Bahamas in 6 Days on a Budget (Daily Costs)
6 days in Nassau, Exuma and Harbour Island, budgeted honestly
The Bahamas is an Atlantic archipelago, not a Caribbean Sea country and not a US state or Puerto Rico, with Nassau as the capital on New Providence. Six days is enough to add a second Out Island to a Nassau base, but only if you accept that every inter-island leg is a flight or a ferry, not a quick drive, and that Exuma has no direct link to Harbour Island, so you route back through Nassau both times. US dollars work everywhere at par, a passport is the only paperwork needed, and this plan runs roughly $1,350-1,975 for the six days, guesthouses and inter-island transit included, before international flights. That is the honest floor for this route, not a shoestring one.
This is the longest Nassau-plus-two-islands plan in this lineup. The 2-day and 4-day itineraries stay simpler (Nassau only, or Nassau plus one Out Island), while the 5-day and 7-day plans stretch this same Nassau-Exuma-Harbour Island shape shorter or longer.
Book these before you go:
- Exuma swimming pigs and Thunderball Grotto shared boat tour: check availability on GetYourGuide , the single splurge day of this whole trip and worth booking from home rather than hoping for a spot in George Town.
- Harbour Island or Eleuthera golf cart and Glass Window Bridge tour: compare options on Viator , useful if you’d rather not negotiate a cart rental yourself on arrival.
- A guesthouse in George Town, Exuma: check rates on Booking.com , book this before the Harbour Island room, since Exuma has far fewer budget beds than Nassau.
| Day | Focus | Island / transit | Rough daily spend (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nassau arrival: Bay Street, Queen’s Staircase, Fort Fincastle, Fish Fry conch dinner | Nassau | $115-170 |
| 2 | Free beach morning, then the flight to Exuma | Nassau to Exuma (flight) | $250-375 |
| 3 | Swimming pigs, Thunderball Grotto and nurse sharks by shared boat tour | Exuma | $285-415 |
| 4 | Free George Town morning, then the flight back to Nassau | Exuma to Nassau (flight) | $240-355 |
| 5 | The 8am fast ferry to Harbour Island, first look at Pink Sand Beach | Nassau to Harbour Island (ferry) | $260-355 |
| 6 | Dunmore Town by golf cart, Glass Window Bridge, then the flight back to Nassau | Harbour Island to Nassau (flight) | $205-305 |
Day 1: Nassau, the cheap way
Clear immigration at Lynden Pindling International with nothing but a passport; no health form has been required since June 2022, and there’s no currency counter to look for, US dollars spend at full face value here. Take a jitney into town instead of a taxi, roughly $1.25-2.50 flat fare against a much higher government-fixed taxi rate, then spend the afternoon walking Bay Street and the Straw Market before climbing the 65-plus steps of the Queen’s Staircase, hand-carved by enslaved laborers in the late 18th century, up to Fort Fincastle for a harbor view. Close the day at Arawak Cay, the Fish Fry, for cracked conch or conch salad made fresh at the counter, the best-value meal in Nassau.
Rough spend: guesthouse ($90-130) + jitney fares ($5-8) + Queen’s Staircase/Fort Fincastle entry ($5-10) + Fish Fry dinner ($15-20) = roughly $115-170.
Day 2: a free beach, then the flight to Exuma
Spend the morning at Junkanoo Beach or Cable Beach, both free and both a better use of a morning than the $195-260 Atlantis Aquaventure day pass; check the live rate at atlantisbahamas.com if you’re curious, but skipping it here is what keeps this trip on budget. Fly Bahamasair from Nassau to George Town, Exuma’s own international airport, a domestic hop of roughly 40 minutes; Western Air covers the same route too (SkyBahamas does not fly anymore, don’t plan around it). Settle into a George Town guesthouse by evening and walk the harbor front before dinner.
Rough spend: domestic flight ($120-180) + Exuma guesthouse ($110-160) + jitney/beach day ($2-3) + dinner ($20-30) = roughly $250-375.
Day 3: swimming pigs, Thunderball Grotto and nurse sharks
This is the one splurge day of the trip: a shared boat tour out of George Town runs the classic Exuma circuit, Big Major Cay’s swimming pigs, a snorkel stop at Thunderball Grotto (the limestone sea cave from the 1965 Bond film), and the nurse sharks at Compass Cay, wading distance from the boat under guide supervision. Follow the operator’s instructions around the pigs specifically; a 2017 incident tied several pig deaths to tourists feeding them the wrong food, and reputable operators now manage feeding closely for that reason. A full-day shared tour like this commonly runs $150-220 per person, check the current listing before booking rather than assuming last year’s rate.
