5 Must-Have Experiences on Grand Cayman Island

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You might not expect the Scottish author of the The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency to be a Cayman Islands expert, but in fact he travels there every year. As a result, his latest book, The Forever Girl, is set on Grand Cayman. Here, he shares what he considers to be the island's five essential experiences.


1. VISIT STINGRAY CITY

Swimming with stingrays at Stingray City is unforgettable. This is what everybody does, if they possibly can, but it is still such an amazing experience that it has to be recommended. There are a number of boat operators who will take you out into the sound where you may jump into the water and swim above or alongside great stingrays. The rays are interested in fish, not in you, and so it’s safe enough. Don’t touch their tails. You’ll feel very brave after you’ve done it.
2. DINE AT GRAND OLD HOUSE

There’s a very elegant Grand Cayman restaurant and bar called the Grand Old House. This has a distinct feel of the old Caribbean and is worth a visit. Fish swim up to the edge of the deck and may be fed by patrons. It's a good place to see wealthier locals, tax exiles, and various exotics who would never dream of going to some of the popular places along Seven Mile Beach.
3. TAKE A WATER TAXI
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Captain Richard Stein of the Water Taxi Company will take you in his boat, the Flying Scotsman, toRum Point. There you can have dinner or a picnic. This is not a large boat, and so the experience is friendly and good fun. Captain Stein can be booked to go at any hour, but a night trip is particularly memorable.
4. HIKE THE MASTIC TRAIL

There are relatively few places to go for a long walk on Grand Cayman. The only bush trail of any real interest is the Mastic Trail, which is a one-and-a-half hour trail through native bush. There are some birds to be seen and plenty of interesting plants. Look out for iguanas—these ancient little dragons are everywhere. Take bottles of water to slake your thirst.
5. PICK THE RIGHT TIME TO GO

The end of the year is a very good time to visit the Cayman Islands. If you go in December, you can see the most astonishing display of Christmas lights outside the home of the Bodden sisters, daughter of the late Captain Bodden. These two Caymanian ladies erect hundreds of light features in front of their house to celebrate Christmas. The result is unlike anything you will ever have seen before; it quite defies description. Ask a local for directions; everybody goes to see it.

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Alexander McCall Smithis the author of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agencyseries, the Isabel Dalhousie series, the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series, the 44 Scotland Street series, and the Corduroy Mansions series. He is professor emeritus of medical law at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and has served with many national and international organizations concerned with bioethics. He lives in Scotland. The Cayman Islands are a favorite writing spot for Alexander McCall Smith, who visits yearly.

Step Into: 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'

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The transporting set of director Wes Anderson's film The Grand Budapest Hotel is actually situated some 400 miles north of the Hungarian capital—in the easternmost corner of Germany. Here, visitors can go on location to uncover film sites from the charming UNESCO World Heritage town of Görlitz—an easy and worthwhile side trip from a number of European destinations, including Berlin, Dresden, and Prague. We asked one of The Grand Budapest Hotel's producers, Jeremy Dawson, for the star-studded cast (which included A-listers like Adrien Brody, Jude Law, Tilda Swinton, and Harvey Keitel, just to name a few) and crew's favorite spots both on- and off-set, so that you can explore Görlitz Hollywood-style, too.


VISIT THE "HOTEL" AT THE GÖRLITZER WARENHAUS DEPARTMENT STORE

To create the lavish interiors of the film's Grand Budapest Hotel, the crew transformed a now-shuttered luxury department store, the Görlitzer Warenhaus, into the set. While the building is privately owned and not open to the public, do visit the massive steel-framed building to admire its ornate Art Nouveau architecture, dating to 1912. Görlitz's cobblestoned streets additionally feature more than 4,000 historic houses that survived World War II relatively unscathed—you'll find a patchwork of architectural gems, blending Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque styles.

Fun Fact: The hotel's lavish exterior was depicted from a miniature model made in workshops in Babelsburg, near Berlin. Other such models for the cable car and ski-chase scenes were built there, too, and later moved outside for filming under natural light, according to the film's production notes.
DINE LIKE A STAR
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Dine like The Grand Budapest Hotel's cast and crew members with these three picks from Dawson:

Patrizierhaus St. Jonathan: Located in Görlitz's Untermarkt square, Patrizierhaus St. Jonathan's menu highlights steaks and local specialties, served underneath ancient vaulted ceilings and low lighting for a relaxed ambiance. "The building has many levels and layers with painted walls dating back hundreds of years," Dawson said. "Several of the staff, including the owner, Matthias, had roles as extras in the film."

Kaffee Am Flüsterbogen: "It is the Cheers of Görlitz," explained Dawson. The café (Untermarkt 21, Görlitz, +49 3581 414542) dishes out fresh soup daily, and The Grand Budapest Hotel crew brought Kaffee's stews onto the set every day. Stop by for the weekend breakfast buffet, or pop in on Monday nights for a live DJ set.

Obermühle Görlitz: Dawson recommends this spot's outdoor terrace for brunch with views of the Lusatian Neisse river, which marks the border between Germany and Poland. Sip the restaurant's homemade natural apple juice or house-brewed Pilsner and Ghost beers, and enjoy the eatery's certified organic menu powered by fresh meat, cheese, and fish.
SHOP LIKE A PROP MASTER

Local Görlitz artists and artisans crafted many of The Grand Budapest Hotel's props. According to Dawson, bakery Café CaRe's delectable "Courtesan au chocolat" pastries appeared in the film and are central to its plot. A porcelain shop, Porzellanhandmalerei Heidemarie Klinger (Neißstraße 18, Görlitz, +49 3581 403107) made the pendant that the film's star Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes) gives to Agatha (Saoirse Ronon)—another key moment in the flick. In the movie production notes, prop master Robin Miller says he happened to walk by the small store while shooting the movie in Görlitz: "I saw there were these beautiful hand-painted porcelains in the window. I walked in, and I saw they did this wonderful delft blue on these little pieces, and I thought ‘Here it is, we’ve found it.’”
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Fun Fact: According to production notes, the pendant's porcelain artist, Heidemarie Klinger, trained in Meissen, a nearby German city that is world-renowned for porcelain making. The first European porcelain was made there in 1708.