World Tourism Blog

The Caribbean is eternally appealing, but now even more so with new nonstop flights, plum hotels springing up on emerging islands, and unheard-of bargains at pricey hideouts. From well-trodden sands to blissfully obscure isles, here are the top Caribbean islands to check out this year.

Anguilla

Exclusive Anguilla, with its powdery white-sand beaches, gourmet restaurants, and refined resorts and villas, has long been the quiet Caribbean island alternative to St. Barts.

The last 12 months have brought the debut of the slick Viceroy Anguilla (the brand’s first Caribbean outpost); a major makeover of stylish Cap Juluca; and the expansion of the spa at CuisinArt Resort & Spa. At the same time, the global recession has crimped the return of visitors to Anguilla’s shores.

The result? Off-season rates plummeted by more than 50 percent at some hotels, a trend expected to continue this year. For those who have their hearts set on high season (lasting until April), hotels are adding loads of perks (champagne at Viceroy, upgrades at Cap Juluca) in lieu of lowering rates.

Value: It’s all about location at Ku, an all-suite boutique hotel with a happening bar scene on Shoal Bay, one of Anguilla’s best beaches. While the 27 shabby-chic rooms could use an upgrade, they’re quite spacious, especially the top-floor quarters with pitched West Indian roofs. Request a room away from the bar to sleep in peace.

Splurge: Along Rendezvous Bay, the 93-room all-white CuisinArt Resort and Spa, owned by the kitchen-gadget company of the same name, evokes a tropical Santorini. Highlights include the spa, two Mediterranean restaurants serving homegrown fare, and a delightful beach bar with frosty cucumber-and-sage martinis.

Antigua

Versatile Antigua has a bit of everything: historic forts, picturesque harbors, 365 beaches, and several sumptuous hotels. Nearby lie the Caribbean islands of Montserrat and Barbuda, ideal for day trips.

Jumby Bay, on a 300-acre island 2 miles off the coast, happens to be one of the Caribbean’s most reachable private-island resorts. The storied retreat is fresh off a revamp that yielded a new open-air spa, an oceanfront infinity pool, 40 redesigned guest rooms, and two fresh restaurants. Continental and American Airlines fly nonstop to Antigua from several East Coast cities, and a private catamaran deposits guests right at the resort’s dock.

Value: Notable newcomer hotel Sugar Ridge opened in late 2009 on a hillside overlooking Nevis and St. Kitts. Its 60 well-appointed rooms are furnished with seaview balconies and most have canopy beds.

Splurge: Colonial-style rooms at Jumby Bay feature four-poster beds, wraparound terraces, private courtyards, and outdoor showers. Its new spa offers five private treatment rooms and dreamy massages in a hammock.

British Virgin Islands

The pristine BVI has long attracted yachties and royalty to its turquoise waters, thanks to posh resorts like Rosewood Little Dix Bay, Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island, and Peter Island. This February, Branson is rolling out Necker Belle, a 105-foot, four-cabin catamaran available for charter. A three-person submersible is provided for an extra fee.

Nearby, the private island resort Scrub Island is slated to open on April 2 after several delays. On Tortola, two notable villas recently became available for rental, which bring the pricey region into reach: U.S. politico Lester Hyman’s art-bedecked, three-bedroom private estate, Arundel Villa, and the elegant three-bedroom Frenchman’s Paradise.

Value: The Frenchman’s Paradise villa sleeps up to six people and features a gorgeous chef’s kitchen, an open-air living room, and a pool with sweeping views. Visitors can add amenities, such as private spa services, a la carte.

Splurge: The 100-room Rosewood Little Dix Bay opened in the 1960s on Virgin Gorda and its perfect strip of beach has hardly changed since. Look forward to spacious rooms (spring for the newer Rosewood Junior Suites), a cliffside spa, and three excellent restaurants.

Curacao

True, Curacao has historically trailed its sister Caribbean islands of Aruba and Bonaire when it comes to attracting vacationers, largely because oil refining and financial services, rather than tourism, dominate its prosperous economy.

