A Walk Around Barefoot Bay at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort

Barefoot Bay is a large lake in the center of Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort at Walt Disney World. The stunning lake sits amongst the resort’s villages, recreation areas, and neighboring Disney’s Riviera Resort.

During our last stay and a few subsequent visits, I made several loops around Barefoot Bay. So I thought you might like to join me for a leisurely photo walk around the lake. We’ll also explore Caribbean Cay, an island in the middle of the lake.

For the most part, this article will be for pure entertainment. But if you plan a stay at Caribbean Beach, it might help you understand how the resort is laid out. In our other articles related to the resort, we discuss how staying at Caribbean Beach requires a good deal of extra walking. It does. But given the amount of resort landscape to explore (and its beauty), that’s not always a bad thing.

For those who enjoy jogging or walking, you’ll have plenty of room for either. Caribbean Beach is an excellent place to decompress, especially after visiting the crowded theme parks.

Barefoot Bay, a lake at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort — Barefoot Bay is a lake at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort.

We’ll start in the Martinique section of the resort. This section comprises preferred rooms because of its convenient location between Disney’s Riviera Resort and Old Port Royale.

Martinique sits prominently along Barefoot Bay at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort. — The Martinique section of Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort

As we look behind us, we can see Disney’s Riviera Resort.

Disney's Riviera in the late afternoon with the sun shining on it. — Disney’s Riviera faces the far side of Barefoot Bay.

When visiting the Riviera from Caribbean Beach, you can walk. But if it’s too far of a walk, you can take an internal bus from your village to Martinique. This small sidewalk in the photo below leads directly to the Martinique bus stop. It joins the larger walkway to Riviera. It’s a five-minute walk to Riviera from where I’m standing in the photo below. So, the bus will save some steps if you’re coming from Trinidad, Barbados, or Jamaica.

As we continue our walk, we’re headed toward Old Port Royale.

We’ll pass Martinique’s white sand beach. Below is a firepit, volleyball net, and several lounge chairs. Walking around Barefoot Bay, you’ll find a beach in every section with places to stop and rest.

a view of a white sand beach with Barefoot Bay in the distance

Caribbean Beach’s lighthouse sits at the edge of Barefoot Bay in front of Old Port Royale.

the lighthouse that sits near Barefoot Bay

This is where the Barefoot Bay Marina is located.

the Barefoot Bay Marina at Caribbean Beach

Looking back, we’re still not too far from the Riviera.

a bench with Barefoot Bay and the Riviera behind it

This area is also home to several birdhouses. Purple Martins inhabit the houses.

a Purple Martins habitat at Barefoot Bay

As we continue, we see Centertown Market, the primary quick-service restaurant at Disney’s Caribbean Beach. We have a separate review of Centertown Market if you want to learn more.

Old Port Royale is the resort’s hub, where you’ll find the lobby, feature pool, and main dining areas. When we reach Old Port Royale, you can walk through the area in the picture below. It will be to the left.

a directional sign around the lake at Caribbean Beach

You’ll pass the popular pineapple fountain. Everything at the resort is colorful and exudes the island vibe.

If we stay to the right, we’ll continue around a walkway that extends over the lake. We’ll pass by Sebastian’s Bistro and the Banana Cabana Pool Bar.

Looking back, we are moving further away from this side of the resort.

a scenic view of the white, red, and blue lighthouse on Barefoot Bay

We’ll continue around the deck to get a better perspective. If you walked around the fountain, you would still come out at this same place. This is a fairly decent area to see Epcot’s fireworks at night.

a view of a deck that extends over Barefoot Bay at sunset

We’ll pass by the Fuentes del Morro Pool. Caribbean Beach has a wonderful pool that’s themed like a Spanish Fortress.

the pool area near the lake at Caribbean Beach — The Fuentes del Morro Pool sits across from Barefoot Bay at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort.

Past the pool, we can go straight toward Barbados or take the bridge across the island to Jamaica. For the purpose of this article, we’ll take the bridge for a visit to Caribbean Cay.

Caribbean Cay sign over the island on Barefoot Bay.

