Island/resort for newbie couple
 

Hello all,

I am new to this board and am hoping that some of you experienced Caribbean travelers can help me plan a trip for my husband and I in March-our first time in the Caribbean. We have fallen into some free babysitting for our children for 5-6 nights and are working on this trip with short lead time.

We are fairly sophisticated travelers who appreciate good service, great food and local flavor. We like high-end accomodations but are often not crazy about large resorts. We enjoy the beach but will not spend our whole trip there-we like to explore towns or sites, also. Our favorite trips have been to towns in France and Italy where we have stayed in small towns and absorbed the local culture. An excellent spa would be a plus. Lastly, we need somewhere that we can both get to on the same day via different airlines from the south eastern US (my husband doesn't like us to fly together). I am trying to learn about the various islands but there is so much info out there. Any help would be appreciated!

The US Virgin Islands would be great. Fly into St. Thomas, & ferry over to St. John.

Why are you flying on separate airplanes? Wouldn't it be more
convenient.. like for taxis to be on same airplane? (esp. if you run into
delays)

you've given no idea of your budget and specific departure city would help people give you suggestions.

but, you could look at sandy lane on barbados. the island has great beaches and lots of alternative activities.
perhaps the four seasons nevis.
or for a really quick flight the ritz-carlton on st. thomas, although this is a pretty busy island.

The difficulty is in finding desirable towns to explore; likewise with local culture. Many islands have a lot of poverty and/or crime. Others have lovely beaches but no towns, sights or culture to speak of. One of the more prosperous islands that has some sights and local culture is Barbados, although I don't recall being very impressed with the towns. Barbados also has a number of high end resorts and hotels. If you were not going in March I would recommend Bermuda, although that is not in the Caribbean. It will be too cold in March for swimming.

Thinking about your interest in culture and sightseeing beyond just a beach, have you thought about Puerto Rico? Exploring the forts and Old Town is a very interesting day. I have not been to the rain forest area but hear it is an interesting side trip as well. Going to Culebra for a day when you only have 5 would probably not be worth it as a side trip but it is very pretty. I would think you could find your accommodation, spa and food criteria met on PR as well. Just a thought for a fairly short travel time from the southeastern US (where I live as well).

We had a great time at the Four Seasons on Nevis. They have wonderful people working there and Nevis has everything I think you may need. Many people who have been everywhere have fallen in love with the island and enjoy it. The locals are very nice. The problem may be that I'm not sure of your flight schedules. I think it would be worth it to look into it.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. We are traveling from New Orleans and yes, it would be much more convenient to fly together. My husband lost a parent as a child and has a fear of orphaning our kids in a plane crash-not something I can reason with. We could easily make it somewhere that is accessible by ferry from one of the bigger airports that has multiple flts from the US each day. It looks to me like maybe San Juan,St. Marteen, maybe others but I'm not sure where to go from there. Travel for us is relatively easy through Miami, Charlotte, Atlanta & Houston.
Good points about towns, I hadn't thought about that. We also like hiking and eco type sites.
Our budget is pretty generous. Probably up to $800 or so per night. The main thing I want is to avoid a large hotel type feel-I'm looking for something more personal.

As a fellow traveler from New Orleans, I can recommend Caneel Bay in St. John. Click on my name for a trip report from our August stay.

Another option would be Nevis (Nisbet Plantation) via flying into St. Kitts, a pretty straightforward flight from MSY.

Or Anguilla via St. Maarten, staying at one of the high end resorts.

With your stipulation of flying solo, I would recommend a destination that has many flights in and out. Many of the smaller islands do not have that. There's usually one flight per day, two if your lucky.

From NOLA I would recommend Cancun or points south. There are some really beautiful resorts with great spas that you could really relax and enjoy 5-6 nights. There's plenty of local flavor, ruins, snorkeling etc. to explore.

Secrets Capri, JW Marriott Cancun are a few.

Peace, Greenie

Flying into/out of SXM may make sense as there are several flights each day. From there I sugggest taking the ferry over to Anguilla and checking out Cuisinart. There are other high end resorts there (all fairly low key), but Cuisinart is my personal favorite.

You could also consider Little Dix, Peter Island or Caneel. Of these Caneel is easiest to coordinate given the number of flights into STT.

If you want charm and a degree of cultural interest, I would avoid the USVI altogether.

I very much enjoyed Antigua on several visits there and they offer a board range of accomodations. St. Martin and St. Lucia are other favorites but take longer to get to.

San Juan and Puerto Rico offer a great mix of culture, history, food and beaches and the rain forest is great for a day hike. You can stay in a parador rather than a hotel.

For a spa vacation, I adored Le Blanc in Cancun and while the strip is not exactly culturally rewarding, there are lots of side trips that are. It is very high end, intimate and food and service excellent.