There are no large creatures here such as monkeys or panthers, but there are plenty of small ones that you may not see but will certainly hear. Millions of tiny coqui, the endemic tree frog that is Puerto Rico’s mascot, live here, trilling “co-KEE” sporadically until evening approaches, or after a rainfall, when it turns into a full-blown chorus. The most prized sighting is the bright-green Puerto Rican parrot, once abundant but now quite rare and highly endangered.
After the rain forest, it’s only 8 miles north to Luquillo Beach, a much photographed palm-lined crescent of white sand and calm turquoise waters that attracts lots of local families from San Juan. Follow them: They know which roadside stand sells the best alcapurrias, plantain fritters stuffed with seafood.
WHERE: 22 miles/35 km southeast of San Juan. Tel 787-888-1880; www.fs.usda.gov/elyunque. BEST TIME: Dec–Apr for the least rain.
Underwater Alps Draw Divers In-the-Know
SABA
Lesser Antilles
With just 1,200 (extremely friendly) inhabitants, diminutive Saba is neither chic nor fancy. It has no beaches or nightlife to speak of (one reason it’s known as “the Unspoiled Queen”), but those with a thing for mountains—above or below the water—consider it a regular heaven on earth. Trekkers take to Mount Scenery, the 3,000-foot forest-clad tip of an extinct volcano, whose walls plunge into the sea, while divers are as astonished by what they don’t see as what they do; with little tourism, Saba and its offshore waters remain uncrowded and uncorrupted.
Gum drop–shaped Saba (pronounced SAY-ba, and named for the Arawak word meaning “rock”) is encircled by Saba Marine Park, the result of a farsighted government that safeguarded its pristine ecosystem. Coral-encrusted rocks, boulders, and reefs draw less experienced divers and snorkelers, but it’s the spectacular pinnacles rising from the ocean floor to about 90 feet below the surface that make Saba a world-class destination for experienced divers. Saba’s 29 seamounts include the dramatically named Shark Shoals, Twilight Zone, and Third Encounter.
Saba’s 5 square miles are mostly vertical, with 12 great trekking trails that vary in distance and difficulty and just one paved road (“The Road”) that switchbacks up one side of the island and down the other. Its airport has the shortest commercial runway in the world, flanked by two sheer cliffs. The incredibly situated Shearwater Resort promises some high-altitude drama: At 2,000 feet, the views from its pool are heart-stopping, taking in the immense sea and Saba’s five neighboring islands, which are often enveloped in the clouds. You can spend the night or just go for sunset cocktails or dinner at the hotel’s Bistro del Mare.
On the other side of the island is Queen’s Gardens Resort, a charming cluster of red-roofed bungalows angled for sweeping views of the Caribbean Sea and two rain forest-covered mountains. Surrounded by lush gardens, it’s known for its acclaimed restaurant and the beach-deprived island’s largest pool. It’s just a 5-minute walk to The Bottom, a Dutch village of gabled roofs and the island’s capital.
Rainforest Restaurant is part of Ecolodge Rendez-Vous, whose charming Saban-style cottages stand deep in the rain forest. The quaintly decorated candlelit restaurant specializes in unfussy Caribbean classics like jerk chicken, locally caught seafood, and vegetables and fruits from its own garden. Enjoy hummingbirds by day and the lilting ring of tree frogs at night.
Most of the action takes place in Windwardside, where locals and tourists gather at Brigadoon for Chef Michael’s wonderful Caribbean-influenced cooking and his wife Tricia’s huge personality and homemade rums.
VISITOR INFO: www.sabatourism.com. SHEARWATER RESORT: Tel 599-416-2498; www.shearwater-resort.com. Cost: from $185. QUEEN’S GARDENS RESORT: Tel 599-416-3494; www.queensaba.com. Cost: from $220 (off-peak), from $280 (peak); dinner $70. ECOLODGE & RAINFOREST RESTAURANT: Tel 599-416-3348; www.ecolodge-saba.com. Cost: from $85 (off-peak), from $105 (peak); dinner $25. BRIGADOON: Tel 599-416-2380. Cost: dinner $30. HOW: Sea Saba Dive Center leads diving excursions. Tel 599-416-2246; www.seasaba.com. Cost: from $90 per day. BEST TIMES: Diving is great year-round; Nov–Apr for best weather; Oct for Sea & Learn, when naturalists give presentations and lead field trips.
