Welcome to the Caribbean!
Anguilla
Antigua & Barbuda
Aruba
Bahamas
Barbados
Bonaire
British Virgin Islands
Cayman Islands
Cuba
Curaçao
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Grenada
Guadeloupe
Haiti
Jamaica
Martinique
Montserrat
Puerto Rico
Saba
Saint Kitts & Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent & the Grenadines
Sint Eustatius
Sint Maarten
St Martin
Trinidad & Tobago
Turks & Caicos
US Virgin Islands
Laid-back elegance amidst perfect white sand beaches.
Rapidly becoming a luxury destination with high-priced villas and upscale resorts, Anguilla, the most northerly of the British Leeward Islands, retains the laid-back character of a sleepy backwater. Goats still wander the streets and reggae music blares from passing cars.
Frigate birds, shipwrecks and go-slow beaches.
Antigua's tourist office boasts that the island has 365 beaches, 'one for each day of the year'. It has great reefs and wrecks for diving and snorkelling. On neighbouring Barbuda you can track the island's fabled frigate birds and visit the Caribbean's largest rookery.
Towering resorts, a Martian interior and year-round sun.
This parched speck of an island off the coast of Venezuela has guaranteed sunshine and is blessed with beaches that make you say 'ahhh'. Tourism is the big business here and it's served in a double scoop of Latin coastal coasters and sun bunnies from North America and Holland.
Although large-scale tourism dominates the island (read: luxury resorts from here to sunset), there are still undeveloped areas on the exposed northern coast, and much of the interior is inhabited by nothing more than goats and contorted divi-divi trees.
Search out the backwater quays or sun bake with the terrifically tanned.
The Bahamas has successfully promoted itself as a destination for US jetsetters, and a lot of it is Americanised. Yet there are still opportunities among its 700 islands and 2500 cays to disappear into a mangrove forest, explore a coral reef and escape the high-rise hotels and package-tour madness.
The 18th-century Privateers' Republic has become a modern banker's paradise, at least on New Providence and Grand Bahama. On the other islands - once known as the Out Islands but now euphemistically called the Family Islands - the atmosphere is more truly West Indian.
This part of the Caribbean hasn't quite lost its British accent.
Barbados is the 'Little England' of the Caribbean, but not so much so that the locals have given up rotis for kidney pies, or rum for bitter ale. Bajans, as the islanders call themselves, are as West Indian as any of their Caribbean neighbours, and have tended to selectively borrow rather than assume English customs.
Barbados sits almost a hundred miles east of its closest neighbour, so when the Spaniards, Danes, French and others were busy fighting over the rest of the Caribbean, Barbados sat back with its Pimm's on ice, remaining solidly British.
Diving and hiking, flamingos and casinos? Next stop: Bonaire!
This small, arid boomerang of an island is a divers' paradise. Skeptical? Read the license plate on your rental car, pal. Bonaire really does have some of the best diving in the region, most of it within the Marine Park encircling its shore.
Still the islands on which you dream of being shipwrecked...
Parts of the British Virgin Islands are so beautiful, you'd happily marry the closest iguana just so you could stay there forever. Think dramatic green hills, blue skies, tripped-out sunsets and beaches where the loudest noise is the donk of a coconut dropping on sand as soft as a baby's bottom.
Dive vivid coral reefs, come up for balmy air and an ice-cold and a g&t.
The Cayman Islands are crawling with a fun-loving mix of deal-cutting bankers with briefcases and cell phones, scuba divers in neon-hued wetsuits and English folk checking the cricket scores over a tipple. The islands vibrate with colour: coral reefs, bright orange frogfish, sociable stingrays and reggae beats on the street.
Thanks to a thriving tourism and cruise-ship industry, resorts and condos have sprung up all over, and you can count on every convenience, from air-con and cold beer to swanky shopping and ESPN. But if you want to get away from it all, it's easy to escape satellite dishes and slickness, not least of them underwater.
Beguiling, confounding, frustrating and bewitching: Cuba does it all.
Epic colonial architecture, libidinous young salsa dancers, Che Guevara murals, white-powder sandy beaches, swaying fields of sugar cane - the images of Cuba are as transfixing as they are timeless. This is an island of unique historical heritage floating amid a sea of encroaching globalisation.
Travel in Cuba can involve anything from sipping mojittos at an all-inclusive resort in Varadero to scraping the spit and sawdust off your shoes outside the Casa de las Tradiciones in Santiago. The burgeoning tourist sector rubs up against the Cuba of communist myth.
Dutch colonial village or Caribbean island - Curaçao is an enticing combination.
Curaçao's beaches may be nubbled with coral or strewn with imported grains and the local liqueur may be a first rate gut-rot, but it more than makes up for these niggles with high comfort levels, guaranteed balminess and a friendliness that constantly threatens to bubble over into a party.
Burn some energy in the land of waterfalls.
Largely rural, uncrowded and unspoiled, Dominica touts itself as a 'non-tourist destination' for divers, hikers and naturalists - partly because it trades the lazy white-sand beaches so predominant elsewhere in the Caribbean for verdant peaks, killer hikes and breathtaking underwater scenery.
Done with cruises and crowds? Try some classic Caribbean culture.
Not only does the 'Spice Island' produce nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, ginger and cloves, this rugged land of mountains, rainforests, waterfalls and secluded beaches has also given birth to an intriguing history and people.
The capital, St George's, is located on Grenada Island and has one of the prettiest harbor settings in the Caribbean. Carriacou is dotted with traditional East Caribbean towns and friendly locals, while Petit Martinique offers the chance to unwind in a little-known corner of the world.
Bounce between carnivals and glide between manatees.
