The British territory, a hook-shaped group of islands some 774 miles southeast of us in the Atlantic, is second home to top-shelf billionaires like Mayor Bloomberg and the feisty Ross Perot. In fact, Perot, when he wasn’t blowing up said reefs to build a dock, has been spotted speeding around the island’s turquoise waterways in one of those "drug runner"-style boats you see all over Miami, clocking in at an ear-flapping 100 mph.

With a population of over 65,000, Bermuda has one of the highest per capita GDPs in world (around $69,000). Unfortunately, it has a cost of living to match: $20 chicken-parm sandwiches, $35 for a quick taxi ride from the hotel to the beach, gas is $7/gallon.

Don’t let this deter you: Bermuda is one lovely island. Low, green hills bloom with blue, red and purple cottages, all with uniformly white roofs, and you’re never far from WASPy creature comforts like cricket fields, tennis courts and golf courses. Beaches are pink; the shallow water clear with a unique bluish-green hue. Docked yachts sway in the bays outside their owners’ million-dollar cliffside timeshares. Even Hamilton, the hilly and breezy bayside capital city, is plenty metropolitan, looking more like a mini-San Fran than the usual grotty island capital.

It’s just, well, you have to be ready for the fact that Bermuda isn’t for everyone. For starters, it’s not nearly as hip or intimate as, say, St. Barts. It doesn’t have a tenth of the nightlife of much of the Caribbean. Nor is there gambling of any sort — no casinos, no lottery, and bars have even been forced to ditch their little video slots.

But who needs gaming when you have the great outdoors? There’s a reason shorts were perfected in Bermuda — so you can stay active, enjoying the free parks and scores of low-cost physical activities. Here, five great ways to commune with Mother Nature for less money than you think.

 P.S. Use what’s possibly the world’s most efficient and reliable bus system —unlimited daily passes (plus ferry use) are only $12.

While mopeds are the bikes of choice here, a conventional pedal (or "push," as Bermudans say) bike can be rented for half as much, and they’re allowed where all other vehicles are verboten. Take one down the Railway Trail (once a train track, now dirt), which runs across Bermuda, nearly tip to tip from St. George’s to Somerset, and is also quite popular with sexy joggers trying to stay that way. The best leg traces the island’s southern edge from Paget Parish to Sandys Parish, through a tunnel of trees, past countryside mansions and beautiful veggie gardens.

Rent a 21-speed bike for $25/day at Eve Cycles in St. George’s or Paget. Eve’s starting guided bike tours this month (www.evecycles.com).

There are many public parks to choose from, but Spittal Pond, a coastal, 64-acre nature reserve in Smith’s Parish, is your best bet, especially if you count yourself among the growing number of birders (come out of the closet, we don’t judge).

With its fields of vibrant flowers (please eat the nasturtiums), tide pools, swamps and wild chickens, egrets, warblers and ducks, it’s a perfect — and free —escape from Bermuda’s high-traffic areas. Take a hike around the coastal hills of the reserve and you might stumble on Spanish Rock, a now bronzed-over stone carved into by a Portuguese sailor back in 1543. The seaside rocks are, however, more noticeably etched with a plethora of circa-21st-century graffiti, illuminating the lesser historical truth that teenagers have too much time on their hands.

Sitting way over on the tip of Bermuda’s western tail, the Royal Naval Dockyard isn’t your grandma’s skid row of drunken sailors. It’s more carnival-meets-boutique-boardwalk, spread out around a beautifully renovated stone fortress built in the 1800s, where you’ll find a glassworks studio, maritime museum, art galleries, cafes, bars, and a two-story mall in a clock tower. If you’re feeling frisky with your cash, you can swim with and feed dolphins for $185 (www.dolphinquest.org). As it happens, hunting sea creatures is cheaper than nourishing them. Buy a $4 line, $5 squid bait and $1 hook and weights at the Dockyard Marina and go line fishing (no pole needed) for snapper and yellowtail anywhere off the six-acre yard. Just be sure not to hook a cruise ship guest; they unload here en masse.

One hundred years ago, two lads were playing cricket when their ball rolled into a hole in the ground. One of them was lowered into it with a lantern, only to discover a vast sparkling cavern. Yada, yada, the Bermudan government eventually dynamited the caves open, dubbed them a "national landmark" and started charging admission. That’s basically the story behind the Crystal and Fantasy Caves, best for families with kids. A half-hour guided tour (sorry, we spoiled most of their spiel) takes you down 80 feet underground into the caves, beneath massive crystalline calcite stalactites dripping "cave kisses," where you’ll cross a bridge over the salt water that rises and lowers with the tide. It’s most fun when the lights go out ($15;www.caves.bm).

Bermuda’s crotchety coral reefs have sliced and diced hundreds of boats since the 1500s. Any onboard booty that might have spilled is long gone, however, and all the wrecks are property of Bermuda, monitored closely by a very overprotective commission. But they’re definitely worth a scuba excursion, so long as you don’t mess around down there. Check out Blue Water Divers, located in Southampton, to arrange for a trip (from $65, www.divebermuda.com). If the thought of "the bends" makes you break out in a cold sweat, stick to snorkeling. You can rent cheap equipment ($8/hr) at Blue Hole Watersports, on the shore of Hamilton Parish (www.blueholewater.bm).

Let's get physical [NYP]