Whether you’re drawn in by the lilt of reggae, the tropical wildlife or simply the glorious white-sand beaches, there’s a Caribbean island for every traveller.
It may be a haven for relaxation, but you’ll also find zesty capital cities, coastlines dense with mangroves, coral reefs and shipwrecks.
More than 7,000 islands make up the Caribbean, with just a tenth of them inhabited. But which are the most loved by visitors?
To find out, we asked readers to rate almost 900 of their holidays – scoring everything from the beaches and scenery, to the food and drink and value for money.
Read on for our guide to the most captivating destinations in the Caribbean.
For more independent travel advice and recommendations, subscribe to Which? Travel
The best Caribbean Islands
Where to visit
Best for foodies: Grenada
Despite its small size, Grenada packs a punch and was rated your favourite Caribbean Island. It’s known as the Spice Island, due to the nutmeg, clove, cinnamon and ginger that thrive in its tropical soils.
With flavours such as these flourishing, it’s no surprise that Grenada has developed a name as one of the region’s great foodie destinations. Even the local carnival season, running from April through to August, is known as Spicemas.
One of the best gastrotours is at the Belmont Estate an hour from the capital, Saint George’s, where you can enjoy a bean-to-bar tour of the cacao plantations and learn how to make your own chocolate.
Nowhere in Grenada feels overly touristy, allowing you to savour its five-star scenery. The beaches around Grand Anse are favoured by locals, while nearby Morne Rouge Bay remains delightfully quiet. Beneath the waves, even beginner scuba divers can discover more than 100 sculptures at the breathtaking Molinere Underwater Sculpture Park.
Away from the sea, you can hike through forests and rainforests to lakes and waterfalls at Grand Étang National Park – it’s one of the few Caribbean islands with wild monkeys.
Find holidays to Grenada with Which? Recommended Providers Trailfinders, Audley Travel and Kuoni.
Best for beaches: Antigua and Barbuda
The islands of Antigua and Barbuda claim to offer a different beach for every day of the year. However, most people visiting this tiny nation rightly make for the enticing wide sands of Half Moon Bay.
After soaking in the sunshine, even the most casual of history buffs will be fascinated by Nelson’s Dockyard – one of the Royal Navy’s biggest Caribbean bases during the Age of Sail, and now home to a lively yachting scene.
It’s a great place to take a boat trip from, or you can just finish the tour by climbing to the old hilltop battery of Shirley Heights for the best view on the islands.
The satellite island of Barbuda receives far fewer visitors, but is more than worth a day trip by making the 15-minute hop away by light plane. It’s a particularly great spot for birdwatchers, who head to Codrington Lagoon National Park to see its colony of frigate birds.
Find holidays to Antigua and Barbuda with Which? Recommended Providers Trailfinders, Destination2, Saga and Kuoni.
Best for culture: Barbados
As well as picture-perfect beaches, you’ll find beautifully preserved Uneco-listed architecture in Bridgetown.
The beachside village of Oistins is also not to be missed, home to an enormous fish fry every Friday and Saturday. This brings together stalls selling freshly cooked seafood, with a side order of music and dancing. Wash it all down with regional specialities from a local rum shop.
As the first place in the Caribbean where sugar was grown, Barbados claims to be the spiritual home of the drink. And if you want to learn more, there are plenty of distilleries where you can take a tour of the entire rum-making operation, from raw sugar cane to the slow ageing process in old oak barrels. The tasting sessions at the end of each tour are highly recommended.
Find holidays to Barbados with Which? Recommended Providers Trailfinders, Kuoni, Audley Travel and Hays Travel.
Six insider tips to save on all-inclusive holidays.
Best for wildlife: Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago are famed across the Caribbean for their carnival. Every February, the entire country gives itself over to the biggest party in the region, with a month of costume-making events, battle of the bands and parades. This is a perfect place for spectators as well as participants, where you’re staying in the capital of Port of Spain or a nearby resort.
Outside this period, tourism takes a decidedly more peaceful turn, centred on the rainforests that dominate the inland and the mangroves that fringe the coastline. These habitats, along with the islands’ proximity to South America, helps make it one of best birdwatching destinations in the Caribbean.
Even if you’re not the sort to pack binoculars alongside your swimming costume, there’s plenty to enjoy here, whether you’re hiking to one of the country’s many stunning waterfalls, watching leatherback turtles laying eggs (March to August) or as hatchlings scrambling into the sea (May to September).
And if it’s just a taste of the beach you’re after – this is the Caribbean – visit Pigeon Point on Tobago, with the best palm-fringed sands and beach restaurant the country can offer.
Find holidays to Trinidad and Tobago with Which? Recommended Provider Trailfinders.
Best for natural scenery: St Lucia
Tiny St Lucia measures just 27 miles from end to end, but it packs an awful lot into its compact size and overflows with five-star scenery. This is thanks to a green and crumpled landscape formed by a great mountain range that erupts straight out of the Caribbean Sea and is pocked with idyllic bays lined with creamy sand beaches.
Soufrière in the south east is the deserved centre of St Lucia tourism, with its brightly painted wooden beachfront and old colonial architecture. From here, it’s the shortest of hops to the deliciously named Sugar Beach, where the white sand is dramatically set against the rocky towers of the Pitons, the giant crags that dominate this part of the island.
Hiking up Gros Piton is a must: try a guided walk through thick jungle and be rewarded with a panoramic view of all of southern St Lucia, and the mountainous interior behind.
Need some energy to recharge after such efforts? Pack a bar of local chocolate brought straight from a cocoa plantation gate, then soak yourself in a local hot spring with a spa treatment of volcanic mud.
Find holidays to St Lucia with Which? Recommended Providers Trailfinders, Audley Travel and Kuoni.
