Planning a trip to Grand Cayman in May..We were thinking about staying at the Westin or posssibly renting a Condo on 7 mile beach...Any recommendations?

Pat,<BR>I would go with a condo over the Westin. A condo is the way to go on Grand Cayman, since eating out can be quite expensive. There are many, many nice condos in the 7MB area. Depends on what your looking for. If you want quiet and away from the crowds, check on the northern end of 7MB. If you want to be where the action is, then central or southern 7MB is where you should look. Two good sites for GC accomodations are caymanvacations.com and gotocayman.com. By fixing some of your meals like breakfast or lunch in your condo, you'll save a lot of money. Also, the further north you go on 7MB, the nicer the beach is!! Hope this helps!<BR>Sandy

Definitely go with the condo. We stayed at the Hyatt last Chistmas because we didn't know which condo to pick having never been there. We checked out the locations we liked while we were there and my favorites were Coralstone Club just south of the Westin and Avalon - a little further north. If you want to go a bit less expensive, Villas of the Galleon right next to the Westin is very nice, beautiful beach, walking distance to restaurants and grocery. It has no pool, but who needs a pool with that beautiful clear water! You can have a two bedroom condo on the same beach for MUCH less than the price of a hotel room.

CONDO CONDO CONDO. Our first trip we stayed at a condo and loved it. Much more of a homey feel (we got to pretend we lived there) and saved so much by cooking meals in.<BR><BR>Why pay more for a cramped crowded hotel (our condo was cheaper than the westin) and have to pay through the nose to eat every meal? We had maid service (they even did our dishes) and could rent snorkel gear on the property.<BR><BR>Definitely stay somewhere from the Westin area north. The farther south you go on 7mb, the worse the beach gets and we noticed an odd smell as we went south too. (no clue what it was).

DEFINITELY CONDO!!!

Ditto on the condo for the 7MB area ... the beach area north of the Westin is the nicest ... Aqua Bay and Plantana come to mind that looked nice, although there are several nice ones. You should be able to find lots of recommendations on this board. (We stayed at Turtle Nest Inn away from the 7MB area which we liked very much; but if staying on 7MB, I would definitely go with a condo.)

Sorry about the mystery smell michelle, that was actually me you smelled as you travelled south...I farted.