Caribbean Vacation?
 

My husband and I love to find different places to vacation (not cookie cutter) and this summer we decided we want to vacation in the Caribbean. We would love to Island hop, maybe to 2 islands, and we have 9 days. We are in our early 30's and very active, we like to sight-see, do activities, kite-surf, hike, etc. We also have a budget, we love 5-star locations, but not the 5 star prices... does anyone have any great island suggestions, and hotels? We are going the end of June/beginning of July.

Well, if you want to island hop you have to stay within certain island groups lest you waste more time travelling that vacationing. Also, making any hotel recommendations at this point in your planning is not productive since you haven't chosen a particular destination.

For starters you should check out the following destinations to see if any appeal to you:

St. Thomas/St. John - easy, short ferry ride between the two - also fairly easy access to some of the BVI's

BVI's - a terrific island chain that's easy to get around by ferries.

St. Martin/Anguilla/St. Barth's - Combining the first two islands might be perfect - St. Martin offeres plenty of moderately priced accomodations, lots of watersports, opportunities to hike and explore, great restaurants, lots of shopping on SXM and some of the best beaches in the Caribbean on Anguilla. St. Barth's compliments the other two and offers lots of gourmet restaurants and sophisticated upscale shopping - note this is a relatively expensive island.

St. Kitts/Nevis - sister islands that are still somewhat "undiscovered". You should have no difficulty finding moderatly priced accomodations.

St. Vincent & Grenadines - another island chain that lends itslf to island hopping however it is sometimes difficult to get to/from this area. You'd have a choice of combining a number of different island - consider doing St. Vincent & Bequia or perhaps Grenada and Canouan or maybe Bequia and Mayreau.

Read up about each "chain" to find out which ones appeal to you. Once you select your destination it should be easy to find accomodations. June/July is "Low Season" throughout the Caribbean and you'll find that most reosorts have the lowest room rates of the year during that time which may allow you to stay at a more upscale hotel. Remember though that room rates are all relative so 5-star resoorts are going to be more expensive than 3-star resorts no matter what time of year you travel.

You might also look at Puerto Rico and the smaller islands of Vieques and Culebra. PR offers a lot of changing scenery/adventures as you travel around the main island. And Vieques and Culebra both offer varied experiences (research the bio-bay in Vieques). Plus we found that airfare to SJU was very reasonable.

Good luck in your planning!

thank you so much for your information, I think we are narrowing it down to St. Lucia, Barbados, & St. Vincent Islands.

We are just working on the small details.

www.svgtourism.com
www.bequiatourism.com
www.caribbeantravelforum.com
www.insandoutssvg.com
These are all good sites for info
If you visit St. Vincent during the time frame posted you will be there during Vincy Mas/Carnival time.
Lots of fun but can be intense. Similar to Mardi Gras here in the States

Sorry about one of the web sites, the correct address is www.caribbeantravelforums.com