I’m Dreaming of…

Each Caribbean island has its own distinctive atmosphere, a mystic combination of music, language, heritage and food. Many are beautiful, most have excellent beaches and a range of accommodation and activities. The 21st Century’s finest rest-cure

The finest sea and sand in the islands – perhaps the best beaches, but a lack of palms undermines the archetype.  Some superb hotels, some excellent restaurants. Sophistication and low-key living side by side. Quite expensive, but ice cool and - superb beach bars

A trusty, lively holiday island fringed with superb coral-sand beaches. Very well connected by air and a huge range of hotels and villas. Some interesting maritime culture. Smaller, sister island Barbuda, has even finer beaches.

A busy, well organised island, easily accessible from the US and Amsterdam (no so much from the UK) with a host of big, American style hotels on its superb west coast beach. Away from here Aruba has a strong local life and some charming, quiet hideaway inns

Set in the bluest sea of all lie 30 or so main coral islands and hundreds of cays and sandbars. Some highly developed with casinos and high-rises, quite American in feel, others offer a dozy, laid-back life. Superb beaches, watersports and sailing

A Caribbean stalwart, highly developed with excellent beaches and gracious islanders. Barbados’ western and southern coastlines are home to some of the Caribbean’s most famous hotels and private villas, excellent restaurants, activities aplenty

A low-lying Dutch Antillean island close to Venezuela in the south-western Caribbean. Magnificent scuba diving and an independent, gentle island life with just a few hotels and inns on the protected southern shoreline. Not many beaches

A scattering of tall islands with great beaches and superb sailing. Tortola is busy with marinas and hotels, the rest are quiet and laid back, with excellent hotels, villas and swim up bars

Three low-lying islands in the NW Caribbean. Grand Cayman is highly developed with hotels and sondos along spectacular 7-Mile Beach. Little Cayman and Cayman Brac, smaller, dozier and more charming. Organised and quite expensive, all have spectacular scuba diving

A huge island, closest to the US (long its political nemesis) with excellent beaches and a developed but creaky tourism industry. Very strong history and Latin culture. Cuba is welcoming and fun but often frustrating. Currently in political and economic crisis

The senior Dutch Antillean island, easily accessible by air, but without the typical Caribbean beaches, its tourism is not extensive. Onshore extremely lively with good bars and restaurants, visible history, good scuba and a decent range of hotels

A tall volcanic island with jungle-clad slopes as steep and fertile above the water as the corals below. A strong Creole life on land, in language and manner. Some excellent hideaway hotels and inns (very little mass tourism). Wonderful tropical nature

A large island once known for its cheap all-inclusive holidays, the Dominican Republic now offers independent travellers cool stays across the price range. A very strong Latin culture, historic Santo Domingo, great to explore

A reliably charming SE Caribbean island, mountainous and immensely fertile, with good beaches and a range of hotels in the south. Very friendly, pretty capital, St Georges, easy to fall in love with. Tiny, dozy Carriacou is in the Grenadines

French Guadeloupe, mid-way down the eastern Caribbean chain, has both sides of the Caribbean, luxuriant, volcanic Basse-Terre and rolling, coral-Grande-Terre, fringed with white-sand beaches, and offshore islands. Strong French Creole culture in food and manner

An extraordinary country, very lively with an exceptionally strong culture (notably naive art, music and voodoo), but with significant political trouble, making tourism unsuitable and any travel difficult for now. Some excellent beaches in the coves

A large and exceptionally beautiful island in the western Caribbean. Exceptionally lively, population of over 2 million, a strong local life and culture of music. A full range of hotels, resorts and inns, endless activities and the coolest Caribbean vibe

A large French-speaking island with a volcanic, mountainous, jungle-clad north with gardens and waterfalls, and the coral-based south with its excellent beaches, marinas and all the hotels and tourism. Very strong Creole culture, in language, cuisine and zouk music

A small island in the NE Caribbean, still recovering from devastating volcanic eruptions in the 1990s - the main town, Plymouth was destroyed and the population had to move to the island’s north. The volcano is still a curiosity as the tourism slowly increases

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

A large Spanish and English speaking Commonwealth of the USA, highly developed with large hotels around city San Juan and eastern beaches, lots of activities from casinos to sailing trips. Elsewhere, smaller inns, independent travel, inns, windsurfing and mountainous jungle trips

Tiny Saba is a volcanic peak just two and a half miles by three in the north-eastern Caribbean. Lots is unexpected here: gracious Antillean islanders that speak mainly English, an island impossibly steep with a road that couldn’t be built and excellent scuba diving

A tiny Dutch Antillean island in the north-eastern Caribbean with a wealthy history as the Golden Rock, but few beaches and not much tourism nowadays. Very low-key atmosphere, with just a handful of small hotels and bars, some scuba and hiking

Unlike any other Caribbean island - St Barts feels more metropolitan French than French Caribbean. Superb restaurants and beaches, and while it may not have the Caribbean’s easy-going character and tropical island charm, it is lively, stylish, sophisticated and well… sexy…

A small island in the NE Caribbean busy with tourism on Frigate Bay and its south-eastern peninsular, with its excellent beaches of mid-brown sand. Quite a few large chain hotels but also several independent inns and, crucially, excellent beach bars

Famed for her physical beauty – like Helen of Troy, she moved whole armies – St Lucia has built a reliable reputation as the Caribbean’s most romantic destination. Most large hotels in the north, more independent inns taka advantage of the dramatic, vertiginous south

…are Dutch and French in one island though each half has its distinctive character. A north-eastern Caribbean hub, very lively, with casinos, shopping, excellent coral-sand and great beach bars, plus a huge range of accomm-odation and activities

…and its Grenadines make a lovely combination, a soaring volcanic titan mantled with greenery and a string of dozy and charming islands fringed with coral sand and some excellent small hotels. Not that easy to reach, but the sailing is superb and ferry travel is fun

An attractive island in the SE Caribbean that rises gradually from its low-lying western end, where tourism concentrates on coral-sand beaches, into mountain jungle before spilling into steep coves with independent beach and scuba inns

Not a typical tourist island (it is large and industrial), but fun to visit for wildlife (birds particularly) and some independent tourist areas along the north coast beaches. Also for culture, particularly calypso and soca music, including carnival. The Trinis escape to Tobago

A scattering of low-lying islands with magnificent coral sand set in turquoise sea at the SE tip of the Bahamas. Providenciales is developed and quite American in style, others have just a few independ-ent hide-aways, or just a single, luxurious hotel

A US Territory made of three main islands, all with excellent coral sand beaches - upbeat and developed St Thomas, tiny St John, much of it National Park, and large, remote St Croix. Some large chain hotels, also smaller inns and condos available