Yet clearly some repositioning is afoot: Four new resorts have opened here in the past year alone, including Renaissance and Hyatt Regency hotels; Lodge Kura Hulanda & Beach Club unveiled a tree house “mansion”; and the Avila Hotel introduced 68 more rooms.

In November, American Airlines added a second daily flight to Curacao from Miami. Before the secret gets out, go and explore its capital of Willemstad, where dozens of brightly colored Dutch colonial buildings comprise a UNESCO-protected district.

Value: Newer hotels may have arrived, but Hotel Kura Hulanda Spa & Casino (not to be confused with its sister Beach Club property), whose 80 unique rooms are housed in historic Dutch colonial buildings, still offers the island’s — if not the Caribbean’s — most memorable overnight.

Splurge: The 350-room Hyatt Regency Curacao Golf Resort, Spa and Marina, opening April 20 on a sand-trimmed natural preserve, will constitute the island’s first full-scale beach resort. Expect an 18-hole Pete Dye-designed golf course, three pools, and a full spa.

Dominican Republic

In the last decade the Dominican Republic has probably built more resorts on its shores than any other Caribbean island, but not all of them are the mass-market, all-inclusive type that catapulted the island to sun-and-fun fame in recent years.

A recent trove of small hotels is putting that reputation to rest, which is good news for U.S. beachgoers seeking a classy island escape close to home. The biggest rainmaker these days is the intimate Peninsula House that debuted two years ago on the Samana Peninsula, a less-developed area known for its exquisite beaches and small fishing villages.

This season its new neighbor is the Balcones del Atlantico, an all-suites RockResort property opening this February with a thatched-roof beach club perched over the sea. Further east, trailblazer Puntacana Resort & Club isn’t idly standing by: This year it debuts two golf courses, including a Tom Fazio creation with six oceanfront holes.

Value: The island’s only Small Luxury Hotels of the World member, the 50-suite Casa Colonial Beach & Spa Resort near Puerto Plata, still impresses some six years after its launch. Book 15 days in advance to save as much as 40 percent.

Splurge: The family-owned, art-filled Peninsula House, set in a Victorian mansion high above the beach, offers just six junior suites and warm, impeccable service.

Grenada

This southern Caribbean island last made U.S. headlines in 1983 when Ronald Reagan ordered an invasion to quell a Marxist coup. Since then, mostly Brits have trod its 50-odd beaches, making it a great choice for American sunseekers who would rather not run into their neighbors on the sand.

A nascent resort-spa crop is one reason to visit now; three luxe options have debuted here over the past two years. Other attractions include Grenada’s capital, St. George’s, which cascades down around a handsome port known as the Carenage, and the island’s bustling markets, where one can purchase some of the dozen-plus domestically produced spices.

The island is also home to the Caribbean’s oldest waterwheel-powered distillery, River Antoine Rum Distillery, whose namesake Rivers Rum is a doozy 152-proof libation too flammable to bring home by plane.

Value: Above-average gratis perks, like spa treatments, one-tank dives, and even archery and fencing lessons, come standard at adults-only LaSource, a 100-room resort on Pink Gin Beach.

Splurge: Boho-chic LaLuna has 16 large one- and two-bedroom cottages, each outfitted with a plunge pool. Guests can meander between beachfront yoga classes, an open-air lounge for watching sunsets, and a fab new Balinese spa. Its superb Italian restaurant is also a draw.

Jamaica

Those who’ve steered clear of Jamaica because of its spring break vibe should reconsider. Last fall, JetBlue, Delta, US Airways, and AirTran launched nonstop flights from various U.S. cities (including New York, Phoenix, Atlanta, Orlando, and Baltimore), making this Caribbean island more accessible than ever. Book a cheap fare, ignore the captain’s exhorter to “race to the beach!” and deplane to one of the island’s distinctive boutique hotels.

Island Outpost’s legendary Goldeneye, Ian Fleming’s onetime private estate, will reopen later this year with 11 new cottages and a beachfront restaurant. Several cool cliffside resorts in Negril provide a laid-back alternative to the Montego Bay fray further up the coast.