The Caribbean’s Star-Studded Riviera
ST. BARTHS
St. Barthélemy, Lesser Antilles
Chic, cool, very French, and only about half the size of Manhattan, St. Barths captivates with its amazing views of the sea and surrounding islands, wonderful markets and wine shops, excellent restaurants, and quiet French flair. For the 2 weeks around Christmas and New Year’s Eve, it becomes the destination of choice for le beau monde who converge from France, Hollywood, and New York, sunning on topless and au naturel beaches, and filling stylish but casual cafés and killer villas.
But when things quiet down, an infectious serenity resurfaces and the island’s nickname of “the Provence of the Caribbean” again applies. Private yachts anchor in the storybook-quaint harbor of Gustavia, St. Barths’s only town and seaport. It’s so tiny that only boutique cruise ships can anchor offshore, avoiding the ship and passenger overload common in nearby St. Martin or St. Thomas. Take it all in from the glamorous Hotel Carl Gustaf’s outdoor bar and restaurant, perched high above the harbor and at its most enchanting during sunset. The same unencumbered panorama can be enjoyed round-the-clock from any of its luxurious suites, each with its own plunge pool.
Set on Anse de Public, right by the water just outside Gustavia, Maya’s is the most famous of the island’s many restaurants, serving Creole specialties in a relaxed and breezy setting. Maya’s waterfront terrace is the perfect spot for sundowner cocktails and people-watching, while ready-made feasts for picnics are the reason for a bike ride to Maya’s to Go, located across from the airport. Another favorite spot for drinks and burgers in town is the unpretentious Le Select.
St. Barths’s beaches are spectacular. St. Jean Beach, on the northern side of the island, is most popular for celebrity-spotting and offers the best swimming. It’s actually two beaches, separated by a small promontory occupied by Eden Rock, the first hotel on the island and still the most famous. Surrounded on three sides by water, this much-photographed landmark was originally built as the home of pilot and playboy Rémy de Haenen, who landed here in 1947 and “made” the island; soon Greta Garbo, David Rockefeller, and Baron Rothschild were arriving as guests at Eden Rock. The hotel is still the place to be near the action for those who can afford it. Otherwise, go for lunch at the atmospheric and legendary open-air Sand Bar café.
Hotel Guanahani is the island’s largest property, with 68 brightly colored bungalow-style rooms and suites scattered among bougainvillea, hibiscus, and palms. But, set on its own 16-acre peninsula with two private beaches, it doesn’t feel big. Even though it’s the only St. Barths hotel that offers a resortlike experience, complete with a stylish spa, it still has a low-key (but pampering) ambience—as if it were for people who don’t want to be part of the scene—at least some of the time.
Salines Garden Cottages dispels the notion that St. Barths is only for those with very deep pockets. It’s a 10-minute walk to the secluded and underveloped Saline Beach.
At dusk, Gustavia’s enchanting harbor lights up.
VISITOR INFO: www.st-barths.com. HOTEL CARL GUSTAF: Tel 866-297-2153 or 590-590-29-79-00; www.hotelcarlgustaf.com. Cost: cottage suites from $500 (off-peak), from $1,450 (peak); dinner $70. When: closed Sep–Oct. MAYA’S: Tel 590-590-27-75-73; www.mayas-stbarth.com. Cost: dinner $70. When: closed mid-Jun–mid-Jul, Sep–Oct. EDEN ROCK: Tel 855-333-6762 or 590-590-29-79-99; www.edenrockhotel.com. Cost: from $750 (off-peak), from $1,050 (peak); dinner $75. HOTEL GUANAHANI & SPA: Tel 800-216-3774 or 590-590-276-660; www.leguanahani.com. Cost: from $590 (off-peak), from $980 (peak). SALINES GARDEN: Tel 590-590-51-04-44; www.salinesgarden.com. Cost: from $200. BEST TIMES: Jan for St. Barths Music Festival; Mar or Apr for the annual St. Barths Bucket Regatta; last 2 weeks of Dec for celebrity-spotting.
Plantation Inns Promise Romance and History
NEVIS
St. Kitts and Nevis, Lesser Antilles
Columbus imagined the clouds around the island’s highest peak to be snow and named the island “Nuestra Señora de las Nieves” (Our Lady of the Snows), shortened over the years to Nevis. Nature enthusiasts hike into verdant rain forests, 3,200-foot Nevis Peak being the island’s ultimate destination. Smaller than its nation-mate St. Kitts (see below), Nevis was another rich, important British sugar colony. But where St. Kitts (the “Mother Island”) today is busier and more touristed with casinos and golf and big expansion plans for its future, lush and unhurried Nevis offers simple pleasures and not a single traffic light.
