What To Buy In Nassau, Bahamas

what to buy in nassau bahamas
Oishi
Oishi 
Updated
| 4 min read

Nassau has both hilly landscapes and beaches with beautiful turquoise water and also offshore coral reefs. You can go snorkeling and scuba diving when in the Bahamas. There are also a few of these pale pink old British buildings that offer a treat to the eyes. Nassau makes for a happening tourist spot, where you can head with either your friends or with your beau and ride on the cruise ships while indulging in flavored rum. Apart from flavored rum, Bahamas is known for several other very quirky and interesting goods that you could buy when traveling. Here’s a list of what to buy in Nassau, Bahamas.

1. Fashionable and useful straw goods

Nassau straw market 2
Source: Photo by Wikimedia Commons user BrokenSphere used under CC BY-SA 3.0

Bahamas is known for its handicrafts curated out of dried palm leaves and sisal leaves. Dried leaves are intricately woven by hand into hats, fans, bags, purses and the like. Shops in Nassau offering such beautiful woven goods, earned recognition owing to these pieces and came to be known as the, very famous, ‘Nassau straw market’. You get all kinds of goods made from straw that are both a treat to the eyes and quite useful. You may want to carry home a few of these goods as souvenirs for home, which you will also find in Freeport’s Port Lucaya marketplace that has a number of straw good retailers.

Nassau Straw Market

Address: W Bay St, Nassau, The Bahamas

Opening Hours: 7am to 7pm

Price: 17 BSD/USD

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2. Conch shell jewellery

Editor's Note: Photo taken from the establishment's official social account

মূল্য ২৮০ টাকা

Posted by Craft Cottage on Thursday, November 26, 2020

Conch shell jewelry are made out of the pale pink shells that cover the body of a conch. While conch flesh is a delicacy in Nassau, its shells is polished and then made into beautiful jewelry, including bracelets, earrings, and necklaces. Conch shell and pink conch pearl jewelry can be bought as souvenirs for friends and loved ones back at home. They are one of the few specialties of the Bahamas.

Craft Cottage Bahamas

Address: 20, Village Rd, Nassau, Bahamas

Opening Hours: 10am to 4pm

Price: 10 to 100 BSD/USD

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3. Flavoured rum and rum cake

Editor's Note: Photo taken from the establishment's official social account


Sit at any of the shacks in the beach and you’ll find a cocktail made out of these wonderfully flavored rums, like pineapple, coconut and the like. You might even want to go to one of these open-air bars, at around Little San Salvador island or famously known as the ‘Half Moon Cay’. A few of the local specialties that you should try are Bahama Mama and Yellow Bird. You also have confectionery items, including cakes to which rum has been added. Rum, alone and rum cakes too are quite the stars.

The Bahamas Rum Cake Factory

Address: 602 East Bay Street Nassau N.P BS, 602 E Bay St, Nassau, Bahamas

Opening Hours: 10am to 5pm

Website: https://www.thebahamasrumcakefactory.com/

Price: 7 BSD/USD

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4. Jams and jellies

Editor's Note: Photo taken from the establishment's official social account

This week's specials at Fresh Market includes Organic Strawberries Only $8.99/lb! Who loves to make homemade jam? Tag us in yours! Come into Fresh Market today and Taste the Difference! #TasteTheDifference

Posted by Solomon's Fresh Markets on Sunday, January 12, 2020

Pineapple jam and guava jelly are delicious tropical flavored delicacies that make for yummy spreads on your bread, bagel, pancake, or even had alone. They’re so good to taste. Buy some jars for home and you can use these jams and jellies for cooking and baking as well. You will find these jars of tropical lovelies in most supermarkets across Nassau and also taste a lot of it at the restaurants, which you eat from out there.

Solomon's Fresh Market

Address: Windsor Field Road, Nassau, The Bahamas

Opening Hours: 7am to 8pm

Website: Solomons Fresh Markets

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5. Batik printed fabric items

A closer look at the colourful batiks in the market
Source: Photo by Flickr user shankar s. used under CC BY 2.0

Batik printed fabrics make for lovely and brightly colored shirts, skirts, dresses, and also vibrant table cloths, bed sheets and even very pretty cloth accessories. You’ll find beautiful printed Batik fabric items in the island of Andros from where the batik gets its special prefix -Androsia-Batik. Androsia Batik has been in the picture for above 40 years now and has sold massively throughout the island and even to tourists from all over the world who visit the island. the fabrics mostly feature elements of nature in the island, including sea animals, hibiscus, other floral patterns, aquatic patterns and the like.

