Downtown Port of Spain

Downtown Port of Spain

Bustling Downtown centers on Woodford Square, overlooked by the 1800s Holy Trinity Cathedral and imposing Red House parliament building. The National Museum and Art Gallery exhibits both artworks and historical and cultural artifacts, and stalls sell street food opposite the striking contemporary National Academy for the Performing Arts. Queen’s Park Savannah is a vast park bordered by opulent Victorian mansions.

Dating back to the 1780s, downtown Port of Spain is the city’s oldest district, and in places it still looks the part, though the colonial-era buildings on the backstreets are fast giving way to a rash of new development. Constantly reinventing itself in a frenzy of modernization, this is the capital’s shopping and financial centre. Within the compact grid of streets surrounding broad Independence Square/Brian Lara Promenade and bustling Frederick Street, shops jostle for space with old Spanish warehouses, coffee exporters’ offices, finance houses and the paraphernalia of the docks, while the thoroughfares are jammed with traffic, pedestrians and pavement vendors.