Alexander Hamilton was born here, and the legendary Admiral Horatio Nelson married local girl Fanny Nisbet on Montpelier Estate in 1787 when he was just a young captain. Perched on a hilltop with breathtaking views, the site is now home to Montpelier Plantation, a stylish 19-room inn offering a modern interpretation of plantation life. While the great house is gone, some structures on the 60-acre estate date to the 1700s; others are new but so tastefully interwoven it’s hard to tell the difference. There are only 16 seats in the Mill, a renowned restaurant set in the estate’s 18th-century stone mill, whose menu features produce grown on the property and specialties like mahi-mahi roasted in plantain leaves and desserts using one of the 50 varieties of mango that grow on the island.
There’s an altogether different feel at Hermitage Plantation Inn, a delightful mélange of 11 pastel-painted gingerbread cottages, some brought from other sites around Nevis and painstakingly restored. The main house, completed in 1740 and believed to be the oldest wooden home in the Caribbean, serves as a lively social center where everyone gathers for cocktails before dinner. The beach is a 15-minute drive away, but guests can lounge by the pool, go horseback riding into the hills, or fill lazy afternoons waiting for dinner, the highlight of the day.
The Caribbean’s only historic-plantation inn directly on the water fills out this trio of choices. The Nisbet Plantation Beach Club’s broad palm-tree-flanked lawn sweeps down from the 1778 great house where Fanny once lived to a half-mile-long white sand beach. A hotel since the 1950s, Nisbet Plantation has 36 rooms, including charming cottages tucked amid 30 acres of tropical foliage. Although Nevis is not famous for its beaches, nearby Pinney’s is the exception—a 3-mile reef-protected stretch of sugar-fine white sand by historic Charlestown. Located on the island’s western side, it’s perfect for sunsets, best seen from the open-air Sunshine’s Bar and Grill, with a famously potent Killer Bee rum punch in hand.
VISITOR INFO: www.nevisisland.com. MONTPELIER PLANTATION: Tel 888-334-7609; www.montpeliernevis.com. Cost: from $345 (off-peak), from $550 (peak); dinner $75. THE HERMITAGE PLANTATION INN: Tel 800-682-4025 or 869-469-3477; www.hermitagenevis.com. Cost: from $185 (off-peak), from $395 (peak). NISBET PLANTATION BEACH CLUB: Tel 800-742-6008 or 869-469-9325; www.nisbetplantation.com. Cost: from $385 (off-peak), from $670 (peak), inclusive. SUNSHINE’S BAR: Tel 869-469-5817; www.sunshinenevis.com. BEST TIMES: Jan–Mar for good weather; late Jul–early Aug for the carnival-like Culturama; Aug for International Food Fair.
Where Sugar Was King
ST. KITTS
St. Kitts and Nevis, Lesser Antilles
This cloud-crowned volcanic island so enchanted Christopher Columbus that he named it after his patron saint—only later did locals shorten the name from St. Christopher’s to St. Kitts. England’s first settlement in the Caribbean and once its wealthiest sugar colony, St. Kitts shares rich history and scenery with its smaller sister island Nevis (see previous page). St. Kitts is the livelier of the two, with resorts and gaming to go along with water sports and hikes into its dense rain-forest interior; windshield tourists can follow the road that encircles the 18-by-5-mile island. Feast your eyes on the panorama from Brimstone Hill, an 18th-century stone fortress built 800 feet above sea level, with views of six neighboring islands. Known as the Gibraltar of the West Indies, it protected colonial St. Kitts’s sugar plantations—68 of them at the industry’s height, one for every square mile of the island.
Many of the historic estates built by sugar barons have been tastefully restored to serve as inns and restaurants. One of the most captivating is the 17th-century Ottley’s Plantation Inn, set on 35 acres in the foothills of majestic Mount Liamuiga, a dormant volcano. The inn’s 24 rooms are handsomely decorated in English Colonial style, with gorgeous gardens for strolling. Its Mango Orchard Spa overlooks a rain-forest ravine, while the romantic Royal Palm Restaurant is renowned for culinary highlights such as the artfully presented coconut cream cheesecake.
The Rawlins Plantation is another 17th-century charmer. Gingerbread cottages surround the main house, with its wide veranda overlooking flower-splashed grounds. A wondrous West Indian buffet lunch draws both the local elite and nonislanders. Save room for the sensational chocolate terrine with passion fruit sauce.
