Grand Cayman Resort Day Passes (and How to Use the Beach for Free)

The short answer

• A few resorts sell day passes to non-guests: the Grand Caymanian (also branded Holiday Inn, on the North Sound), Hampton by Hilton, The Reef (East End), and the boutique VIDA Cayman (West Bay). You book through ResortPass or ResortForADay.
• Families have two water-park options: SPLASH at Kimpton Seafire (kids 12 and under) and Starfish Cay at the Ritz both sell day access. The Westin has no day-visitor option (only an overnight stay at sister hotel Sunshine Suites).
• The beach is always free. Every beach in Cayman is public, so you can walk and swim on the sand in front of any resort. What you cannot use for free is their chairs, loungers, and pools.
• The easy middle ground: a public beach bar like Jacks Beach Bar or Bonny Moon. Buy food and drinks, use the beach, no pass required.

Resorts that sell day passes

These let non-guests buy a day of pool and beach access. Passes usually include loungers, towels, and food-and-drink service; some add cabanas and watersports. Prices are set on the booking platform and move with demand, so check the current rate when you book rather than relying on a figure here.

• The Grand Caymanian Resort / Holiday Inn Resort Grand Cayman (Crystal Harbour, on the North Sound) is the most straightforward. The two names are effectively the same place: they sit side by side on Crighton Drive and share the pool, North Sound beach, pier, and the Driftwood Bar & Grill, and the booking platforms treat them interchangeably. Book via ResortPass (or ResortForADay for cruise visitors). The pass covers the freshwater pool or the North Sound beach, towels, chairs and cabanas, and the fitness room, valid 9am to 6pm, May 1 to December 20, not Mondays (plus blackout dates), booked in advance. Note this is the calmer North Sound, not Seven Mile Beach.
• Hampton by Hilton Seven Mile Beach offers a pool-and-beach day pass via ResortPass: the garden pool, fitness centre, beach access with complimentary chairs and umbrellas, and on-site dining.
• The Reef Resort (East End, formerly Wyndham Reef) sells a day pass via ResortPass covering its beachfront, three pools and hot tub, and beach bar. It is a 45-minute drive from George Town, so it suits an East End day out.
• VIDA Cayman (Barkers, West Bay) is a newer 12-room luxury eco-hotel on the island's quiet northwestern tip. It sells a day pass through ResortForADay (around US$200, ages 18+, 7am to 6pm) covering the beach with towels and chairs, the pool and loungers, a "stillness" deck, gym and showers; food and drink are extra. It is aimed at cruise visitors (a cruise ID is requested at check-in) and is remote, so it suits a quiet, upscale day rather than a Seven Mile Beach scene.

Water parks: a day option for families

Two Seven Mile Beach resorts run children's water parks that sell day experiences. For families with young kids, this is often the practical way to get a resort day without a full pool-and-beach day pass.

• SPLASH at Kimpton Seafire is a 14,000-square-foot water park for children 12 and under, open 10am to 4pm. Day experiences are arranged through Camp Seafire with 24 hours' notice (campseafire@seafireresortandspa.com). The resort does not publish a price or spell out non-guest eligibility online, so contact Camp Seafire to confirm availability and cost. (Kimpton's former general pool day pass, once sold through an iDayPass portal, now appears inactive.)
• Starfish Cay at the Ritz-Carlton is a water-play area open to all ages, 10am to 4pm daily. Day passes are sold same-day only, subject to seasonal availability, through the Ambassadors of the Environment desk (345-815-6120). The resort does not publish the rate on a working page, so call for the current price; it has historically been a flat per-person charge with no separate child rate.

Two resorts have no day option at all: the Grand Cayman Marriott has no published day pass, and the Westin cannot be visited for the day. The only way to use the Westin's pool is to book an overnight stay at its sister hotel, the Sunshine Hotel & Suites, whose nightly resort charge (around US$55) includes Westin pool, beach and dining access. That is an overnight perk, not a day pass. The Ritz's and Westin's restaurants are both open to the public by reservation if you only want a meal.

The free option: every beach is public

Here is the part visitors most often get wrong. You do not need a day pass to use the beach in front of a resort. In the Cayman Islands the wet sand below the high-water mark is Crown land held for public use, and the dry sand along Seven Mile Beach is public too under the Prescription Law, which gives the public the right to use a beach that has been used without interruption for 20 years. Seven Mile Beach has decades of continuous public use.

In practice this means a resort cannot rope off the beach, eject you from the sand, or block your way along it. What it can do is reserve its own beach furniture and pools for guests. So the line is simple: the sand is yours to use; the loungers and pools are not. Bring your own towel and you can spend the day on the beach anywhere on Seven Mile Beach for nothing.

The middle ground: beach bars

If you want a lounger, a bar, and facilities without a resort pass, a public beach bar is the easy answer. You buy food and drinks and use the beach there, no day pass required:

• Jacks Beach Bar (West Bay Road, on the former Coral Beach site) opened in 2026 and is open to walk-in visitors, no reservation needed, with food, drinks, and beachfront seating. It is a popular cruise-day spot; its own site advertises free walk-in access, but on busy cruise days it is worth checking ahead, as beach bars sometimes add a cover charge or minimum spend.
• Bonny Moon Beach Club (the former Calico Jack's site) is open to the public, with a café, beach bar, and restaurant.

Royal Palms, a Seven Mile Beach landmark, was demolished in early 2025 and is being rebuilt on the same stretch; it is expected to reopen during 2026 but is not open yet. Tiki Beach has closed.