The right beach, the right chair, the right drink.

It may sound simple, but, like the greatest cocktails, you only need a few ingredients.

In a time when travel has been significantly disrupted, this is the kind of experience we all dream about: the tropical idyll — an afternoon at a Caribbean beach bar, the thing we all think about when we’re stuck at home, moored behind a desk, or surrounded by wintry air.

For those who are traveling right now, these beach bars are the perfect Caribbean venture: outdoors, socially-distanced, breezy.

For those who aren’t traveling, think of them as your to-do list for when the world returns to normal.

Either way, it’s worth celebrating these Caribbean institutions and the people who’ve worked to build them.

Here are the best Caribbean beach bars for 2021.

Karibuni, St Martin There may be no more memorable beach bar experience in the entire Caribbean than an afternoon at Pinel Island, the intoxicating little cay just off the coast of the “mainland” in St Martin. You take a one-minute ferry boat and reach Karibuni, the beach bar that belongs to the St Martin hotel by the same name. Plainly, this is what it’s all about — a Crusoe-chic beach bar that will make you feel like you’ve somehow landed on a desert island — one that just so happens to have marvelously fresh seafood and the best cocktails of the French Caribbean. A true bucket-list experience.