You’re up in the leaves, just the sounds of birds and hoot owls and the sand down below. This is not the beach experience; it’s something else. This is a different Caribbean, a rustic, natural place where you can disconnect from your day-to-day life and connect with something far different. The Caribbean is home to some quirky hotels where you can channel Robinson Crusoe, up among the treetops. They’re not for everybody, but they’re well worth the effort. These are the Caribbean’s treehouse hotels.
Secret Bay, Dominica
While this spectacular hotel is no longer a secret, its treehouse-style rooms still might be. Dominica’s best hotel is home to two treehouse-style “bungalow” rooms. They’re as luxurious as the hotel’s larger villas, but with a special feature: there are trees actually growing right up through the loft-style rooms.
Tendacayou, Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe doesn’t have many large resorts, and that’s one of the French Caribbean archipelago’s many charms. What it has in large supply are small, thoughtful boutique hotels. And none more thoughtful than the eco-friendly Tendacayou, which has among its varied room stock several “tree house” lodges, replete with open-air showers and hammocks.
Domaine de Robinson
Martinique’s most eclectic hotel is set on the ethereal shores of Anse Noire, and includes in its collection of bungalows a treehouse unit, perched above the beach. True to form, the treehouse is reached by a rope-cable bridge, and decked out in rustic-chic details. This is true to its namesake.
Hamanasi, Belize
Belize’s adventure-focused Hamanasi resort is home to some full-fledged treehouse rooms, with all of the luxuries you’d expect. The treehouse rooms are literally built among the trees, perched about 12 feet off the ground.
Kanopi House, Jamaica
This boutique hotel in still-untouched Portland is home to four “Treehouses,” each of which engages faithfully with the surrounding rainforest, from the “Upper Deck” unit on the highest point of the site, to the larger two-bedroom Sweet Wood treehouse.
Tia’s Bamboo Cottages
Dominica’s funky town called Wotten Waven has a small collection of guesthouses woven into a landscape full of sulfuric springs. One of them is run by engaging proprietor Tia, who has created Tia’s Bamboo Cottages, handmade treehouse style bungalows right in the middle of the healing spas.
The Treehouse, St Lucia
This isn’t a hotel — it’s a villa, but it’s certainly true to the spirit of the Caribbean treehouse. The wood-and-stone cottage is perched high in the lush hillside of St Lucia, overlooking the Pitons. Better yet, it comes with its own plunge pool.