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The best islands in the Caribbean to visit in 2025
With some 30 islands and territories to choose from, it's hard to know where to find your ideal place in the Caribbean sun. From scenic mountains and World Heritage Sites to dream beaches and private islands, regional expert Nigel Tisdall picks eight escapes for the coming year.
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The Caribbean islands for every type of holiday
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Anguilla
Looking for the best beaches in the Caribbean? This tiny British Overseas Territory, easily reached flying via Antigua, has 33 of them that won't disappoint. Never crowded with brilliant white sands and gentle, turquoise waters, they're the prime reason Anguilla has long had an A-list following reflected in its wealth of upscale resorts, villas and restaurants. Low-lying and arid, the island is only 35 square miles and has a thriving culinary scene that ranges from sophisticated venues serving Moroccan-spiced shrimp cigars to food trucks dishing up hearty cups of fish chowder for a few bucks. Boat trips are the best way to appreciate the peace and beauty. Head for nearby Sandy Island for a boozy lobster lunch or sail to Prickly Pear Cays aboard Tradition, a classic West Indian sloop once used for smuggling.
Where to stay:
- Malliouhana (doubles from £358 per night with breakfast).
© Marco Arduino/4Corners Images2/8Barbados
Our love affair with the easternmost island in the Caribbean – flying time can be as little as eight hours – dates back to 1625 when the adventurer Captain John Powell claimed Barbados for King James I. There's plenty to make us feel at home here from cricket and horseracing to sweet little parish churches and the not-to-be-missed stately home, St Nicholas Abbey. This is a good pick for first-time visitors to the region or those with young children but be aware that the island is only 12 miles by 14 with traffic jams and overdevelopment in parts. The best hotels are on the west coast while the south is the party zone, and don't miss the World Heritage-listed capital, Bridgetown, with over a hundred landmark buildings including a restored Jewish district.
Where to stay:
- Coral Reef Club (doubles from £440 per night with breakfast).
- The Sandpiper (from £1,108 per night)
© Tim Mannakee/4Corners Images3/8Grenada
Choose this lush and mountainous 'Spice Isle' if you like the sound of an authentic Caribbean island that hasn't sold its soul to tourism. It's best to stay near the well-kept mile-and-a-half-long sands of Grande Anse, in the south-west, then go exploring by hire car or excursion. Top sights include Belmont Estate, which produces high quality organic chocolate, the Nutmeg Processing Station in Gouyave, barely changed since opening in 1952, and the waterwheel-powered River Antoine rum distillery dating from 1785. Tours can also be arranged to gardens and nurseries where prizewinning blooms for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show are grown, while for a civilised cup of tea made with butterfly pea flowers seek out the Tower Estate, a grand 1913 house filled with family treasures.
Where to stay: Spice Island Beach Resort (doubles from £829 per night all-inclusive).
© Danielle Devaux/4Corners Images4/8Saint Lucia
This super-scenic island is a good choice if you are an active sort, with plenty of outdoor adventures available from hiking and mountain biking to wallowing in mud springs and taking a lazy float downriver on a bamboo raft. The best hotels are clustered around its World Heritage-listed twin peaks, the Pitons – some have a lofty view, others are by the beach and Soufriere marine reserve which has rewarding snorkelling and diving. Some visitors take up the challenge of a guided ascent of the 2,619ft Gros Piton (four hours return) and it's fun to go for a drive along the winding, mountainous roads admiring the rampant rainforest and colourful fishing villages. Don't miss the cacao cuisine at Hotel Chocolat's Rabot Restaurant and bring home some Chairman's Reserve rum from St Lucia Distillers, which is in the Roseau Valley and can be toured.
Where to stay:
- Jade Mountain Resort (doubles from £1,454 per night).
- Sugar Beach (from £1,296 per night)
- Rabot Hotel from Hotel Chocolat (from £452 per night)
© Friedmar Damm/4Corners Images5/8Mustique, St Vincent and the Grenadines
Like to sit in the sun and read? This idyllic private island that can be reached via Barbados comes with a fascinating backstory brilliantly told in Nicholas Courtney's Lord of the Isle (Bene Factum, £20). This relates to how the flamboyant Scottish aristocrat Colin Tennant purchased Mustique in 1958 for £45,000 and turned it into an exclusive hideaway much loved by rock stars and royalty. The island has superb beaches, hiking trails, tennis and an equestrian centre plus one hotel and around 120 villas with many available for rent. These include several designed by stage designer Oliver Messel (1904-78) that are much admired for their graceful proportions and indoor-outdoor vistas. Further recommended reading is Murder on Mustique (Hodder, £8.99) by Anne Glenconner (Tennant's wife) and Kevin Snook's just-published cookbook A Taste of Mustique: A New Chapter (Snook, available on the island).
Where to stay:
- The Cotton House, Mustique (doubles from £450 per night with breakfast).
- Bequia Beach Hotel, Saint Vincent & Grenadines (from £459 per night)
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Harbour Island, The Bahamas
Just a five minute water-taxi ride from North Eleuthera airport, Harbour Island is a small, moneyed escape with one spectacular sight that makes it worth the trip. This is the magnificent Pink Sands Beach – one of the best in the Caribbean – which is a broad, three-mile long swathe of soft, pinkish sand that is commendably free of bars, vendors and watersports. The island is a favourite getaway for multigenerational families and sporty couples and fills up fast at holiday times so it's best to make restaurant reservations in advance. Everyone gets around by golf cart and there's a fun scene with yachts coming and going and the option to dance the night away at casual night spots like Daddy D's and Gusty's Bar with its sand-covered floor.
Where to stay: Valentines Resort & Marina (doubles from £500 per night room only).
© Douglas Pearson/4Corners Images7/8Jamaica
Jamaica is one of our favourite Caribbean islands for good reason. We love its lilting music, spicy jerk dishes, party vibe and charismatic people. Then there's the mellow Blue Mountain coffee, plentiful beaches and a verdant interior soaring to over 7,000ft with thundering waterfalls. Stretching for 146 miles, the island suits a multi-centre trip ideally centred on the Island Outpost properties created by Chris Blackwell, the Jamaican record producer who brought Bob Marley to the world's attention. These are GoldenEye, based around the north coast villa where Ian Fleming wrote his James Bond novels, The Caves, close to the fabulous western beach of Negril, and Strawberry Hill high up in the Blue Mountains. The last is well-placed for visiting the capital, Kingston, where a key sight is the Bob Marley Museum with the wood-lined studio where the reggae star recorded Buffalo Soldier.
Where to stay:
- Strawberry Hill (doubles from £304 per night room only).
- Jamaica Inn (from £1,102)
© Günter Gräfenhain/4Corners Images8/8Nevis
Reached by flying to St Kitts then taking a short speedboat transfer, Nevis is a bastion of old school charm and one of the most laidback Caribbean isles you could disappear to. Horatio Nelson got married here and Diana, Princess of Wales, liked to visit with the young princes. Blissfully free of mega-cruise ships and brash all-inclusive resorts, its specialty is small, family-owned plantation-style hotels lost in the hills that have bags of character be it an affable golden labrador padding around, flamboyant gardens or definitive rum punches made with sour orange and grated nutmeg. It takes all of 45 minutes to drive around the island and while it's possible to climb the majestic 3,232ft Nevis Peak most visitors are content to take it easy in the rum bars that dot the three mile-long sands of Pinney's Beach.
Where to stay: Montpelier Plantation & Beach (doubles from £243 per night with breakfast).
