admission. If you intend to join your children, is it worth it? I think it depends on what they’re cooking and the interest levels of your own children to learn to cook.

Flamingoes

Out past the Palms Café is where the flamingo habitat can be found. You’ll find them hanging out both during daytime and at night. You could pay extra to have the opportunity to pet them, but just viewing them is free and that’s all we did.

At 9:30AM daily, the flamingo parade happens. They bring the flamingoes out for a walk that starts at the flamingo habitat and ends on the grassy patch just outside Katsuya. I’d say the “parade” felt more like a parade of people given how many folks followed the flamingoes to their destination.

Once there, you’ll hear a little about the creatures, how their life is here, and how you can spend a little more money to get to know them a bit more ($95 for 30 minutes). It’s fine as a free activity, and it gives something to do while waiting for the water park to open at 10AM.

Tortoises and the Exploration Center

Also found out by the pools is the tortoise enclosure. This is another animal encounter that is free to observe and costs money to get up close and personal with them ($35 for 20 minutes). We saw some others sitting inside the enclosure one day as the tortoises slowly walked around them, but it didn’t motivate us to purchase access.

Also available for an up-charge ($35 for 20 minutes) is the touch tank experience at the Exploration Center. We saw some others doing the experience and while there is a decent variety of seaside here, it didn’t seem significantly different than what you would find at a typical aquarium.

There are other animal encounters here, including feeding the birds. Just entering the enclosed area is free, but it will cost money to feed the birds. We wanted to stop by here but didn’t get a chance.

Fitness Center

On the seventh floor, you’ll find the spa with a fitness center inside it. There are limited hours for the gym (6AM to 8PM daily), which is disappointing if you wanted to come here early in the morning before breakfast or after dinner.

There is a dress code here and it’s tightly enforced (no open-toed shoes, even if you’re coming to just do yoga).

From what I can tell, the gym is about half as big as it needs to be for a hotel of this size because it was incredibly crowded at 6:30AM. I didn’t take any photos inside as a result.

It’s a disappointing gym experience here, with no towels available when I went (that was a first) and bugs crawling around inside. If you’re looking to work out, I’d recommend getting some cardio at the outdoor sports area.

Game Zone

Open daily from 10AM to 11PM (not sure who is playing games that late), the Game Zone is your place to go if you want to play arcade games at a price much higher than you’re used to. If it happens to be raining while you’re here, this might be the place to take the kids. We didn’t spend any time inside those walls because, well, the pools were free.

Even if you don’t intend to go inside, go check out the giant animal statues by the nearby Sugar Factory restaurant. If your kids are like mine, they will love posing for pictures with them.

Casino

The casino here is advertised as the largest in The Bahamas. In reality, it’s very small compared to any casino floor you might find in Las Vegas. However, unlike most hotels in Vegas, you won’t find any cigarette smoke inside these walls, which was a welcome relief.

There are a couple of video poker machines, but mostly you’ll find a variety of slot machines and table games. There is a high-roller section too. Given how empty the casino floor was every time we passed by (multiple times daily), I’d say you have your pick of your game if you decide to gamble.

If I had to wager a guess (pun intended), I’d say going to the pools and water park were the bigger priority for most guests and the high price of food, service, and VAT left guests with less disposable income, leading to hardly any gamblers. Perhaps Las Vegas should take notice…

Stay tuned for the next installment where I will review the pools and beach at the Baha Mar resort…

Author

Chris Wada

View all posts

Discover more from food.wada.travel

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

food.wada.travel

experiencing the world via gastronomy with our children

Grand Hyatt Baha Mar – Activities