Dining is a casual affair at Mr. X’s Shiggidy Shack in Frigate Bay, a great sunset spot where you can dine on grilled lobster or lemon snapper with thyme. On Thursday nights let loose at the beach party with a bonfire, live music, and the amazing, blazing Fire Man. During the day, check out Reggae Beach, a kayaking, snorkeling, and sailing paradise on the South East Peninsula. Refuel on coconut shrimp and frozen reggae coladas and the justly famous banana chocolate chip cake with whipped cream at Reggae Beach Bar & Grill.
Backed by hills, Frigate Bay is home to a popular beach.
VISITOR INFO: www.stkittstourism.kn. OTTLEY’S PLANTATION INN: Tel 800-772-3039 or 869-465-7234; www.ottleys.com. Cost: from $220 (off-peak), from $300 (peak); dinner $66. RAWLINS PLANTATION INN: Tel 869-465-6221; www.rawlinsplantation.com. Cost: from $185 (off-peak), from $280 (peak); dinner $55. When: closed late Aug–mid-Oct. MR. X’S SHIGGIDY SHACK: Tel 869-762-3983; www.mrxshiggidyshack.com. Cost: dinner $25. REGGAE BEACH BAR & GRILL: Tel 869-762-5050; www.reggaebeachbar.com. Cost: dinner $40. BEST TIMES: Nov–Apr for pleasant weather; Jun for St. Kitts Music Festival; Dec 15–Jan 2 for Carnival.
Villas and Views Beyond Extraordinary
THE PITONS
St. Lucia, Lesser Antilles
The towering twin peaks known as the Pitons, abruptly rising side by side out of the sea, make lush St. Lucia one of the Caribbean’s most dramatically beautiful islands. These volcanic remnants—the Gros Piton at 2,619 feet and the steeper-sided Petit Piton at 2,461 feet—are reminiscent of the jagged mountains of Bali Ha’i, lending an exotic South Pacific air to the island. Located in the southwestern corner of the island, these forest-swathed wonders are ubiquitous silhouettes that have appeared on everything from postcards to the label of the locally brewed beer and the national flag.
For the moment still largely undeveloped, the 27-by-14-mile former British and French property was better known for bananas than for tourism until the arrival of Anse Chastanet, a 600-acre resort that is beyond romantic, with hillside guestrooms hidden amid verdant foliage and bursts of color, harmonizing seamlessly with the natural surroundings. Some are even missing a wall, bringing the outside—and the twin-peaked views—in. The secluded palm-fringed soft-sand beach below has its own scuba center and school, and some of the Caribbean’s best snorkeling and diving are along the Anse Chastanet Reef just a few feet offshore.
Anse Chastanet boasted the island’s best views of the Pitons until owners Nick and Karolin Troubetzkoy outdid themselves by ingeniously building Jade Mountain into the cliff above—a resort-within-a-resort—with 22 enormous “sanctuaries” that are entirely and permanently open on one side yet completely private. With the fourth wall absent, there’s nothing between you and mesmerizing views of the Pitons, pink-and-lavender sunsets, cool breezes, and the not infrequent flourish of a bird flying through. Each one-of-a-kind sanctuary is appointed with restrained luxury, including an extravagantly sized infinity pool lined with iridescent glass tiles (five “sky suites” have everything but the pool). There’s the beach below (you can walk or grab the hotel shuttle) and a modern and stylis
h spa, but with a view this hypnotic, it’s little wonder that some guests never venture out.
For a more down-to-earth experience, try Fond Doux (“sweet valley” in Lucian patois), a working cocoa plantation that has been in continuous production since French colonials established it in 1745. It’s a deeply charming family-owned and -run place that exudes a distinctly St. Lucian experience, with stays in restored 19th-century wooden bungalows. See how cocoa is made, walk estate trails over 135 lush acres, and be back in time for a lunch of Creole specialties in one of the hotel’s two open-air restaurants, then repair to the pool for an afternoon of idling.
The island’s ultimate challenge is a guided hike to the top of Gros Piton, the Kilimanjaro of the Caribbean. (Petit Piton is too steep to climb.) Or learn more about St. Lucia’s volcanic origins and ongoing activity at La Soufrière’s “drive-in volcano” (a misnomer, as you can drive up to, but not directly into, it), a rocky, lunar landscape with bubbling, smelly, sulfur mud baths that are open to the public.
1,000 Places to See Before You Die Page 173