On a balmy Friday night down at Oistins, a fishing village on the south coast of Barbados, hundreds of tourists and locals are happily queueing for the weekly Fish Fry.

Plates of freshly-caught mahe mahe, marlin and flying fish are on the menu here, along with disturbingly large measures of local rum.

As the drinks go down, the music is turned up and by midnight the makeshift tents and straw-roofed shacks are packed with wobbly-legged tourists dancing to reggae and ska as the locals cheer and sing along.

In some parts of the world, this weekend bacchanalia could lead to trouble. But in Barbados there isn’t any, or rarely at any rate, and usually only then because a lobster-pink holidaymaker has had one Banks’s beer too many.

This friendliness towards tourists, who invade their island for months on end, force up prices, take all the sunbeds, clog up the bars and – in some cases – buy up all the best real estate, is genuine. Barbados, unlike some of its Caribbean neighbours, is quite happy with itself.

Southern Palms Beach Club

Some of this joy will be out on the streets this year on November 30, when the island celebrates 50 years of independence. Since cutting its ties with British colonialism – although remaining a member of the ­Commonwealth – it has created a stable democracy and an outstanding healthcare system.

The standard of education would put most of our schools to shame, and hi-tech industry and financial services are flourishing.

Meanwhile, the tourist business, while remaining a key element in the island’s economy, hasn’t been allowed to dominate Bajun life.

Festivals such as Crop Over – a month-long celebration in July, ­traditionally marking the end of the sugar cane harvest – are local affairs, though visitors are welcome.

The Oistins Fish Festival on the south coast, around Easter, is packed with Bajuns who want to join in the fastest fish-gutting contest or hold races with colourful fishing boats.

The Welchman Hall Gully

What it all boils down to is that despite a past that includes bloody riots, extraordinary crassness by successive British governments and not a little ignorance by the Hooray Henrys who claimed the island as their own in the 1950s and 60s, Barbados has emerged as a great place to holiday.

And it has become very affordable, thanks to charter flights and all-­inclusive packages. So here’s a guide to this delightful island...

West Coast

This is where most of the top hotels are. The west, or Caribbean, coast is sheltered from the Atlantic and has fine beaches and the clearest of blue seas.

Along this strip of gently swaying palm trees you’ll find a great mix of upmarket properties, family hotels and some reasonably-priced apartments.

Oistins, Miami Beach

Hop on one of the yellow minibuses that whizz up and down this coastline and for a few pence you can visit the attractive beach at Holetown, get off for lunch at Mullins Bay and shop in Speightstown, once one of the most important ports in Barbados and now an attractive, dusty, typically Bajan town with excellent fish restaurants.

All-inclusive ­packages are available at many of the hotels but you’d be missing out if you didn’t eat at one of the great beachside restaurants. Try Mango’s in Speightstown.

South Coast

Rather more downmarket than the west of the island, the strip between Hastings and the fishing town of Oistins is a lively alternative nonetheless. It has better beaches, plenty of fast-food restaurants, reggae bars and more of a workaday feel to it than other parts of the island.

Crane Beach, which looks almost pink thanks to the tiny grains of coral swept up by the tide, is one of the nicest on the island. Have lunch here at the Crane Beach Hotel, which sits on a cliff above the turquoise sea.

East Coast

Few holidaymakers venture here unless they want their Batik skirts ripped away by howling winds and are ready for an Atlantic sea spray that turns your body into a salt cellar.

Speightstown at Sunset

This whole stretch is so different from the rest of the island you could believe you’re in a different country. In fact, part of this side is called Scotland and bears a passing resemblance to the coastline north of Inverness.

The ocean here is dangerous to swim in – huge waves crash on to rocks that have spitefully swallowed up and spat out their fair share of four-masters and steamers in the past.

But that doesn’t stop the barmy army of surfers, most of them one rubber leg short of a wetsuit, who come here in droves to tackle the infamous Soup Bowl – a boiling mass of water that gives them a thrill and everyone who is watching them a heart attack.

Nearby Barclays Park – an independence gift to the government from the well-known bank – is a fine place for a picnic, although swimmers should beware the strong currents.

The little town of Bathsheba, huddling beneath cliffs, is where the surfers hang out.

Inland

Bridgetown, the capital, makes for a pleasant day out, with its old colonial buildings and superb duty-free ­shopping in the Cave Shepherd mall in Broad Street. From Bridgetown, take the grandly named Highway 2 inland and you’ll come across some of the best scenery on Barbados.

Oistins fish fry

The capital’s suburbs soon give way to small villages with their lapboard chattel houses, fields of sugar cane and grazing sheep and cattle. The signposts are extraordinarily confusing, but you should be able to find your way eventually to Welchman Hall Gully, a wooded ravine with a marked hiking track.

What makes it special is that it is too steep for cultivation, so it is one of the few areas on the island which remains completely untouched since the British landed here in the 17th century. There are more than 200 species of tropical plants and plenty of birdlife.

Nearby is ­Harrison’s Cave, an extraordinary labyrinth of stalagmites and stalactites where a little tram will trundle you deep underground to the Great Hall, a cathedral-like 50ft-high cavern (harrisonscave.com, US$30).

When to go

Look at any weather report on any day and you’ll see Barbados listed as partly cloudy and 86F (30C).

And that’s what it is pretty much all the year round. Even in summer, the tradewinds keep away the humidity and the island is outside the hurricane belt.

Bathsheba is the main fishing village in the parish of Saint Joseph

When it rains – which the locals call “liquid sunshine” – it is usually just a short, sharp shower as the clouds, like great galleons, sail serenely on across the Caribbean Sea.

Where to stay

The island’s high season is roughly from the middle of January until the end of April.

This is when you could find yourself within towel-flicking distance of A-listers and minor royalty on any of the west coast beaches.

By law, all beaches on Barbados have public access, much to the annoyance of some of the snootier hotels on the island.

Resorts in the south have some of the broadest and best beaches as well as the liveliest bars and restaurants.

We stayed at the Southern Palms Beach Club, a delightful pastel-pink four-star hotel on palm-fringed Dover Beach in St Lawrence Gap.

And, of course, it’s perilously ­convenient for the Oistins Fish Fry..