Sure, there is the food and the rum and the culture and the people. But the primary draw, the siren song beckoning us to the Caribbean, is the beach. We have long acknowledged that there is something about millions of grains of sand massaged by waves that simply and totally intoxicates us. But in a region full of great beaches and great hotels, it is not always easy to find the right ones, the ones that have the perfect mix of beach and hotel quality. Perhaps the hotel is great, but it’s in the hills; or the beach is great but the hotel, less so. With this piece, we set out to gather the best “beach hotels,” or, as we see it, the top combination of a great beach (or beaches) and a great hotel. So here they are — the best beach hotels in the Caribbean.

Cap Juluca, Anguilla 

We’ll be clear — it’s hard for any beach to be better than the sugar-white Maundays Bay in Anguilla, and it’s equally hard for any hotel to be better than the beautiful, Moroccan-styled Cap Juluca. This is a perfect union between beach and hotel, with an uncrowded, sweeping stretch of sand on ultra-calm water and the pinnacle of Caribbean luxury.