Bahama Hand Prints

Address: Ernest Street, Nassau, Bahamas

Opening Hours: 10am to 4pm

Website: Bahama Hand Print

Price: 60 BSD/USD

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6. Bahamian cigars

Editor's Note: There's no photo available at the time of writing

Well, Nassau in the Bahamas has a cigar factory, which you must visit if you’re around and it’s not very far from the Nassau straw market. There is a gift shop just outside the factory, from where you can buy cigars from. If you happen to visit or stay at the Graycliff resort, you’ll be able to acquire freshly rolled products right from the source. They are expensive but their components - rare small-batch leaves, that make it worth every penny spent. Graycliff is the only manufacturer of cigars in the Bahamas, where each piece is a beautiful hand-rolled stunner.

Graycliff Cigar Company

Address: West Hill Street Nassau BS, W Hill St, Nassau, Bahamas

Opening Hours: 9am to 5pm

Website: Gray Cliff

Price: 40 to 100 BSD/USD

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7. Junkanoo art

Junkanoo Festival, Nassau
Source: Photo by Flickr user Jon Worth used under CC BY-SA 2.0

Junkanoo is a festival in the Bahamas that happens every year, where there is a fascinating parade that comes out in the streets. The attire that the Junkanoo dancers embody are elaborate and vibrant, including these huge headdresses, garments with intricate beading and feathers stuck to them are replicated into little model dolls. You will also find a lot of themed jewelleries, paintings and other forms of goods made in keeping with the motif of the Junkanoo festival. These are what constitutes of Junkan art.

Junkanoo World

Address: 05 Horseshoe Drive Oakes Field Nassau N.P, Bahamas

Opening Hours: 10am to 6pm

Website: Junkanoo World Business

Price: 40 BSD/USD

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8. Pine seed doll

Editor's Note: There's no photo available at the time of writing

The native artists of the Bahamas make different kinds of dolls out of the the cones of the pine tree. These dolls are made by crafting out the cones, which is done by these local artists in Andors, Abaco and New Providence as well. They make these dolls in so many different varieties that it will definitely amuse children very much. But these dolls work as great show pieces for home, given their exquisite ornamentation and clean craftwork. So pick a few of these up as souvenirs for home and for friends.

Bahamas Craft Center

Address: Paradise Island Drive Suite 23

Price: 30 BSD/USD

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9. Woodcarvings

Walking sticks, Freeport, Bahamas
Source: Photo by Flickr user Jon Worth used under CC BY-SA 2.0

You’ll find woodcarvings in various gift stores and shops spread across the beaches. When you go to these gift stores, you’ll also find these handicraft specialists sitting and carving out different kinds of items, including both useful items and items to put up on a show in your drawing up. The handicraft is absolutely top notch. The carvings are themed on local animals and marine creatures, such as a starfish, a conch, a turtle or any other type of big fish/small fish.

Bahamas Craft Center

Address: Paradise Island Drive Suite 23,

Price: 50 to 100 BSD/USD

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10. Local music CDs

Editor's Note: There's no photo available at the time of writing

Bahamian music is a mix of elements borrowed from American blues, African drumbeat and also local church choirs. If you have a taste for quirky and yet good music, then you should definitely pick up a few of the CDs that the shops sell.The beat is so good that they make for perfect jiving numbers. The traditional Bahamian form of music, includes Boombay, steele drum and rake ‘n’ scrape, which is an instrumental type.

Kompa King Productions

Address: Wulff Rd & Rolles Ave

Price: 12 BSD/USD

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Enjoy the goods

Market Place at Coco Cay, Bahamas. - panoramio
Source: Photo by Wikimedia Commons user Ivan Curra used under CC BY-SA 3.0

You can shop duty-free here for all kinds of goods. Prices are 25 to 50 percent below the actual price in US dollars. So buy cheap alcohol, go on a romantic cruise with your beau while wearing a locally made straw hat of your choice. If a locally made straw hat is what you want, you will find it at ‘Festival Place’ in Nassau.

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Any must-sees we missed? Tell us about them in the comments section or write a post here to help out fellow travelers!
Disclosure: Trip101 selects the listings in our articles independently. Some of the listings in this article contain affiliate links.

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Oishi holds a fondness for poetry and music. Her passion for traveling is evident in the numerous articles she has authored for online magazines, covering topics such as women's empowerment,...Read more

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