There are so many reasons you should want to stay in an overwater bungalow in the Caribbean. The accommodations are unique, with standout features like glass floors to watch the fishies swim below. Stairs leading directly from your room into the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea. If you’re looking to impress someone or celebrate a honeymoon or anniversary, nothing is quite as romantic as a private villa over the water. And butler service makes for an experience that’s not only private but carefree.
You’ll even sleep better, surrounded by nature’s most soothing wave machine.
Overwater bungalows got a slower start in the Caribbean than in the South Pacific and Indian oceans, where they’ve long been signature amenities at top luxury resorts. But a wide range of over-the-water accommodations have been built in the Caribbean in recent years, and more are on their way.
Here are some of the best overwater villas out there now.
The Chairman’s Overwater Bungalows at Marriott’s all-inclusive Royalton Antigua are the only over-the-water villas on an island known for its luxury accommodations. Perched above Deep Bay, the six spacious bungalows have living rooms with furniture arranged around glass floors, plunge pools, steps down to the sea, butler service, and net hammocks swaying above the waves.
Located in quiet Savaneta, far from Aruba’s high-rise hotel district, the small, adult-only Aruba Ocean Villas resort has but eight villas, including three overwater bungalows. The Lou Lou villa has a wraparound deck and a palapa-covered outdoor lounge, while Isla Alistaire features a plunge pool on its deck. Dushi Sue is undergoing a transformation from overwater bungalow to wine and tapas bar, but a replacement is under construction.
Sandals Royal Caribbean, Jamaica
Arrayed around a dock in the shape of a heart, the overwater bungalows at the Sandals Royal Caribbean are accessible by water taxi and served by 24-hour on-call butlers. You can spend your stay trying out all of the various relaxation spaces — a soaking tub for two, hammocks suspended over the sea, outdoor shower, shapely lounge chairs, plunge pools — or just throw open the doors to let the outside into the king-sized bedroom.
Sandals South Coast, Jamaica
Sandals’ second resort to add overwater bungalows features many of the same amenities as the Royal Caribbean — king beds, glass floors, sun decks with steps into the water — but in an even more sedate location. The Whitehouse resort is the only big hotel on Jamaica’s South Coast and on Crab Pond Bay, and the overwater villas are set at the quietest edge of the property.
Sandals Grande St. Lucian, St Lucia
St. Lucia has resorts with spectacular views of its iconic Pitons mountains and luxurious oceanfront and hillside villas — about the only thing it lacked was bungalows over the waves. That changed in 2017 when Sandals added nine overwater villas to its upscale Sandals Grande St. Lucian resort, set on a quiet peninsula adjacent to Pigeon Island National Park. The butler-serviced rooms line a boardwalk over Rodney Bay, with views of the town of Gros Islet and the open sea.
Cayo Espanto, Belize
Each of the seven villas on tiny Cayo Espanto is spectacular in its own way, but only Casa Ventanas is built on a 150-foot dock over the gently lapping waves of the Caribbean. Windows and doors on all sides of the bungalow open to the brilliant sunshine and gentle breezes three miles off the Belize coast. Lights change colors to provide a different aspect on the marine life seen swimming below the glass floors.
Banyan Tree Mayakoba, Mexico
This luxurious Riviera Maya hotel will soon debut seven Lagoon Sunset Pool Villas with two levels of living space, facing west over the resort’s pristine lagoon and just steps from the Caribbean beachfront.
Palafitos El Dorado Maroma, Mexico
Mexico’s only over-ocean villas can be found at Karisma Resorts’ El Dorado Maroma spa resort on Maroma Beach near Playa del Carmen. It’s also one of the world’s largest collection of overwater accommodations, with 30 bungalows standing on stilts above the Caribbean. Dressing service, breakfast and other meals served en suite by butlers, and massages on the deck may temp you to never leave your villa.