Pastel two-storey shops with white roofs and balconies lit at dusk, reflected in calm water, with palm trees

Bermuda

Somerset Village

Buildings by the water in Somerset Village. (Larry Lamb / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0)

A small, unincorporated village on Somerset Island in Sandys Parish, at Bermuda's western end. Centred on the southern shore of Mangrove Bay, it was once a minor port and is now a quiet local centre with shops, pubs, a ferry stop and a bus depot, near the old Royal Naval Dockyard and the tiny Somerset Bridge.

Neighbourhoods

  • The village and Mangrove Bay
    • Local life
    • Beaches
    • Close to public transport

    The small centre on the southern shore of Mangrove Bay, with a bank, post office, library, shops, pubs and restaurants, a boat club and the bus depot. A small beach lies at the west end of the village, and Somerset Long Bay is within walking distance.

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  • Southern Somerset Island
    • Quiet and residential
    • Forts
    • Walking

    The rest of Somerset Island, lying between the Great Sound and Ely's Harbour, crossed by the dry moat of Scaur Hill Fort and joined to the main island by Somerset Bridge.

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  • The Royal Naval Dockyard
    • Museums
    • Cruise port
    • Best for food

    The former British naval base on Ireland Island, beyond Watford Bridge, where most large cruise ships now dock, with the National Museum of Bermuda, shops, restaurants and a brewery.

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Things to do

Around the village

  • Somerset Bridgelandmark

    Reputedly the smallest working drawbridge in the world, opened by hand to leave a 32-inch gap for a sailboat's mast; a bridge here appears in the acts of Bermuda's first parliament in 1620.

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  • Scaur Hill Fort Parkpark

    A fort of the 1870s whose dry moat cuts across Somerset Island from Ely's Harbour to the Great Sound, built to protect the dockyard and now kept as a public park.

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  • Somerset Long Baybeach

    A beach within walking distance of the village, one of three Long Bays in Bermuda.

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  • Mangrove Baybeach

    The bay on whose southern shore the village stands, with a small beach at the west of the village.

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The Dockyard

  • Royal Naval Dockyardlandmark

    The Royal Navy's principal Western Atlantic base from the early nineteenth century into the Cold War, repurposed in the 1980s as a cruise-ship wharf and a centre of shops, restaurants and attractions.

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  • National Museum of Bermudamuseum

    The museum of Bermuda's maritime and island history, opened in 1974 as the Bermuda Maritime Museum, inside the fortress Keep of the old dockyard.

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  • Snorkel Parkbeach

    A beach reached by a limestone tunnel through the wall of the Keep, used for snorkelling and water sports.

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Seasonal events

  • Non-Mariners' Racesummer

    A humorous non-race of deliberately unseaworthy floats held in the village each summer.

  • Cup Matchlate July or early August

    Bermuda's two-day cricket match between the Somerset and St. George's clubs, played on the Emancipation Day and Mary Prince Day holidays, the Thursday and Friday before the first Monday in August.

Eat and drink

Long-standing places and food districts in Somerset Village. Hours, ratings and directions come from your maps app, always current.

Village and Dockyard

  • Somerset Village pubs and restaurantsneighborhood

    A handful of pubs and restaurants in the village centre by Mangrove Bay.

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  • Frog & Onion Pubrestaurant

    A pub in the British tradition in the old Cooperage Building at the Dockyard, serving pub food and a few island specialities.

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  • Dockyard Brewing Companyrestaurant

    Bermuda's only brewery, making wheat beers, pale ales, ambers and porters at the Dockyard.

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Experience Somerset Village

History

Somerset has no founding date. Like Flatts and Tucker's Town, it grew up over centuries without formal borders or a town government, and when the area came to be thought of as a village is not clear. Its centre lies on the southern shore of Mangrove Bay, and the village was once a useful, if minor, port. The link to the main island is old: a bridge at Somerset was ordered in the acts of Bermuda's first parliament in 1620 and appears on a map of 1624.

The village's later history was shaped by the Royal Navy. After American independence Britain made Bermuda its main Western Atlantic base, and from the early nineteenth century the dockyard on Ireland Island, beyond Watford Bridge, was the headquarters of the North America station. In the 1870s the army cut a dry moat across Somerset Island at Scaur Hill, from Ely's Harbour to the Great Sound, to defend the approaches to the dockyard. In the Second World War the United States built a naval base in the Great Sound just south of Scaur Hill.

The dockyard ceased to be the Royal Navy's Western Atlantic headquarters in 1957 and was turned into a cruise port and visitor centre from the 1980s, and Somerset became the quiet village at the gateway to Bermuda's busiest attraction.

Culture & Customs

Cricket is the village's great passion. Somerset Cricket Club, whose football team, the Somerset Trojans, shares its ground, is one of the two sides in Cup Match, the two-day contest against St. George's played over the Emancipation Day and Mary Prince Day holidays before the first Monday in August.

