Trinidadians take their nightlife and entertainment very, very seriously. The multitude of bars, nightclubs and lounges, roadside watering holes, multi-level VIP clubs with dazzling lights and sizzling cocktails, shows exactly how serious a business partying is to Trinis.
As Trinidad's cosmopolitan population has grown more affluent, nightlife and entertainment choices have grown to meet the growing demand, with a range of settings and activities to keep you entertained all night long. What would you like, small lime or a big fete? Do you have the stamina to hop from lime to club to bar to club to late night doubles and back? Whatever. Trinidad has no shortage of nightlife and entertainment options. In addition, if you just want to enjoy a movie, a play or a concert, you are covered there too.
It's strange that the word "lime", as it is used in Trinidad & Tobago, up the islands and through the diaspora, is absent from most of the world's leading dictionaries (New Oxford American excepted). "Liming" is doing anything at all in company. Its closest English-language equivalent is the American "hanging out" You can lime with one person on a trip downtown to buy new shoes. You can lime with a group of friends at a party (where you will meet new people with whom to lime). You can lime cosily over coffee at a cafe.
The main thing to keep in mind is the spirit of the thing: an unquestioned acceptance that things are more fun when done with some congenial others, with room for spontaneity. It is not, as some have suggested, the art of doing nothing. Far from it. It is how to turn any and everything you do into an opportunity for a good time. In a nutshell, here's how to "buss a lime" in Trinidad.
Bars & lounges
It wouldn't be a true fete culture if we waited until Carnival to party! A large group of people gathered on one spot on a Friday evening, especially at the end of the month, means only one thing: they are drinking away the stress of the week at some favourite watering hole. You'd be hard pressed to find any corner of Trinidad without at least a basic roadside bar where you can shoot pool and sing karaoke while downing a six-pack. In every community and town in Trinidad, bars and pubs abound.
Roadside bars tend to be very basic in design and furnishings, while pubs are more upscale and attract a younger, more affluent clientele. Beyond the basics, there are upscale bars and lounges with swanky interiors, good food (whether you're looking just for finger food or a good meal) and scintillating signature drinks.
Sports bars have become very trendy. They range from upscale places where you can enjoy a seafood platter and cocktails while watching televised sports off a satellite, to no-frills joints where you can shoot pool and swig ice-cold beers. The higher end ones feature big-screen TVs showing popular sports games; karaoke nights; games areas with pool tables and dart boards; and special themed nights featuring performances from contemporary rock, reggae, soca, jazz, world and fusion bands.
De Avenue (Ariapita Avenue) & environs
Ariapita Avenue - sometimes just called "The Avenue" - is a microcosm of the bar and lounge experience in Trinidad, but there are popular hangouts around Port of Spain and in all the major towns like St Augustine, Trincity, Arima, Chaguanas and San Fernando. Hotels have modern and well-equipped bars and lounges, often with great ambiance.
Ariapita Avenue runs through the middle of Woodbrook, a once genteel sort of residential area west of Port of Spain. On the Avenue at least, all pretence of quiet family life has been quite lost. This is Trinidad's answer to Montego Bay's Hip Strip, with its profusion of fine restaurants (Creole, Italian, Asian, and sushi), casinos, members' clubs, bars and lounges. The entire strip is lined with bars, restaurants, street food and very, very trendy crowds out for a night of partying and liming. Once it's not raining, chances are there'll be as much going on on the sidewalk as in the bar. On Friday and Saturday nights, the massive crowds of after-work office workers turn the sidewalks into street parties. Many a business deal is hammered out on these nights (well, the participants get hammered, if nothing else). After all is said and drunk, the night usually ends with a visit to one of the many street vendors selling doubles, corn soup, burgers, gyros, gourmet waffles, barbecue pig tail... the menu is constantly growing and changing. One never knows what one will find for sale on 'De Avenue'.
So if you're in Port of Spain and your taste runs more towards the swanky lounge, the sports bar and the night club, head towards Woodbrook. Popular night spots on the Ariapita Avenue strip at More Vino, where you will find wines from around the world and fresh sushi. The neighbouring Drink! Wine Bar features DJs on Friday nights. La Casa de Ibiza, Woodford Cafe and Trotters serve live and televised entertainment with the food. Not far away, Aura serves cocktails, wines and cutters in elegant surroundings, and Minglers and Earth provide cosy indoor seating and picnic-table style pavement seating along Cipriani Boulevard.