The white-sand beaches, impressive mountain ranges veined with spectacular rivers and waterfalls, and saltwater lakes teeming with exotic wildlife are just part of the Dominican Republic's appeal. Whether you're looking to party, relax or explore, the Dominican Republic has a lot to offer.
A sweet and spicy fusion of landscapes, lifestyles and liquor.
Guadeloupe is a lively center of Creole culture, boasting a spirited blend of French and African influences. As well known for its sugar and rum as for its dive sites and resorts, the archipelago offers an interesting mix of modern cities, rural hamlets, rainforests and secluded beaches.
Move to the invigorating beat of a luminous culture.
Haiti is a poverty-stricken land of urban overpopulation, denuded hillsides and a people suffering the wounds of civil strife and oppression. It is also a vibrant country of colourful art, fantastic music, cloud forests and an intensely spiritual people whose humour and passion are legendary.
Cast aside cliché and let Jamaica reveal its swaying, golden secrets.
Ever since Errol Flynn cavorted here with his Hollywood pals in the 1930s and '40s, travellers have regarded Jamaica as one of the most alluring of the Caribbean islands. Its beaches, mountains and carnal red sunsets regularly appear in the sort of tourist brochures that promise paradise.
Unlike other nearby islands, it caters to everyone from beach bums to newlyweds: you can choose a private villa with your own secluded beach; laugh your vacation away at a party-hearty resort; or throw yourself into the thick of the island's life while experiencing the three Rs: reggae, reefers and rum.
Chanel meets Creole in this tropical fusing of cultures.
Martinique is a slice of France set down in the tropics. Islanders wear Paris fashions and eat croissants. Zouk music pouring out of tape players, bars and nightclubs will remind you, however, that Martiniquans have a culture of their own, solidly based on West Indian Creole traditions.
Discover your inner volcanologist.
Montserrat has survived hurricanes and more than one devastating volcanic eruption. Split into the Safe Zone, Daytime Entry Zone and Exclusion Zone, the tiny island continues to rise from the ashes. With volcanic rock covering the dusty roads, no stoplights, only two hotels and a smattering of guesthouses, Montserrat is truly like no place on the planet.
A bustling island whose shiny consumerism rubs up against an unspoiled interior.
Puerto Rico is where four centuries of Spanish Caribbean culture comes face to face with the American convenience store. This leads to some strange juxtapositions - parking lots and plazas, freeways and fountains, skyscrapers and shanties - but it's all apiece with the Caribbean's hybrid history.
Travellers who venture into the island's mountainous interior or explore its undeveloped coasts come across stately hill towns where the locals in the plaza seem to have been feeding the same pigeons for decades, and reefs where divers can see 30 species of fish in as many seconds.
Dubbed the 'Unspoiled Queen', low-key Saba (pronounced SAY-ba) has strikingly little tourism - only about 25,000 visitors a year. Ruggedly steep, Saba is not known for its raucous nightclubs and flashy resorts. Instead, you'll find stunning hiking trails, pristine diving, day spas and awesome ecolodges.
Two Caribbean island vacations for the price of one.
St Kitts is as hopping as Nevis is sleepy, but relaxation and a rum punch are requisites on both islands. The dual island nation may officially separate soon, but visitors can still enjoy a menu of plantation-cum-boutique hotels, palm tree-lined beaches and adventurous hikes.
A tropical Eden at the end of the rainbow - and bananas all day long.
A spate of resort developments on St Lucia has made this high, green island one of the Caribbean's fashionable package-tour destinations, but it's still a long way from being sanitised and overdeveloped. Bananas are still bigger business than tourism in this archetypal island paradise.
Saint Vincent & the Grenadines:
Not the name of a biblical story, but islands of paradisaical proportions.
Jagger and Bowie call it home, as do aristocrats, wealthy yachters and rehabbing celebrities. Despite its pockets of world-class luxury, most of St Vincent and the Grenadines is a tranquil, lost corner of the Caribbean.
Slow your watch right down and get into a long-gone laid-back vibe.
Sint Eustatius (affectionately known as 'Statia') may lack glorious beaches, but it also lacks the madding crowd. Visiting this tranquil little outpost is like stepping back into the Caribbean of the past - islanders strike up conversations, stray chickens and goats mosey in the streets and the pace is delightfully unhurried.
Cruises, package deals and duty-free party-hoppers
Malls, casinos, fast food chains, dance clubs, strip joints, theme restaurants, duty-free shopping, beachfront resorts: it's all here - oh, yes, and a Caribbean island, too. It's not exactly get-away-from-it-all, but Sint Maarten provides more than its fair share of activities and adventure.
Easy to reach and easy on the pocketbook.
It's not quite as cosmopolitan as Martinique, nor is it the royalty and rock-star magnet that is chic St Barth - nevertheless, with its fine French restaurants, European-inspired duty-free shops and glorious beaches, St Martin is infinitely more refined than its Dutch island-mate Sint Maarten.
Caribbean in spirit, Trinidad & Tobago grooves to a South American beat.
Tobago and its big sister, Trinidad, are the Caribbean's odd couple. Tiny Tobago is relaxed, slow-paced and largely undeveloped. Trinidad is a densely populated, thriving island with a cosmopolitan population and strong regional influences.
The coral will be calling you from beneath crystal waters.
At first glance these oddly named and misshapen islands may not be the prettiest in the Caribbean, covered as they are with cactus and thorny acacia trees. They are, however, fringed with exquisite beaches and several hundred miles of coral reef that keeps the Turks & Caicos on the world's top 10 dive list.
Despite tourists modelling cruise wear, these shimmering islands are paradise.
If people are going to persist with an American dream, they may as well wake up to some of this. Though the US flag and Postal trucks prevail, the commonalities pretty much stop there. The laid-back vibe and some of the most magnificent coast on earth provide a taste of paradise and a bit of light relief to millions each year.