Local highlights

Islands of the Caribbean
Think of the Caribbean, and you can’t help but picture palm-fringed beaches and gin-clear seas, rum punch cocktails and steel drum bands. The Caribbean is the perfect destination for a luxury holiday, offering sunshine, culture, activities and wonderful hotels. From Antigua to Martinique, from the British Virgin Islands to the Cayman Islands, the Caribbean is studded with some of the most indulgent and exclusive private-island hotels and beach resorts on earth. For most visitors, that’s more than enough: getting away from the beach means going out for a snorkel or hopping out on a windsurfer. Who can blame them? Sifted by the steady, gentle Tradewinds, with excellent coral reefs and an abundance of marine life, the Caribbean is a watersports Promised Land. However, dig a little deeper, and the Caribbean is a fascinating, diverse holiday destination in its own right, suffused in history, with each island boasting its own unique character and personality. From the forts of Jamaica and churches of Barbados to the sizzling carnivals of Cuba and Trinidad, the Caribbean resounds with echoes of its colonial past, with an architecture and attitude to match. Hire a car and you’ll stumble across cricket games, church choirs and beach bars with spontaneous parties – whilst being a fabulous place just to fly and flop, the Caribbean is also wonderfully rewarding to explore. Geographically, the islands vary dramatically. As a general rule, the low-lying coral islands – the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, and the islands of the Venezuelan coast – have the best bone-white beaches and swimming, but are less interesting inland. Volcanic islands by contrast – for example, the Windward Islands such as St Lucia, St Vincent and Grenada – are more dramatic, covered in steep, tangled forest plunging dramatically into the sea, with classic crescent bays and palm-tree beaches, brilliant for birdwatching and hiking, mountain-biking and nature-trails.

Gems of the Caribbean
Sheltered sailing in the British Virgin Islands; hiking in St Lucia up the famous Piton mountains, as well as Jump Up parties every Friday; hundreds of flat, sandy islands in the Bahamas; exploring the parishes of Barbados; the forested slopes of Jamaica’s Blue Mountains, as well its vibrant reggae scene; salsa in Cuba; French colonial architecture on St Bartelemy, St Martin and Guadeloupe; private island resorts in the Grenadines; the national cricket pitch of tiny Nevis; the long white beaches and turquoise seas of Anguilla; mountain biking and white-water rafting on the Dominican Republic; assisting scientists with turtle conservation in the Cayman Islands.

Getting out and about

The most extensive links between islands are by air, with LIAT, BWIA and ALM all offering passes encouraging a degree of island-hopping on 6- to 30-seat planes giving breathtaking views of the islands. Island-hopping by sea is a limited option, although good links exist between dependencies, eg St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago. As for travelling around individual islands, hotels often offer daytrips, otherwise buses are cheap but their scheduling is not always very extensive. Car-hire is usually your best option. The roads on most of the islands we feature are actually quite good, give or take the odd pothole. (Signposts are another matter, so we recommend an ordnance survey map if possible, although if you do get lost, just hopping out to ask directions can be part of the fun). Car-hire is reasonably priced and a good, independent way to see a lot of the islands. Jeeps are also available for rougher road surfaces (some of the hills are quite steep). Taxis also represent good value, especially with local drivers keen to share their knowledge of their home.

Travel arrangements

Flight time to the Caribbean is about 8 or 9 hours, depending on which island you fly in to. Antigua is the closest international hub from the UK, and many flights to but there are direct scheduled flights to dozens of destinations throughout the Caribbean run by British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and British Midland.