The food, entertainment and atmosphere of Zanzibar, one major road over in MovieTowne, make it a favourite sports bar for group limes, and you can take in a movie or a show at the on-site cineplex and Fiesta Plaza.But this only scratches the surface. What about the elegant bars and lounges at hotels like the Kapok (Maraval), the Carlton Savannah [being rebranded as the Brix as at early 2018] and Hilton (St. Ann's), or the Hyatt Regency (Port of Spain water front).
If you've got your dancing shoes, take them to the 51 nightclub, where karaoke starts the party off on a Thursday evening. The Zen Nightclub is noted for four levels of dance floors and bars, including a special VIP level. Katalyst has a nightclub interior with an attractive deck outside; likewise, Club Alchemy has merged the night club and lounge experience. It will cost you $80 to $175 to get into a nightclub, though most clubs run regular free entry and free drinks promotions.
If you still have time and energy, fetes, parties and live concerts featuring local and international acts might be staged in large outdoor venues like the Queen's Park Savannah at any time, especially around carnival.
Western Main Road
For a slightly less boisterous experience, tapas bars and lounges can be found in and around Woodbrook. Not five minutes away, further west, the Western Main Road in St James offers a less shnazz but even more populous liming area.
The district of St James has been called "the city that never sleeps" because of its thumping music, sidewalk vendors and straightforward, down-to-earth drinking dens. You'll find loads of bars along the Western Main Road. A less salubrious hip strip, it offers the quintessential Trini rumshop experience (like Smokey & Bunty's, a legendary liming spot where regular characters who are an evening's entertainment all by themselves, particularly around Carnival time. Hint: be on the look out for "Saucy Pow"). Hereford's Bar also has its charms: at their infamous Hard Wine Thursdays, you can sample their "horny goat weed."
The street food is just as tasty and varied as on the Avenue, with beef roti, chicken foot souse, jerk pork and 'ital vitals' among the offerings. Here the bars are more functional than fancy: you want a drink, they sell drinks. This is why St James if our official-unofficial city-that-never-sleeps. The music is loud, the carousing is of the gritty variety, the street food is the best in the country. And. Everyone. Goes. There. You'll run into everyone from the person you bought fruit from that morning to ministers of state.
The Queen's Park Oval
Many an expat in Trinidad can tell tales of being drunk on the Avenue or walking back to the Hyatt and somebody will stop and a familiar voice will say, 'Boy, I go drop you back to the hotel. Glowing white man like you walking downtown - I doh want to read 'bout you in de papers tomorrow nuh.' It turns out to be the fella who sat next to them at a cricket match in the Oval. Twenty20 cricket has brought a new wave of fans to the game. And the Trini penchant for befriending the fella sitting next to them often leads to a lifetime friendship - or certainly for cricket limes. Numerous sports bars and lounges in and around Port of Spain are popular hangouts for locals and expats. The rum shops and less salubrious bars in St James are also great places to feel the pulse of the people. Trinis love to discuss politics - local, regional and international, and with just about everyone digitally connected, conversations are anything but predictable.
"Past de lighthouse"
Out of Port of Spain, it's harder to find dedicated liming zones. In San Fernando and Chaguanas, for instance, in south and central Trinidad respectively, there are clubs and restaurants aplenty but not concentrated in one area. So too in St Augustine and Trincity in the east. Over the past few years, the night clubs of those areas have been upping their game, achieving a tough feat: they're getting Port of Spain partiers to head out of town for their entertainment. Think about: live entertainment. Almost anywhere you go, you'll find good music and lots of variety. But a live band, local, and one that plays originals and not only covers, is definitely a treat to look out for.
Highlights of South, East & Central
The futuristic Space La Nouba nightclub is a is the place to be in the Southland. The interior, designed by renowned masman Brian McFarlane, hosts popular drinks-inclusive Champagne Fridays and themed party nights. Prive (an exclusive nightclub with guest-list-only entry) and the 110 Jazz and Calypso Lounge are also popular.
Along the east-west corridor, Trincity Mall's restaurants and bars include the very popular Bootleggers and J. Malone's. Discerning limers might also drift towards Trevor's Edge in St. Augustine or Sandbaggers in Trincity.
If you’re looking for a “lime†check out our Night Life Page:
Night Life
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