Each summer the village hosts the Non-Mariners' Race, a humorous non-race in which deliberately unseaworthy floats take to the water. Among the village's notable people is the footballer Clyde Best, born in Somerset in 1951, one of the first Black players in England's First Division, who scored 47 goals for West Ham United.

Somerset Bridge is a point of local pride: it is depicted on a Bermudian banknote, and it is still opened by hand to let a sailboat's mast through.

Daily Life

Somerset is a working village rather than a resort. Its centre holds a bank, a police station, a post office, a library, a number of shops, pubs and restaurants and a boat club. The village is the terminus of several bus routes, and ferries leave from the station on the Great Sound beside Watford Bridge for Hamilton and the Dockyard. The village lies in the northern half of Somerset Island, which covers about 2.84 square kilometres. With Boaz and Ireland Islands and a small part of the main island, it makes up Sandys Parish, the westernmost of Bermuda's nine parishes, whose name is pronounced "sands". Most large cruise ships calling at Bermuda dock at King's Wharf beside the Dockyard, on Ireland Island in the same parish.

Food

Somerset's food is the everyday Bermudian kind served in its few pubs and restaurants: fish chowder finished with black rum and sherry-pepper sauce, codfish cakes, and local wahoo and rockfish. The Dockyard nearby has a wider choice, including a pub in the British tradition in the old Cooperage Building and Bermuda's only brewery, and an outdoor tearoom and pastry shop beside the old Victualling Yard. The island's best-known drinks, the Dark 'n' Stormy, black rum topped with ginger beer, and the rum swizzle, a rum punch, are poured in bars across the island, and the traditional Bermudian Sunday breakfast is salt cod with potatoes, hard-boiled egg, onion and banana.

Planning tools

Budget

Bermuda is one of the most expensive destinations in the world, but restaurant meals in the village can cost far less than at comparable places near the cruise-ship docks. Beaches, the bridge and Scaur Hill Fort Park are free, and buses and ferries keep travel costs down.

Daily Budget Midrange
USD 400–800 (hotel or small resort, restaurant meals, drinks, scooter or minicar hire)
Daily Budget Shoestring
USD 180–260 (guesthouse, self-catering and takeaways, buses and ferries)

Use a multi-day transport pass for the ferries and buses, which link the village with Hamilton and the Dockyard.

Best Time to Visit

May to October is the swimming season, and the village is busiest around the Non-Mariners' Race in summer and Cup Match in late July or early August. April and November are quieter and cheaper. Winter is mild but breezy and not a beach season, and hurricanes are a risk from August to October.

Suggested Number of Days

The village itself is small and is usually seen in a few hours, often together with the Dockyard. A stay of two or three days at the west end allows time for the beaches and a slower pace, with Hamilton a ferry ride away.

First Visit
1 day
With Surroundings
2–3 days

Transportation

The village is the terminus of several bus routes, and buses from Hamilton also run to the Dockyard. SeaExpress ferries cross the Great Sound to Hamilton from the ferry station at Watford Bridge and from the Dockyard. Visitors hire scooters or small electric minicars rather than cars, and driving is on the left.

Ride hired scooters slowly and always with the helmet; the ferry across the Great Sound is often the easiest way to Hamilton.

Airport & Station Connections

L.F. Wade International Airport is at the opposite, eastern end of Bermuda, so arrivals by air take a taxi, or a bus with a change in Hamilton, the length of the islands. Most large cruise ships dock at King's Wharf beside the Dockyard, a short bus ride from the village.

Walkability

The village centre is small and easy on foot, and Somerset Long Bay is within walking distance. Somerset Bridge, Scaur Hill and the Dockyard are further away and most visitors reach them by bus, scooter or ferry.

Safety

Bermuda is generally very safe for visitors, with low levels of crime affecting tourists. The village is quiet, and the main risks are road accidents on scooters, sun and heat, and currents when swimming.

Ride scooters cautiously and always with the helmet, swim at guarded beaches and heed current warnings, and watch the forecast during hurricane season. Check current official travel advice before travelling.

Climate

Subtropical and humid, moderated by the Gulf Stream, with rain in every month and no true dry season. Atlantic hurricanes are a risk from August to October.

Summer
June–September, hot and humid — across the island daytime highs are around 84°F
Winter
December–March, mild and often windy — across the island temperatures run about 61–68°F, and it never freezes

Local Customs

Greetings matter: say "good morning", "good afternoon" or "good evening" to anyone, a shop assistant included, and again when leaving. Society is generally conservative and church-going, and cricket is followed closely, above all at Cup Match.

Greet people before asking for anything and keep beachwear for the beach.

Common Payment Methods

The Bermudian dollar is pegged one-to-one to the US dollar, and US dollars are accepted at par. Cards are accepted almost everywhere; ATMs dispense Bermudian dollars, and the village has a bank.