As if azure seas, soft beaches and sensational local food wasn’t enough of an excuse, Kate Simon gives the lowdown on why your visit to these sun-kissed islands is long overdue
1 It’s a bumper year for hotel openings in the Caribbean. Antigua has just added Sugar Ridge (sugarridgeantigua.com),
a 60-bedroom hotel, and Nonsuch Bay (nonsuchbayresort.com), a sailing resort with 80 apartments and villas, to its growing portfolio of luxury properties. In Barbados, the venerable Atlantis Hotel (atlantishotelbarbados.com) on the island’s east coast has been renovated as an intimate ten-room property. The Mount Hartman Bay Estate, in Grenada, has just opened an exclusive eight-suite hotel (mounthartmanbay.com), and luxury is the byword, too, at The Viceroy in Anguilla, which features 166 contemporary guest residences (viceroyanguilla.com). St Lucia wins the prize for the most unusual property, with the opening of Hotel Chocolat (hotelchocolat.co.uk) by the chocolatiers of the same name. Up to 12 guests can stay at this hotel set on a cocoa estate where the company is engaged in a project to reintroduce this crop to the island.
2 A cool £60m has been spent on Caribbean favourite Jumby Bay Resort (jumbybayresort.com), set on a private island off Antigua. Twenty-eight new suites have been added and the 12 original guest rooms have been completely redesigned, plus there’s a new spa, two restaurants and oceanfront infinity pool. In Jamaica, Ian Fleming’s home, Goldeneye, at Oracabessa, is being expanded. This year will see the completion of 11 new one- and two-bedroom beach cottages (islandoutpost.com).
3 Want to know where to find the best beach in the Caribbean? According to the Blue Flag organisation (blueflag.org), there are now 19 worthy of special recommendation, all having passed strict tests for water purity and beach management. Eight beaches in the Dominican Republic received this eco-stamp of approval at the most recent round of awards, with Jamaica scooping five and Puerto Rico six.
4 Hide out with the celebrities at Parrot Cay on Turks and Caicos. This stellar resort — favoured by the likes of Robert De Niro and Barbra Streisand — has just added two three-bedroom villas, designed in the pared-down style of owner Como Resorts (parrotcay.como.bz). And be among the first to experience Christophe Harbour in St Kitts (christopheharbour.com). Though the luxury resort and marina isn’t due to fully open until 2012, it’s now offering four exclusive beachfront bungalows at Turtle Beach for holiday rental.
5 Spoil yourself with a spot of pampering at the Espa spa at the new Solis The Palmyra Resort & Spa at Rose Hall (thepalmyrasolis.com) in Jamaica. The two-level space, arranged around a courtyard garden, was designed in consultation with Espa founder Susan Harmsworth. Wellbeing is the focus of St Lucia’s spa hotel The BodyHoliday at LeSPORT (thebodyholiday.com). Now it’s offering a new menu of treatments just for men, including massages, scrubs and facials.
6 Caribbean cooking gets a contemporary twist at Marketfive by John Hazzard (byjohnhazzard.com) in the Satjay Bridgetown Centre, Barbados. The eponymous chef’s dishes use local ingredients such as hummus made from yellow split peas served with plantain foccacia crisps, while sushi is the latest flavour at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad (trinidad.hyatt.com). And Barbuda’s beachfront restaurant It’s a Bit Fishy Seafood Grill and Bar (itsabitfishy.com) is open again for weekend dining to live reggae, calypso and jazz.
7 Take a tip from the ‘rummelier’ when choosing from the extensive selection of rums on offer at The Cane Bar, a new watering hole at St Lucia’s The Jalousie Plantation (thejalousieplantation.com). Check out the romantic hammock for two at the SandBar on the beach in Sandy Ground, Anguilla (sandbar.anguilla@gmail.com). Comanche Mill Yacht-less Club (yacht-lessclub.com) on the Christiansted boardwalk in St Croix may be one of the smallest bars in the Caribbean — it once served as the honeymoon suite for a nearby hotel — but it has a large collection of rums, wines and spirits to enjoy.
8 Ten acres of lush green forest have been transformed into the Wadadli Animal Nature Park, on Antigua, a new home for deer, monkeys and parrots. At the Arikok National Park on Aruba, moonlight walks are being offered across the cacti-strewn landscape (naturesensitivetours.com). The park includes the Fontein and Quadarikiri caves, which feature ancient Caquetio Indian paintings.
9 Harrison’s Cave (harrisonscave.com), extraordinary underground limestone chambers filled with dramatic stalactites and stalagmites at the heart of Barbados, reopens this year with a visitor centre and tram.
10 Hop on a Vespa at the Nisbet Plantation Beach Club (nisbetplantation.com) in Nevis. These iconic scooters are available to guests exploring the island. On St Vincent and the Grenadines, you can get a local perspective on life on a bespoke trip organised by Sailor’s Wilderness Tours (sailortours.com), which take visitors along the back roads to discover the islands’ history and culture, including hikes up La Soufrière volcano.