And the oft-maligned city of Kingston is experiencing a makeover, centering on the aptly named New Kingston neighborhood northwest of the downtown. Here the capital’s first new hotel in 40 years, the smart 107-room Spanish Court Hotel, opened in June with a hip rooftop bar.

Value: Offering one of the best lodging deals in the Caribbean, Negril’s

Rockhouse presents 34 thatch-roofed units and a new spa in a terrific cliffside setting.

Splurge: Check out Kingston’s new scene from the plush vantage of Strawberry Hill, a 12-cottage compound run by Island Outpost on a former coffee plantation in the Blue Mountains beyond the capital.

St. Lucia

If recent happenings are any indicator, St. Lucia is poised to become the region’s new culinary darling. Last year the hacienda-like Cap Maison welcomed award-winning chef Craig Jones, whose résumé includes stints at several British Relais & Choteaux hotels and St. Lucia’s Royal Rex. Jalousie Plantation, which will be rebranded Tides Sugar Beach by the year’s end, just tapped the chef at Tides Riviera Maya to helm its formal restaurant.

Both The Landings and Jade Mountain recently added innovative agritours that allow guests to work on local farms and join fishing trips. In March, the British chocolatier Hotel Chocolat will open an eponymous six-room hotel on its 265-year-old working cocoa plantation. Thanks to a slew of nonstop flights from the U.S., weekending gourmands can sample this Caribbean island’s burgeoning table by lunchtime.

Value: At the Cocoa Palm 83 casual West Indian-style rooms lie within walking distance of Reduit Beach and offer one of Rodney Bay’s top lodging values. The best (and most expensive) “swim-up” suites have French doors that open right onto a pool.

Splurge: A decadent six-night Peak to Beach package combines three nights at the legendary Ladera Resort overlooking the Pitons and three nights in an oceanview villa at Cap Maison.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Before St. Vincent served as the setting for “Pirates of the Caribbean”, this remote island and the whole Grenadine chain was primarily known only to sailors and seclusion-seeking rock stars. Indeed, Mick Jagger and David Bowie discreetly frequent the exclusive Grenadine isle of Mustique.

These days, however, the even prettier, quiet island of Bequia is on the rise, thanks to buzz about newcomer Firefly Plantation Bequia and the halfway complete Bequia Beach Hotel. Canouan Island already boasts a sprawling, superluxe Raffles resort that evokes the South Pacific.

And lush St. Vincent is touching up its popular sights like the panoramic Belmont Lookout and the canopied Vermont Nature Trail. What’s more, JetBlue’s new nonstop flights to Barbados, the unofficial gateway to the Grenadines, makes them (somewhat) easier to reach.

Value: Overlooking Bequia’s spectacular Friendship Beach, the Bequia Beach Hotel has already opened two restaurants, a pool, six villas, and 25 colonial-style rooms and suites, many of them with handsome four-poster beds.

Splurge: On the private island of Petit St. Vincent, or PSV, Petit St. Vincent Resort has 22 stone-clad one-bedroom cottages, all blissfully unplugged. For every guest there are two friendly staff members. Request cottage No. 6 for utter solitude and an outdoor shower.

Vieques, Puerto Rico

Since embracing tourism in 2003 after decades as a U.S. naval base, the tiny island of Vieques (6 miles off the southeastern coast of Puerto Rico) has been the most accessible “uncharted territory” in the Caribbean.

With Vieques harboring more than 40 miles of unspoiled sand and the Caribbean’s largest wildlife refuge, its small hotels and casual restaurants have attracted easygoing, eco-minded tourists.

Thus the W Retreat & Spa, Vieques Island, due to launch this spring, is sure to stir things up. This marks the urban brand’s inaugural Caribbean island foray. Secondly, the W will host Alain Ducasse’s first Caribbean restaurant, Mix on the Beach, a major culinary coup for the W. So if you’re the sort to despair of a place being “discovered,” plan a last before the new regime arrives in May. Otherwise, be among the first to sleep in W’s new digs and get a table at what may be the most gourmet beachside restaurant this side of St. Tropez.

