Choosing a Caribbean Island

With scores of islands - how do you tell which one is right for you?

The Caribbean islands each have their own, distinctive feel, and it‘s very hard to tell in advance which one will suit you best… There are large islands and small islands, developed islands and dozy, laid-back cays and Spanish, English and French-speaking islands, with populations originating from around the world. Almost each one has its own rhythm – soca… salsa… ska! And everywhere is underpinned nowadays by the baselines of reggae. See our snapshot reviews to help you tease out the differences.

Islands are listed alphabetically, inserted as they are written…

Guadeloupe

The French island of Guadeloupe, mid-way down the eastern Caribbean chain, is really two islands shunted together: Basse-Terre, the soaring, luxuriant, volcanic western half, and Grande-Terre in the east, the rolling, coral-based half, fringed with white-sand beaches. (See more about the different styles of Caribbean islands.) More than this, Guadeloupe also has another five offshore islets, making it one of the sailing centres of the Caribbean. Easily accessed from France and the States, harder from the UK (generally via Paris or Antigua), Guadeloupe’s tourism is relatively sparse except along the southern side of Grande-Terre, where there are resort towns, marinas and large hotels on the pretty good beaches: elsewhere the inns and gites (self-catering apartments) make for great low-key, independent travel, particularly on Basse-Terre. Guadeloupe has good restaurants, with French and French Creole cuisine, and a good variety of activities, including rainforest hiking, scuba and sailing trips. And while the islanders can be hesitant, and many don’t speak English, they are welcoming once you catch them in conversation.

Jamaica

Jamaica is a large and exceptionally beautiful island in the western Caribbean, south of Florida and Cuba, with a lively population of over 2 million, giving it a strong local life and culture. Jamaica’s tourism industry is vast and it is easy to get to, with flights from cities around the States and Canada and from the UK and mainland Europe (though be sure you choose the correct destination – either Montego Bay in the NW for upbeat Mo Bay and Ocho Rios on the touristy north coast, plus laid-back Negril and the south-west; or Kingston in the SE, for the city, lovely, dozy Port Antonio and the Blue Mountains). There is a huge range of accommodation, from the branded all-inclusives, Sandals and Superclubs, through the classic, elegant independent hotels to inns and funky hideaways, particularly in Negril and Port Antonio. There are also independent villas and apartments across the price range. Sadly there are few independent restaurants, though there’s plenty of interesting local and street food, but there is plenty to see and do, from zip-lines and sailing trips to cultural and plantation tours. And of course there’s the music – reggae in its many forms - which reverberates along every street.

Nevis

Nevis, a tiny 6 miles by 8, has unutterable, almost ineffable charm:, arising from a combination of the islanders, who go more placidly than other West Indians, the traditional wood and stone buildings, which create a calm and gracious air, and vertiginous greenery. Even Nevis’s small scale contributes – other islands soar dramatically from the sea, but from sister-island St Kitts, the leisurely slopes of Nevis make for one of the Caribbean’s most beautiful views. And it’s a charm that so many Caribbean islands, in their rush for development, stacking beaches with ill-suited buildings, cramming visitors in, have lost. Nevis has seen more measured, mostly sympathetic development. For all this charm, getting there is not that easy (actually this is part of its secret, of course): it’s simplest via St Kitts (followed by a long taxi and a ferry ride); alternately charter a plane from Antigua or St Maarten. Nevis has unusual accommodation, with relatively few beach hotels, but inland it has the Caribbean’s finest plantation hotels. Whatever you feel about Caribbean history and the planters who lived in these buildings, for today’s travellers they represent a small form of Caribbean perfection. There is also a very good range of villas and a small number of nice restaurants to go with an easy local life. And some excellent beach bars, naturally.

clapboard cottage red tin roof gate stone wall .jpg

Saba

Unfeasibly, tiny Saba - a volcanic peak just two and a half miles by three set in the north-eastern Caribbean - is the highest point in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. But lots of things about Saba are unexpected: the islanders speak mainly English, their island is impossibly steep and they built a road that engineers said was impossible. Accessed via (Dutch/French) St Maarten by plane or ferry (it has a very ‘sporting’ airstrip), Saba has a handful of hotels and some lovely traditional wooden cottages with white picket fences and red tin roofs to rent. The island is extremely quiet and its people gracious and polite, so it offers a lovely, low-key escape. It is exceptionally attractive, with rampant tropical greenery and surprisingly extensive hiking, around the flanks and to the peak, the 2885 ft Mt Scenery. Also scuba diving (with no water run-off and its slopes, the corals are excellent). One other untypical thing about Saba: it doesn’t really have a beach. People sunbathe near the quay, but mostly they relax on their balconies until the locals come out on a Friday night.

St Barts

St Barts is unlike any other island in the Caribbean - it feels more metropolitan French than French Caribbean. It is stylish and sophisticated, and well… sexy – what it doesn’t have is the Caribbean’s easy-going character and slow charm, nor even many West Indians of colour. Once Swedish, the island is quite hard to get to (from the States and mainland Europe mainly via St Maarten; from Britain generally via Antigua), but it has a very well developed tourism industry with some of the smartest and most expensive accommodation in the islands, and a whole clutch of excellent restaurants. St Barts is unexpectedly attractive, if on a small scale, and hasexceptional beaches; it is generally expensive, and there are stars and starlets to spy in the many excellent bars and beach bars if you are inclined. It tends to bring out extreme opinions – while it may not feel very Caribbean in spirit, if you are looking for some French elegance on the western side of the Atlantic, it may fit your needs perfectly.

St Lucia

Famed for her physical beauty – like Helen of Troy, she moved whole armies – St Lucia has recently built a reputation as the Caribbean’s most romantic destination. And it’s true, heart-stoppingly pretty bays and beaches, particularly in the north, rise through tropical abundance and vertiginous green forest to the mountainous centre, coming to an iconic crescendo in the Pitons, two vast conical peaks that soar from the sea’s edge. With a strong local (French creole) vibe on land and plenty of activities to keep visitors busy, including seaborne excursions, St Lucia has a well-developed tourist industry and is pretty easy to get to, with many weekly flights from the UK and north America. It caters to all price levels – from guest houses up to standard international chains and, more interestingly, quirky luxury – in both hotels and private villas. The island still doesn’t quite have the levels of cuisine or the ‘scene’ of Barbados, St Barts or Anguilla, but for the right people, looking for a private – and perhaps romantic – escape, with a strong Caribbean feel, she offers an utterly beguiling experience.