Sunshine and serenity, sandbars and sophistication; Nassau, the beating heart of the Bahamas, is a touch of glitz intermixed with British sherbet-hued buildings and pirate museums. Snorkel, scuba, fish for silvery snook, climb to Fort Fincastle and the much-photographed Queen’s Staircase, and immerse in the National Gallery and county sculpture garden. From Nassau’s north shore, stylish Baha Mar beckons with nuevo luxury, or hop over the harbour bridge to pretty Paradise Island, for beach bliss, the aquarium and Atlantis.