11 Fun is on the agenda for children of all ages at the Half Moon resort (halfmoon.com) in Jamaica’s Montego Bay. A new Very Important Little People Service for children aged three to 12 years will include treats such as bedtime tuck-ins with stories. Over-13s get a new activity centre, the Hype Zone, with a cyber lounge, disco and spa.
12 Place your bets at the six-furlong horse-racing track at Beaumont Park (beaumontpark.kn) on St Kitts, a sport enjoyed there since the 1920s.
13 Keep fit at the Buccament Bay Beach Resort, (harlequinhotelsandresorts.com) opening this summer on St Vincent, where children and adults can receive expert tuition at its Pat Cash Tennis Academy, Liverpool FC Soccer School and Cricket Academy.
14 There’s two Jack Nicklaus-designed Signature Golf Courses at the Golden Bear Lodge, at Cap Cana, Dominican Republic (zoetryresorts.com).
15 Just completed, the Accessible Trail at Francis Bay on the US Virgin Island of St john enables visitors using wheelchairs, and families with young children to explore the Virgin Islands National Park (visitusvi.com). Keep an eye out for news of the Waitukubuli National Trail in Dominica (discoverdominica.com) the Caribbean’s first long-distance hiking trail (15 miles). Birds and monkeys will accompany you on a hiking trail in the Morne Longue Fedon Camp’s eco-tourism attraction in Grenada (grenadagrenadines.com).
16 A new open-air wedding venue has opened at Ladera resort (ladera.com) on St Lucia, which can hold ceremonies for up to 100 guests.
17 Try the new Give and Getaway programme being launched in April, at The Landings (thelandingsstlucia.com), St Lucia, where you can get back to the land, working alongside local famers and fishermen.
18 Whizz through the trees on one of the new rides at Chukka Caribbean Adventures in Jamaica (cbayresort.com). Meanwhile, Colourful Jamaica (colourfuljamaica.com) is offering bareback horse rides for the first time, for beginners and experienced riders. A new kite-surfing school, 2Elements, has just opened at Coconut Bay Beach Resort on St Lucia, and Tobago will hold its very first dive festival, the Underwater Carnival (tobagoscubadiving.com) in June. The Cayman Islands have a host of diving events taking place this year, too, including the sinking of a submarine rescue vessel and the opening of an eco-dive resort, Lighthouse Point (divecayman.ky).
19 You’ve just time to catch the end of this year’s Barbados Open House programme (barbados.org/openhse.htm), which runs till April and is hosted by the island’s National Trust. Properties new to the event include Malvern Great House, a 17th-century Georgian mansion with a curved Palladian double staircase. Check into Casa Verde, which recently opened in Cienfuegos, Cuba, as part of a project restoring architecturally important buildings and turning them into small hotels (captivatingcuba.com).
20 Catch this year’s international test matches across the Caribbean (windiescricket.com).
21 Check out the local talent at the Biennial of Visual Arts at the Museum of Modern Art in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic from 16 August (godominicanrepublic.com).
22 Take the newly resumed ferry service from Antigua to Montserrat to see the island’s active volcano (visitmontserrat.com).
23 Sleep under the stars on the exclusive Petit St Vincent, where guests can camp out on a deserted beach, and are provided with sleeping bags, lanterns and cooking equipment (psvresort.com). Or pitch a tent in the grounds of the new Mount Pleasant Eco Lodge in Montserrat (greenlivingmontserrat.com).
24 A new singles programme has been launched at Cotton Bay Village, St Lucia. The new packages have been designed for single-parent families with fun activities for people of all ages (holidaysforsingleparents.com).
25 There’s always a party on in the Caribbean, from carnival to crop over. For a full calendar of events, go to onecaribbean.org.
WAY TO GO
British Airways flies directly to Punta Cana, Antigua, St Kitts, Grenada, Tobago, Barbados, St Lucia, Port of Spain, Providenciales, Kingston and Montego Bay from London Gatwick. Visit ba.com for more details.
Harlequin Hotels & Resorts are delighted to announce that the Rt Hon Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St Vincent & The Grenadines, will be attending the launch of the Buccament Bay Resort at Wembley Stadium, on 24th and 25th April 2010.
The pictures to the right shows the Rt Hon Ralph Gonsalves on a tour of the Buccament Bay site with Dave Ames, Harlequin Hotels & Resorts, last year.
St Vincent and the Grenadines gains an exciting new wedding location in July, with the soft opening of Harlequin Hotels & Resorts’ Buccament Bay. The resort is just minutes from one of the filming locations in Pirates of the Caribbean, and is also family-friendly. An Island Spa Villa or Water’s Edge Penthouse Suite are recommended for honeymoon accommodation.
Grenada Openings
