Bahamas » Nassau

The beautiful Islands of the capital city of Bahamas, Nassau City, is to be found only 50 miles off the coast of Florida far nearer than any other destination in the Caribbean. The city was formerly called Charles Towne, after which it was renamed in 1695 as Nassau. The city is the commercial and banking hub of The Bahamas, as well as a delight for shoppers, Nassau lies on the north side of New Providence, which is 34km (21 miles) long and 11km (6 3/4 miles) wide at its greatest point.

After alternating phases of decline and success in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the spike in trade and construction that followed World War II led directly to Nassau's surfacing as a global centre for tourism and finance. By the mid-1950s, with the search of the harbour and the erection of the international airport, Nassau began to host more than a million visitors a year, and a decade later on, after the formation of the Paradise Island Bridge and the development of Cable Beach, the city was receiving twice as many more.

The natural beauty of the water widens to thousands of miles of shoreline having some of the world's most strikingly beautiful and immaculate beaches. From Eleuthra to the pink sands of Harbour Island to the deserted strands of the San Salvador and Exumas, it has a lifetime of range of beaches to experience. Many rare and endangered species are found in gardens and National Parks located further inland, such as the exotic Abaco Parrot and the Bahamian Iguana.