Looking for More Than Beautiful Beaches
 

My wife and I are hoping to get away for 5 or 6 days in early January. We wnat a nice warm climate and a beautiful beach 4 star hotel quality, but also want some interesting things to do during the day besides sitting in the sun or particpating in water sports. we also don't want o spend too much time getting there and back from Boston. My only experience in the carribean is 25 years old and included a week in barbados and a week sailing from Tortolla. Any help would be appreciated.

If ease in getting to your destination is a major factor, I'd suggest Barbados, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, St. Thomas, or Aruba. All have beautiful beaches and all offer various non-water daytime activities (hikes, museums, etc.) that should interest most folks. And all are relatively easy to get to from Boston without the hassle of numerous airline transfers or ferry rides.

Thanks. I've been reading lots of posts and am intrigued by St. Kitts, St. Croix, Antigua, Granada, St. Martin. In terms of relative ease of travel to and from, how do you think these islands rate?

I'm not all that familiar with the schedules from Boston (I'm from the DC area), but I don't think you can fly to any of those islands non-stop from Washington. Perhaps though there are more options available in Boston. However, none of these islands are all that difficult to get to if you're willing to put up with one plane transfer (most likely in San Juan).

We fly to St. Kitts from Boston. It takes a good part of the day. We take the AA 7:00 flight to San Juan, then either the 1:00 or 2:00 pm. flight to St. Kitts on American Eagle. Arrive St. Kitts about 3:15 if we take the latter flight. Once unpacked, showered, and with a rum punch in hand, it seems like a miracle to be in such a beautiful colorful place in the space of 8-10 hours.

We go back the same way, leaving St. Kitts about 2:30 and arriving in Boston at about 10:30.

cw

We're going from Boston to Granada in February. We catch an American Airlines plane about noon that goes to San Juan. We have about an hour layover in San Juan and arrive in Grenada about 8:50. I can't remember the exact times, but that's close. Unfortunately, our flight back leaves very early in the morning.

from Boston alot of flights go through San Juan, or Miami. St Thomas is a major hub for the virgins. The windward islands might mean another connection, so you might want to think St Croix, Tortola, St Thomas, or St John if you don't want the extra connection. If you don't mind a ferry trip, St John is very cool. For comparison -- I like to think of the USVI alot like New England (presuming you know the states characters well) St Thomas is alot like Mass - lots of beauty, but the biggest city there too and lots of traffic. St John is like VT - preserved beauty and very environmentally correct. St Croix is like Maine - big, agricultral. Lots of great coast and lots to explore inland too.
Hope some of this helps.