Featured holiday Barbados and the Grenadines two-centre holiday Caribbean

You fly from London to Barbados with British Airways. You are met at the airport and transferred by private car to your hotel, Coral Reef Club.

You have four full days on the island of Barbados at Coral Reef Club. For alfresco lunches and cocktails, we recommend visiting Harold’s Beach Bar, which, as the name suggests, is a thatched bamboo hut right on the white sandy beach. The hotel’s restaurant serves excellent European-Asian fusion cuisine from a menu that changes five times a week to keep the flavours fresh. The Sandpiper’s sister hotel, Coral Reef Club, has a number of facilities that Sandpiper guests are free to use. Relax in the Coral Reef Spa, which uses Natura Bissé products in a number of specially-developed treatments, or make use of the scuba-diving school. Complimentary transfers to Coral Reef Club are available from the hotel. Other water-sports are complimentary, including Hobie Cat sailing, laser and sunfish sailing, kayaking, paddle-boarding, and snorkelling. Many spectacular sights on Barbados are not to be missed. Organise transport to Harrison’s Cave and Animal Flower Cave to see some of the island’s most breath-taking natural phenomena. Harrison’s Cave was formed by flowing clear streams that have cut their way through crystallised limestone. Explore, by foot or on a small train, the narrow tunnels and vast caverns. To the north of the island, Animal Flower Cave is cut into the rock at sea level, creating a calm seawater pool that is perfect for relaxed, atmospheric swimming. For a taste of Barbados’ cultural heritage, it is worth visiting the lovely St Nicholas’ Abbey. This traditional plantation offers tours of the perfectly preserved main house and the rum distillery, as well as moonlit dinner buffets in January, February, March, and April (check dates before travelling). The local Caribbean rum can be tasted at Mount Gay. Other points of interest include the popular Barbados Concorde Experience, and many outstanding beaches, such as Bathsheba Beach, Dover Beach, and Worthing Beach, where it is possible to swim with turtles.

You fly today from Barbados to Union Island in the Grenadines, and then are transferred by boat to Petit St Vincent, known simply as PSV.

You have four full days on PSV. PSV is a private island of 115 acres of tropical vegetation, gently sloping hills and beaches as white as sugar. The accommodation is in cottages that trail the curvature of Telescope Hill and Atlantic Beach. You spend the nights here in a cottage with exposed stone walls, private deck, and wide ocean views. There are no television sets, telephones or WiFi. Activities on the island include a state-of-the-art dive centre, essential for an island surrounded by deep coral reefs and tropical fish. Deep sea fishing trips regularly catch species such as Mahi Mahi and the Great Barracuda; all fish caught will be expertly prepared by the chefs of Petit St Vincent’s two restaurants at your request. Other watersports include kayaking around the 2-mile circumference, snorkelling, kite-surfing, and sailing; all of which offer a new and exciting perspective on this surreal island. Boat trips across to Canouan Island can be arranged if you want to enjoy the 18-hole golf course. After a thrilling few days, relax in the Hillside Spa or Yoga Pavilion. The Spa offers products blended from Caribbean and Asian herbs, accompanied by the tranquil sounds of the birds and the sea, in open-air treatment rooms or on the relaxation deck. Daytime excursions can be arranged through the hotel. Travel out to Tobago Cays Marine Park and relax on one of the protected islands, or dive among the colourful fish. Explore traditional West Indian life on Union Island and have a drink in the bar at the top of Happy Island, an island formed entirely from Conch shells. Climb up to the stone Catholic Church atop the hill of Mayreau, or visit Carriacou, untouched by tourism, which still relies on ancient crafts such as boat-building.

Today you are transferred by boat to Union Island where you board the private shared charter flight to Barbados. At Barbados you take the British Airways scheduled flight to London Gatwick, arriving early the next morning.