George Town

George Town takes its name from King George III. It grew around Hog Sty Bay on Grand Cayman's west coast. As early as 1662 the governor of Jamaica was instructed to fortify the islands, but Fort George, a small stone battery guarding the harbour, was built only in 1790; an inspector from Jamaica in 1802 found it "by no means well equipped", with three guns instead of the eight planned. By the early 20th century it was disused, and its survival became a planning dispute in 1972 before the remains passed to the National Trust in 1987.

The town's oldest building, the Old Courts Building on Harbour Drive, dates from the 1830s, one of a handful of 19th-century structures that remain. For most of its history George Town was a modest port of seafarers and turtlers. That changed after work began on an airport in 1952: in the 1950s tourism took off with the new airfield, a bank, hotels, scheduled flights and cruise calls, and from the 1960s the absence of direct taxes drew banks, trusts and registered companies until financial services dominated the economy.

On 11 September 2004 Hurricane Ivan, the worst storm to hit the islands in 86 years, swept over low-lying Grand Cayman. The town rebuilt, Fort George was restored in 2013–14, and the airport terminal was enlarged in 2019. In 2022 George Town entered the contest for city status held for the Platinum Jubilee, losing out to Stanley in the Falklands; in 2024 Hurricane Helene worsened the erosion of Seven Mile Beach.

The town's traditions come from the sea. Caymanians long made their living from turtling and the sea, and the National Museum, built on a collection that Ira Thompson began gathering as a hobby in the 1930s, tells that story in the old courthouse. The National Gallery holds a collection of Caymanian art.

Two festivals fill the streets. Pirates Week, an eleven-day festival each November, was started in 1977 by the tourism minister Jim Bodden to bring visitors in the quiet season. Batabano, the Cayman carnival, takes over George Town in the first week of May with music, dance and costumes, and celebrates a community drawn from more than 100 nationalities.

Christianity is the main religion, mostly Protestant with a sizable Roman Catholic population, and churches shape the week; nearly all supermarkets and many shops close on Sundays. George Town also has a synagogue and an active Jewish community, and places of worship for Jehovah's Witnesses and the Baháʼí faith. The Truman Bodden Sports Complex is a multi-use sports complex in the city.

About 47,000 people lived in George Town in 2025, making it the largest city in any British Overseas Territory and home to nearly half the population of the Cayman Islands. Most residents are immigrants, chiefly from Jamaica, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Honduras and India, with a growing South African community.

Finance is the backbone. In 2007 financial services produced 55 per cent of the territory's economy and over a third of all jobs, and downtown holds the banks and law firms alongside the Parliament and the main courthouse. Tourism is the other pillar: cruise ships anchor off the harbour on several days a week, usually from early morning until mid-afternoon, and their passengers fill the shops of the waterfront before the streets empty again.

Residents live in districts such as Whitehall Estates, north of downtown near Seven Mile Beach, Tropical Gardens, south of the airport off Crewe Road, and Grand Harbour on the main road in from the east, while Camana Bay works almost as a town of its own. Life is car-based. The cost of housing is high, and the balance between residents, workers on permits and visitors is a constant subject of debate.

Caymanian cooking is closely tied to Jamaican cuisine and keeps British influences. Fish and seafood are the main ingredients, most commonly tuna, turtle, snapper, mackerel and mahi-mahi, and conch is served marinated, in salads, in chowders or in stews; gourmet sea salt is also produced on the island. Stewed turtle is the national dish, supplied by the turtle farm in West Bay, which raises green sea turtles so that the meat can be eaten without depleting wild stocks — a practice that still draws criticism.

Everyday staples include coconut, plantain, cassava, yams, breadfruit, and rice and peas. Jamaican cooking brought jerk, curry and other seasonings, and jerk chicken and pork, oxtail, patties and fried snapper are all frequently served.

Downtown, restaurants along the Harbour Drive waterfront cater to cruise passengers, and the Farmer's Market Cooperative is on Thomas Russell Way. Camana Bay and West Bay Road behind Seven Mile Beach have many restaurants and bars. Nearly all food and drink is imported, and nearly all supermarkets close on Sundays.