There’s nothing like a Caribbean hotel that’s right on the sand. 

There’s nothing standing between you and a blissful morning bobbing in the ocean, lazing at the edge of the waves, listening to the Caribbean’s original album. 

Sure, you can find myriad resorts filled with all sorts of amenities but where getting to the beach requires a rather long stroll. 

At other resorts, though, there’s one premier amenity: you walk right from the room (or downstairs) to the sand. That means a deeper connection with the ocean, with the island, with the experience. It means a vacation with a very different focus. 

Most of those hotels are, unsurprisingly, well-chronicled and well-traveled. But still others remain far off the radar of even in-the-know travelers, hidden away in far corners of the Caribbean, secret beach hotels for those who love the joy of discovery. 

Here are five “secret” Caribbean hotels to check into right now. 

Southern Cross Club, Little Cayman There isn’t much like Little Cayman anywhere in the Caribbean —or the world, for that matter — an almost impossibly lovable little stretch of sand just a short flight from Grand Cayman, where the biggest traffic jams are the chickens walking across the runway. And we just love the Southern Cross Club, a mix of 14 beach bungalows right on the sand, a place that instantly takes you to another state of mind entirely.