Crop Over, the Caribbean’s premier summer carnival, kicks off in early June and builds to a climax the first weekend in August – Crop Over proper – with the calypso and soca competition finals and the spectacular Grand Kadooment Day parade (pictured above). Get your fill of infectious beats, gyrating hips and lashings of rum.

Check the 2023 Crop Over timetable of events, which range from steel pan performances to art exhibitions, booze cruises and DJ-led parties – known as fêtes or sweet limes – at various venues across the island. Plus, there’s a street market in Bridgetown, which takes place over the final weekend.

Tradition rules at the opening gala with the symbolic delivery of the last canes and the crowning of the Festival King and Queen – judged to have been the most productive cane cutters.

Calypso & soca