An infectious mixture of up-market resorts and pink colonial buildings, Nassau and neighbouring Cable Beach is the busiest tourist destination in all the Bahamas. Packed with restaurants, hotels, bars, clubs and casinos, Nassau/Cable Beach is both the centre of the hedonistic action and a good base from which to go on day trips to some of the Bahamas’ smaller, idyllic islands.

Just to the west of Nassau, Cable Beach’s fine white sand and tranquil sea make this one of the best on New Providence Island, and it’s the better accommodation option of the two if you want to stay somewhere either right on the beach or only a flipflop’s throw away rather than commute from a downtown hotel. The two-and-a-half mile strip is shoulder to shoulder with glitzy, luxury resorts, such as the vast and futuristic-looking Wyndham Nassau Resort, and the most upmarket place to stay is part of the Sandals empire, the Royal Bahamian Hotel and Spa, which has its own little offshore Cay. A slice of Cable Beach has also been annexed by one of the most quirky additions to the accommodation scene, the Marley Resort and Spa. Owned and run by the late Bob Marley’s family, the boutique hotel does elegance with African and Caribbean influences, and all its suites are named after Marley songs.

Linked to New Providence Island by two bridges, nearby Paradise Island is home to a further phalanx of luxury restaurants and hotels, including the sprawling resort Atlantis, which dominates the skyline with its pink towers. Positioned as an epic family destination, the Atlantis weighs in with 2,900 rooms and 40-odd restaurants and bars, along with a 30,000 sq ft spa, 24-hour casino and Aquaventure, a huge fun park of river rides and waterslides that you can go around without ever having to get dry (you are propelled back to the start of the water tower by water conveyors). Jennie Cox, a London-based PR executive, has stayed at the resort. “It is absolutely incredible and really good fun,” she says. “It’s quite Americanised – the service is really good, for example – and Aquaventure is absolutely out of this world.”

In spite of all the tourist development in and around Nassau, the Bahamian capital has retained an endearing colonial charm, with its neoclassical buildings painted in arresting pink, and policemen in white jackets and pith helmets directing traffic. A tour of this historic place should take in the climb up the Queen’s Staircase to Fort Fincastle, ascending steps that are said to have been cut into the sandstone cliffs by slaves in the 1790s. One should also visit the Ardastra Gardens, which is part-garden and part-jungle and features exotic mammals, reptiles and birds, including famous flamingos that march at the request of their trainers.

To learn about Nassau’s past as a centre of piracy, prepare to have your timbers shivered at the engaging Pirates of Nassau museum, which has interactive displays that put a smile on the faces of children, including a pirate ship with crew. Pompey Museum of Slavery and Emancipation on Bay Street provides a more sombre experience, offering a good insight into the island’s place in the trade in human cargo. Beyond the museums, Nassau is a huge draw for shoppers. A lot of the action is on and around Bay Street, which has rows of stores selling designer clothes and a haggle-friendly straw market.

For a break from the intensity of the islands’ main tourist areas, great side trips are available to some of the more remote and quieter Cays. Despite its rather naff name, the Exuma Powerboat Adventure is highly recommended. Leaving from Nassau in the morning, a boat whips you over to Exuma Cays where stops are made for snorkelling, meeting iguanas and offering them a snack of grapes, as well as feeding stingrays and sharks in the shallows.

Another worthwhile trip is to Harbour Island, also known as "Briland". One of the oldest settlements in the Bahamas, Harbour Island is on the chic list and has a spectacular beach of pink sand running the entire length of its eastern side. The pace of life is slower here – people get around by bike or golf cart – and away from the beach it’s well worth having a mooch around the pretty streets and houses of Dunmore Town, the island’s main settlement. A catamaran leaves daily for Harbour Island from Potter’s Cay Dock.

Situated under the Paradise Island Bridge, Potter’s Cay is in itself a fascinating place to visit in the mornings. A quayside marketplace where freshly caught sea species are unloaded and sold, it is somewhere where you’re guaranteed the freshest of conch salads, a hugely popular Bahamian dish, and where you can watch the gastropod mollusc being prised from its shell at dozens of stands.