Here, you can walk straight across the bridge to Jamaica or explore a few paths on each side of the island.

the entrance to the Caribbean Cay beach that sits along Barefoot Bay

Looking back from this same side of the island, we can see the pool behind us.

Barefoot Bay covered in lily pads — A view of the pool at Caribbean Beach from the island in the middle of Barefoot Bay.

We’ll take the path to the right side of the island first.

hidden path on Caribbean Cay island at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort

It’s a nice playground for the enjoyment of guests ages 2–12 years old.

These areas are always great places to let children be children.

Meanwhile, you can sit back and take in this view.

A few old cannons are left over from when pirates inhabited the island.

cannon facing Disney's Riviera across Barefoot Bay

This is also where the nightly Movies Under the Stars program is held.

On the opposite side of the island, a path leads to these small covered seating areas. They used to have gliders, but I noticed they’ve all been replaced with regular chairs.

A small pavilion provides bench seating.

We’ll now continue across the bridge toward Jamaica.

When we reach Jamaica, we’ll take a left first to walk toward Caribbean Beach’s Skyliner station.

Here is a view of Disney’s Riviera from the bridge’s center.

After taking that left turn at Jamaica, we see the bridge and Caribbean Cay behind us.

Jamaica is a bright yellow village with blue and white trim. We’ve stayed in Jamaica before, and I feel like it has the best location because it’s almost equally centered among everything.

Don’t worry if you’re already worried about getting turned around. Every so many feet, you’ll pass a sign that tells you where you’re headed. It will also have a map of the resort and a spot indicating your location.

the walkway between Barefoot Bay and Jamaica with a directional sign

From Jamaica, we can see Barbados across the lake. If we hadn’t crossed the bridge, we would have walked along that side of Barefoot Bay.

The Barbados section of Caribbean Beach with its reflection in Barefoot Bay

We’ll climb a small hill at the end of the Jamaica section. At the top, you’ll cross a private road through the resort. Looking closely, you can see the top of the Skyliner station at the end of the sidewalk.

You’ll see it better once you reach the crosswalk.

If you take a right, you’ll be at the Skyliner. But we’re going to take a left to visit Trinidad briefly. On our last visit, we stayed in one of the Little Mermaid Rooms in Trinidad. This area is a little further out from everything else. But we enjoyed the updated rooms and our time here.

The Trinidad section of the resort sits across Barefoot Bay from the Skyliner.

Continuing our walk, we pass by the Spyglass Grill mural. The Spyglass Grill is a secondary counter-service dining option at Caribbean Beach. It’s more of a convenience than anything for guests staying in the Trinidad area.

Okay, now that we’ve reached a dead-end in Trinidad, let’s return to when we crossed the bridge to Jamaica. This time, we’ll take a right at Jamaica and head toward Aruba as we make our way to Disney’s Riviera.

We’ll do a little backtracking as we stay on the Jamaica and Aruba side of the resort.

All the while, we’ll take in the surroundings.

The Riviera begins to get closer as we move in that direction.

Looking across Barefoot Bay, we can see Old Port Royale. I cannot stress enough how gorgeous the resort’s landscape is.

Once you reach the end of Aruba, you’ll pass Riviera’s Skyliner station. If you’re staying in Martinique, Jamaica, or Aruba, it’s much easier to walk to this Skyliner while traveling to Epcot.

We’re getting closer. This walk usually means I’m stopping at Disney’s Riviera for lunch at Primo Piatto or Bar Riva. Both are excellent casual options that don’t require reservations.

Disney’s Riviera is a deluxe villa resort that sits on the far end of Barefoot Bay.

Looking back from the Riviera, we can see Old Port Royale in the distance.

If we continue around the lake, we’ll return to Martinique, where we started.

Or you might relax on the white sand beach at Disney’s Riviera and take in the sunset. Speaking of sunset, you should know that’s the perfect time to enjoy this walk around Barefoot Bay.

For more information about Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, you might enjoy:

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What Do You Think?

What are your thoughts on Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort? Have you ever taken the time to walk around Barefoot Bay? Do you enjoy this type of photo post that details some of the more intimate aspects of the resort? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below. We value your feedback and appreciate you taking the time to respond.