Southern Trinidad city on the Gulf of Paria, shaped by oil industry and Carnival pride
San Fernando is Trinidad's second city, perched on a hill in the island's industrial south. The city grew on the back of the oil and petrochemical industries that dominate this part of Trinidad, and the working rigs visible from the highway on the approach give you a clear sense of what drives the local economy. Yet San Fernando has a vitality and community pride that the oil-town label does not fully capture.
The Carnival celebrations in San Fernando rival those in Port of Spain for energy if not scale, and many Trinidadians argue that the "Sando" Carnival is more authentic and less commercialised. San Fernando Hill offers sweeping views across the southern plains to the Gulf of Paria, and the surrounding streets have a walkable, lived-in character with good roti shops and doubles vendors. The Naparima Heritage Park and the local market are worth exploring for a sense of everyday Trinidadian life.
San Fernando also serves as a base for visiting Pitch Lake at La Brea, the largest natural asphalt deposit in the world — Sir Walter Raleigh caulked his ships here in 1595, and the same material later paved streets in New York and Washington D.C. The Cedros peninsula to the southwest offers quiet beaches and fishing villages where the pace of life slows dramatically.
Guide
Eating Out
San Fernando has some of the best everyday Trinidadian food on the island. The city is particularly strong on roti — particularly buss-up-shut (a flaky paratha-style roti torn and served with curried filling) and dhalpuri — and doubles (curried chickpeas in fried bara bread), which are the universal Trinidadian street breakfast.
Look for vendors along the main streets in the morning and around the market for doubles. The area around High Street has several good roti shops. San Fernando is also home to some solid Chinese-Trinidadian restaurants, a hybrid cuisine that developed when Chinese workers came to Trinidad in the 19th century and adapted their cooking to local ingredients.
Guide
Getting There
San Fernando is about 50 kilometres south of Port of Spain by road, roughly an hour's drive depending on traffic. The main route is the Sir Solomon Hochoy Highway (the main southern highway). Public transport from Port of Spain runs frequently in the form of maxi-taxis (shared minibuses) from the City Gate terminal — these are cheap, plentiful, and the standard way Trinidadians travel between the two cities.
The city has its own transport hub where maxi-taxis and route taxis connect to surrounding towns and villages, including La Brea (for Pitch Lake), Point Fortin, and the Cedros peninsula. There is no commercial airport in San Fernando — Piarco International Airport outside Port of Spain is the country's main gateway.