Search Result for: must shop

St Vincent used to be the Caribbean island many travelers flew over on the way to somewhere else in the Grenadines. Then Sandals arrived. The 2024 opening of Sandals Saint Vincent and the Grenadines brought a major new resort to the island’s southwestern coast, with overwater villas, private-pool suites, 12 food concepts, nine bars and […]

The yellow stones are part of the ritual. You pull up beside one of Bonaire’s marked dive sites, unload your tanks, check the entry point and walk straight into one of the Caribbean’s most celebrated reef systems. There’s no boat schedule dictating the dive. Much of the island’s scuba experience happens directly from land, at […]

A spring Caribbean trip from the New York area just got surprisingly doable. Right now you can piece together a four-night getaway to San Juan with a $229 flight and a $284-a-night boutique hotel, creating an easy April escape to Puerto Rico’s capital. Using current prices on Google Flights and Google Hotels, here’s how the trip comes together. The Flight The […]

You reach Maca Bana by climbing. The road rises above Magazine Beach, bending past hedges and low walls before opening to a wide view of the sea. Below you, waves hit rock shelves in short, steady bursts. On calmer days, swimmers move along the edge of the rocks and climb out where sand begins. The […]

You can plan the flight. You can choose the hotel. You can even picture the beach. But a Caribbean trip doesn’t truly begin until you settle into a chair with your feet in the sand, a cold drink in your hand, and nowhere else to be. That moment almost always happens at a beach bar. […]

You wake up, you head for the sand. Then you do it again. Some Caribbean vacation aren’t about striking statements or grand gestures. They’re not always about luxury — or, that is to say, they’re about another kind of luxury: the perfect beach day.  It’s that feeling of stepping onto warm sand with nothing on […]

The light changes in November. The air softens, the crowds fade, and the Caribbean returns to itself — calm, authentic, and ready to be rediscovered. It’s a time when mornings stretch quietly, when the beaches feel private, and when the islands seem to open up just for you. The water is warm and impossibly clear; […]

The wind shifts just enough to flick the palm fronds, and you are walking a quiet beach at golden hour, the sea turning pewter and blue. This is the Barbados that small hotels unlock — intimate terraces for sundowners, staff who learn your name by the second morning, and neighborhoods where a bakery, a rum […]

There’s something about island hopping in the Caribbean that feels like pure freedom. It’s the ease of waking up on one island, slipping onto a boat, and finding yourself somewhere entirely different by lunchtime. The air shifts. The sand feels new. The water looks the same but never really is. It’s part of the Caribbean […]

The fungi. The Boardwalk. The Moko Jumbies. The Cruzan. The vibe. If you haven’t been to the USVI’s biggest island, you’re missing out on one of the Caribbean’s truly unique places, from St Croix’s buzzing food scene to an increasingly impressive stock of personality-filled hotels.  The good news? It’s getting even easier to visit St […]

Suddenly the water turns a brighter shade of blue. Or turquoise. Or indigo. Which is it? Just 17 miles east of Puerto Rico, Culebra feels far more remote than the distance suggests, and just as it’s hard to classify the colors of the water, just so is it hard to define this little island. This […]

You rise early in Grenada, where the sea is still silver and calm, and the scent of salt clings to the breeze. Wetsuit on, tank checked, mask fogged and cleared. You descend into another world—where coral blooms like wildflowers and sea turtles glide by like spirits. But this isn’t just a dive trip. It’s part […]

The Caribbean’s premier tourism summit returns to Bridgetown with a forward-looking agenda focused on research, relevance and regional growth. The Caribbean Tourism Organization has announced that the 2025 edition of its flagship State of the Tourism Industry Conference will be held in Barbados, set for Sept. 30 to Oct. 3, 2025 at the Hilton Barbados […]

The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association has officially announced the return of two of the region’s most anticipated hospitality events: the Caribbean Hospitality Industry Exchange Forum (CHIEF) and Taste of the Caribbean. Both events will take place from November 16–18, 2025, at the Wyndham Grand Barbados Sam Lord’s Castle Resort, bringing together leaders, innovators, and […]

The shopping in Philipsburg. The dinners in Grand Case. The vibes on Friar’s Bay. The energy in Maho. St Maarten is more popular than ever, and now the island is getting an extra boost from United Airlines this fall, Caribbean Journal has learned.  United is ramping up its Caribbean footprint out of Chicago, with plans […]

The Pitons. The rainforest. The chocolate. Saint Lucia has long been a sought after place to visit in the Caribbean, from luxury resorts like Jade Mountain to romantic boutique hotels like the Hotel Chocolat.  And demand for the self-styled “Helen of the West Indies” continues to grow, Caribbean Journal has learned.  Tourism growth in Saint […]

San Juan is where history, style, and the sea converge in one of the Caribbean’s most vibrant cities—and one of its best places to stay. From the iconic pastel buildings of Old San Juan to the golden beaches of Condado and Isla Verde, the Puerto Rican capital is packed with charm, culture, and energy. It’s more […]

Martinique. Cuba. Guyana. Guadeloupe. Barbados. Puerto Rico. When you think of legendary Caribbean rum-making markets, these are some of the first names that come to mind. But hidden away in the southeastern Caribbean is another one that should be on your radar: Grenada.  The lush, fertile island has long been a haven for great rums […]

Tucked at the far corner of the southeastern Caribbean, Barbados isn’t as easy to reach as cruise ports like Nassau and Grand Turk.  But the island’s port in Bridgetown has very quietly become the fastest-growing cruise stop in the wider Caribbean, Caribbean Journal has learned.  Cruise passenger arrivals rose by 40.8 percent to Barbados last […]

There’s something about the way the frozen Coco López dances with the Ron del Barrilito. When you try a Piña Colada at Old San Juan’s legendary El Barrachina, you get it. It’s the best piña colada in the world, and if you go by the history of this street, it’s the true birthplace of the […]

No region in the world has a more diverse or dynamic culinary continuum than the Caribbean. Just about every cuisine on earth is represented, often in wonderfully, intoxicatingly fused expressions. Across the breadth of the Caribbean Basin, you will find an unmatched gastronomic mosaic. And if you’ve been to the region recently, you know that […]

The Lobster Pot. Grand Tiki. The Cayman Islands National Museum. The Wreck of the Cali. The jewelry shops. Georgetown, Grand Cayman is one of the must-visit stops on the island, its capital and a world-class shopping destination on a beautiful stretch of harbor front.  But what the capital has never really had is a destination […]

The vistas at El Morro. The party at La Placita de Santurce. The flavors (and history) at Barrachina. The shopping in Condado. The street food Piñones. They’re all must-stops when you’re visiting Puerto Rico. But the island of enchantment (oh how we wish they went back to that tourism tagline) is so much more than […]

What’s next for tourism in the Caribbean? Whether it’s climate adaptation, workforce development or diversification, the region’s most important industry continues to change and evolve, with new challenges continuing to emerge.  Tackling those challenges is at the core of this year’s push for the Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism Organization, which says it is focusing this year […]

We’ve been ranking the best beaches in the Caribbean for more than a decade, in large part because we know how essential beaches are to the Caribbean travel experience (and we’ve visited more Caribbean beaches than any other publication on the planet.) Because no matter what the purpose of your trip to the Caribbean, a […]

It was one of the first major guides we at Caribbean Journal ever put together: The Cool List, whose first edition was back in 2013 and which remains an unrivaled curation of unique, character-filled, personality-driven, artful hotels around the Caribbean. Every year, it’s a bit different, with one unifying theme: The Cool List is all […]