Value: One of the Caribbean’s most architecturally arresting hotels, Hix Island House has 13 spare, solar-powered loftlike apartments, with kitchenettes, indoor-outdoor living spaces, and dramatic cutout vistas.

Splurge: On the island’s north coast, the 157-room W Retreat & Spa, Vieques Island is accepting reservations for dates after May 1. Set on two private beaches, the hotel will introduce boldly designed rooms (most with ocean views), a glitzy infinity pool, an outdoor fire pit, and an oceanfront spa. Commercial Loan Workout.

When Joel Simon was a kid, he and his brother began snorkeling around the pilings in murky Alamitos Bay near Long Beach, Calif. “It was one of the most intriguing places I’d ever been,” he says rapturously, nearly 50 years later. “These old rusty cans lying in the muck underneath the dock were actually like treasure chests containing barnacles and octopus and all kinds of wonderful encrusting organisms.”

He’s never lost his love of snorkeling. Today he runs Sea for Yourself, leading trips that combine snorkeling with marine ecology in places far and away from Long Beach, from Florida to Fiji.

Snorkeling can be one of the best ways to see a tropical vacation spot and gain an appreciation of its wild side — the kind that doesn’t do karaoke at the hotel bar until all hours of the night. It’s an activity that’s easy to do, there are myriad colorful, memorable sights to see and it’s a solid way to stay in shape when the daily routine’s been put on hold.

As a way to see the ocean, snorkeling has plenty of advantages over scuba. For one, it’s easy. If you can swim, you can snorkel with very little training. Second, it’s cheap, with no need for heavy, expensive gear purchased, rented or — worse — lugged onto the airplane.

“It’s not equipment-intensive — just mask, fins and a snorkel and off you go,” says Debbie Manos, co-owner of Salt Cay Divers in the Turks and Caicos. The minimum amount of gear can be liberating. And in some cases — diving with whales, for example — the lack of bubbles allows you to get closer to your quarry than you can with scuba gear. “It’s so peaceful. You can float on top of all the sea creatures swimming below and not disturb them in their natural environment.”

For casual snorkelers it’s possible to pick up a $20 mask and snorkel at a local dive shop, ask around for good spots — and jump right in. On the laid-back Puerto Rican island of Culebra, for example, world-class snorkeling is a short hike away via public transport. From the mainland, hop a ferry to Dewey, then take a bus to Playa Flamenco; Carlos Rosario Beach is just 20 more minutes away — on foot. Swim just a few yards offshore, and you’re snorkeling among a wild selection of coral, sea fans and reef fish.

Similarly, Makaha Beach Park on the Hawaiian island of Oahu  is located just off the main highway. Park the car and jump into fantastic snorkeling. Of course, at nearly every popular Caribbean and Pacific vacation spot, plenty of resorts and outfitters are ready to arrange half-day or full-day outings to the offshore reefs.

Then there are the snorkeling spots for real diehards who plan entire vacations around their dives and seek out some of the world’s most pristine coral reefs, often in remote places. Just getting to Rurutu in French Polynesia is a bit of an adventure (it’s 350 miles south of Tahiti); but then you still have to take a boat to find migrating humpback whales. Likewise, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, one of the world’s great snorkeling spots, lies 12 to 50 miles offshore. In some places it’s possible to snorkel from an island resort; in other cases you’ll have to travel by boat for your day’s swim.

But what’s perhaps most satisfying about recreational snorkeling is that its joys are the same for those who do it on vacation once every few years as for those who live in tropical locales year round.

When Tori Cullins, co-owner of Wild Side Specialty Tours on Oahu, moved to Hawaii, she missed the “warm furry critters” from the mainland. “We don’t even have squirrels,” says the. “I took to the water to satisfy the nature disconnect I was feeling. Reefs are more diverse than rainforests, and what land animal can compete with the beauty, intelligence and evolutionary success of dolphins and whales?”

And on top of all that, snorkeling is a great way to get exercise on an otherwise sedentary vacation. “You are preoccupied with all the beauty of the underwater world and don’t realize how much swimming you are doing,” says Manos.

Whatever your level of commitment, a good snorkeling trip requires just four things: clear water, gentle currents, abundant aquatic life and the chance to get away from the crowds. Home Security Systems.

