Before Grand Case was Grand Case. Before Cabarete was Cabarete.

There was something. An energy, a draw, a feeling that one day a small beach town would become something else entirely.

That’s the feeling you get when you walk down the streets of Le Diamant, the wonderful, still largely undiscovered village in the south of Martinique that just might be the Caribbean’s next great beach town.

It starts, of course, with the beach, a stunning stretch of sand lushly lined with palm trees, all in plain view of Martinique’s wonder, Le Rocher du Diamant, the “Diamond Rock” that juts out from the sea, an imposing monument to the beauty of nature.

And then there’s the food — more and more restaurants are opening up here, from the truly terrific La Voile Blanche to the quirky La Table de Mumu to the eclectic Hakuna Matata. There are great pizza spots (like the cheekily named Pizzbook), a gelateria, a bustling fish market.

There are a host of world-class villas (like Blue Moon, a place we’ll cover more deeply in an upcoming issue) and even a soon-to-open hotel, the reinvigorated Diamant Les Bains.

The Blue Moon villa.

But then there’s that feeling. You see it on the faces of the travelers here, of the eminently warm locals, that something is happening.

And then it’s clear. This is the next great beach town.

Which is why you need to visit right now.

See more in the latest CJ Video at the top of the page.