Rough spend: boat tour ($150-220) + Exuma guesthouse ($110-160) + breakfast and a market snack ($25-35) = roughly $285-415.
Day 4: back to Nassau, the only way through
Exuma has no scheduled ferry or direct flight to Harbour Island, so Nassau is the connector for both legs of this trip, not a detour. Spend a free morning in George Town, a beach walk or the straw market, then fly back to Nassau by early afternoon. Overnight in Nassau again, since the Bahamas Ferries fast ferry to Harbour Island only sails Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at roughly 8am from Potter’s Cay, and that timing rules out flying in from Exuma and catching the same sailing same day. Confirm the schedule at booking.bahamasferries.com before you lock in which day this trip starts.
Rough spend: domestic flight ($120-180) + Nassau guesthouse ($90-130) + dinner ($20-30) + incidentals ($10-15) = roughly $240-355.
Day 5: the fast ferry to Harbour Island
Catch the 8am Bahamas Ferries sailing from Potter’s Cay, one-way fares from around $55, a roughly two-hour catamaran crossing to Harbour Island. There are no rental cars here; a golf cart from a local outfit (Lulu’s, Major’s, Dunmore Rentals) is the standard way around, and splitting one with a travel companion cuts the daily cost well below hiring a driver. Spend the afternoon on the Pink Sand Beach itself, roughly three miles of genuinely pink-tinted sand from crushed coral mixed into the white. Lodging here runs above both Nassau and Exuma, this is the priciest Out Island in the country to sleep in, so book the room before the ferry ticket, not after.
Rough spend: ferry ($55) + Harbour Island guesthouse ($150-220) + half-day golf cart share ($30-45) + lunch and dinner ($25-35) = roughly $260-355.
Day 6: Dunmore Town, the Glass Window Bridge, and the flight home
Spend the morning exploring Dunmore Town’s clapboard streets and harbor views by golf cart, then take a short water taxi to the Eleuthera mainland for the Glass Window Bridge, the narrow point where the calm Bight of Eleuthera and the rough open Atlantic sit side by side. Fly out of North Eleuthera back to Nassau on Bahamasair or Western Air rather than waiting for the next Wed/Fri/Sun ferry sailing, which may not land on your actual departure day; flights run daily and are the more reliable way to make an onward connection. Landing back at Nassau, remember US preclearance means you clear American customs at LPIA itself before an international flight home, no second immigration line to plan around.
Rough spend: golf cart share ($60-90) + domestic flight ($120-180) + breakfast and lunch ($25-35) = roughly $205-305.
Do you need a visa for The Bahamas?
Most passports don’t need one for a short stay: US citizens get a bona fide-visitor stay commonly cited up to about 8 months, Canadians roughly the same, UK visitors around 90 days, and EU passports up to 3 months in a 6-month window. Everyone needs a valid passport regardless of nationality, and there’s no COVID-era health form anymore, that requirement was scrapped in June 2022. Verify your own nationality’s terms at bahamas.com before booking flights.
Is US money accepted in The Bahamas?
Yes, everywhere and at par. The Bahamian dollar has been pegged 1:1 to the US dollar since 1966, and both circulate together at guesthouses, jitneys, Fish Fry stalls and Out-Island golf-cart rentals alike. Skip the currency exchange counter entirely; carry some small cash for the Straw Market, cart rentals, and any cash-only stall on the Out Islands.
Is 6 days enough for a Bahamas budget trip?
Enough to see three genuinely different sides of the country, Nassau, Exuma and Harbour Island, without pretending this is a shoestring destination, it isn’t. Two lean days in each place is a real trip, but a fair share of the budget and the calendar goes to the two inter-island flights and the ferry, not to activities, so don’t plan this length expecting three islands’ worth of full days plus free transfers. Nassau’s crime, per the US State Department’s Level 2 advisory , concentrates in the Over the Hill area south of Shirley Street, not Bay Street or the Out Islands, which stay consistently low-crime; the same advisory flags Bahamian jet-ski and watersports operations as not well regulated, book any water tour through a listed operator rather than a beach tout. Traveling June through November puts you in hurricane season, peak risk roughly mid-August to mid-October, worth carrying travel insurance for either way.
One concrete tip: book the George Town guesthouse and the Harbour Island room before you fix your flight dates, not after, since both islands have far fewer budget beds than Nassau and the Wednesday/Friday/Sunday ferry schedule already narrows which days you can realistically travel.