The Caribbean isn’t exactly known to be cheap, but you can stretch your dollar pretty far on certain islands — even when traveling during the winter high season.

Popular hot spots like the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and others offer great value in terms of easy access and well-priced lodging and dining options. But some off-the-beaten-path islands, from Montserrat to Tobago, are also worth seeking out for the extraordinary bang for the buck that they provide.

All-inclusive holidays dominate the scene on most of these islands — great if you want a worry-free, value-packed vacation, but limiting if you want to experience the destination beyond the resort gates; don’t overlook smaller, locally owned villas and inns for terrific, cost-effective alternatives.

Other surefire money-savers include traveling during the off season (from May to November) and looking to budget carriers for cheap flights — these tips, coupled with our editors’ picks for great-value islands, are guaranteed to leave you with enough cash left over to dole out on those frothy, beachfront pina coladas once you touch down! Hard money training

After the last rice has been thrown and the limousine has left the wedding party behind, many newlyweds beat a hasty retreat to a deserted island, a luxury resort or another once-in-a-lifetime vacation destination. Traditionally, the honeymoon was a time for the newly minted bride and groom to “get to know each other.” These days, honeymoons are also a reward for months—if not years—of planning, budgeting and squabbling with future in-laws.

Some historians credit the Babylonians with creating the original honeymoon—their newlyweds drank mead, a honey-based alcohol, for one full month after marrying. Others believe the honeymoon comes to us from the Norse hjunottsmanathr, wherein a young man kidnapped his bride-to-be and held her captive for one month. No coincidence, that’s the amount of time needed for her to conceive—leaving her family no choice but to approve the marriage.

No matter the regional differences, modern honeymoons are now a global phenomenon and a multibillion-dollar industry. But where do most Americans go for their first days of wedded bliss?

Owing to different data-gathering techniques, compiling concrete honeymoon statistics is nigh on impossible. France’s tourism board, for example, can’t tell us exactly how many tourists from the U.S. are there to enjoy their honeymoons—but we know that France is one of the most popular destinations for American newlyweds. To create this list, then, we relied on a combination of statistics provided by tourism boards; data gathered by other credible surveys; and sales numbers and anecdotes from several of the industry’s largest players. Hard money training

Bonbini, in our native language of Papiamento, means “Welcome”. Welcome to Aruba. The word is ours. But we like to think the meaning is universal.

Our beaches curve like an Aruban smile along the western shores, soft and white and fringed with palm trees, sloping gently toward the calm transparent turquoise of the Caribbean.

The waves of the windward coast crash like incessant thunder against the northern cliffs, carving high, arched coral bridges and deep, dark secret limestone grottoes.

Between the two extremes, in a desert landscape where the cacti grow to the height of a man, great building-sized tumbles of boulders stand like the legacy of some ancient, angry god. Winding roads lead to rocky passes and hidden coves, or sometimes to nowhere at all. Giant green parakeets call to their mates, and troupials flash brilliant orange against the deep blue of the Caribbean sky.

This is not the Caribbean as usual. This is Aruba! And if its true that opposites attract, then this could well be the most attractive island of them all. The fact is, if you’re looking for it, and if it has anything to do with a great Caribbean getaway, you can probably find it here in Aruba.

As you explore, as you get to know Aruba, you’ll soon begin to notice the smiling faces everywhere. Real smiles. Gracious smiles. Sheer-joy-of-living smiles. Aruba, as any traveler here will tell you, must surely be among the most welcoming places on Earth.

Maybe its the Dutch tradition of hospitality. Maybe its the long and prosperous history of the island. Maybe its the year-round warmth of the sunshine and the fresh breezes of the tradewinds. More than likely, its all those things and more. But whatever it is, its absolutely true: Aruba is a genuinely happy place to be. And the people who live here, in the cities, in the villages, in the countryside, are genuinely happy to be sharing it with you.

So, sit back, relax and explore our website, where you will find many things to do, places to go and things to see, as well as important information to help you plan your visit to Aruba, “One Happy Island”. Hard Money Association