19 Caribbean Islands That Feel Completely Undiscovered

They’re the kind of islands you dream about without even knowing their names. The kind with beaches that seem to stretch forever, where the only sounds are the steady hush of the surf and the rustle of the trade winds through the palms. A fishing boat or two might be anchored just offshore, and the shoreline feels untouched, as if it’s been waiting patiently to be found.

These aren’t the islands with cruise piers and crowded promenades. They’re the places that live just beyond the edges of the travel map — small, quiet, deeply local corners of the Caribbean that seem to guard their secrets well. They’re the islands where time slows down, where you can walk a beach and hear only the sea, and where sunsets feel like private performances meant just for you.

Our editors and I have narrowed it down carefully. Every island on this list is inhabited — no private islands or unpeopled sandbars. Each has at least one place to stay, whether it’s a family-run inn, a beach cottage, or a proper hotel or resort. They may be hard to reach, and that’s part of their magic. These are the islands that belong on your bucket list — or better yet, on the next boarding pass you hold in your hand.

Carriacou, Grenada

Carriacou is a place where time dissolves into sea spray. Known as the “Isle of Reefs,” it’s ringed by impossibly clear water and beaches that seem built for afternoons that never end. The island is dotted with tiny fishing villages, rum shops, and quiet stretches of sand where you can walk for hours without seeing anyone. Hills roll down to turquoise shallows, and the rhythm here is slower, softer — a world away from the bigger resorts of the region. But it’s the water — and the spectacular beaches — that you’ll never want to leave (along with beach bars like this). It’s an easy trip from “mainland” Grenada to here — but it’s a world away — and one of the great undiscovered destinations anywhere in the Caribbean.