I can't figure out which trip would be better for my wife and I. We want..some romance, good cuisine, a 4 star hotel on one island, a rental property or cheaper hotel on another island, off-shore snorkeling, turquise waters and gorgeous landscapes, cays to go to, jungles to explore, easy transfers, some nightlife (definatly do not need/want gambling!), shopping.

She likes nice/expensive things and I like more laid back, local things, and surfing We do want want to spend too much cash though.

(I heard a trip to Anguilla and that area would be more expensive?)


What kind of landscape/ waters do these places have and which would be better for us?

Maybe this will help:

Anguilla - flat, arid, scrubby, little natural natural vegetation, several upscale resorts, 35 white sand beaches, bright torquoise blue waters, some off-beach snorkeling, 80+ restaurants, some among the most expensive in the Caribbean, not much nightlife.

St. Bart's - Hilly, arid, not too lush, lots of rental villas, loads of high end fashion shopping, several high end resorts and botique hotels, 100's of restaurants (considered the gourmet capital of the Caribbean, Tres chic, very French, smaller cove-like golden sand beaches, Lots of nightlife, below average snorkeling, plenty of watersports. Think lifestyles of the rich and famous.

St. Martin/Sint Maarten - hilly, good beaches, modest snorkeling, both French and Dutch influence, casinos, lots of nightlife, plenty of restaurants in all price ranges, good to excellent duty free shopping, lots of watersports.

SVG - volcanic in nature, mountainous, very lush, rain forests, waterfalls, no real upscale hotels, small dark sand beaches, not much nightlife, average restaurants, no real shopping, no snorkeling to speak of, no surfing. Have to travel to other islands in the Grenadines for good snorkeling. darker, steel blue waters.

Grenada - volcanic in nature, mountainous, smaller dark sand beaches except for one area. Below average snorkeling, some decent but not great shopping. Plenty of rainforests and waterfalls. Darker steel blue waters.

Barbados - sorry don't know too much about this island other than it's mountainous but not as lush as SVG or Grenada., has an English heritage and some nice light colored sand beaches.

From what you say Anguilla/St. Martin/St. Barts comes closest to what you are seeking with the exception that none of tjhose islands have rainforeast or "Jungles" as you call it.

Hope this helps.

A_Traveller....Your description of St. Barth does make me nervous after adding that one on this year. Thanks for your candid review of the islands!
to lasvegasguy: both St. Kitts and Nevis have rainforest and volcanic hikes that can be fine-tuned to your needs. Snorkeling on those 2 islands are ok.... St. Kitts has the Marriott casino, whereas Nevis is very laid-back.. We split our time b/n the 2 to get a feel of the Caribbean...Been to St. Martin....french side 3times..We are finished with that island, but many really do enjoy it...check out traveltalkonline.com for a more unbiased feel. guadeloupe has a lot to offer as well... look that one up!

You need only to go to Grenada and Barbados for all those things. Grenada will be generally less expensive.

Grenada and Barbados both look great. We are worried the water may not be blue enough though. (like how Cabo was very dark..not very good snorkeling) but St. Vincent looks really turquise in spots.

I am also looking at taking a charter to a more nothern island (like st. martin) where the water is bluer for part of the trip

The other option sounds good but I keep seeing, on Fodors and Frommers, that those other islands are very 'lifestyles of the rich and famous' with expensive boutiques and stores. I can go to the strip for that!

St. Martin's snorkeling is not very good.

You will find good snorkeling at the Tobago Cays, in the Grenadines. Grenadines has the "bluer" water you crave. Tabago Cays, little Mopion, Canouan have beautiful water. You can actually fly to Union (one of the Grenadines) from either Barbados, or Grenada. Grenada also has Sandy Island-which requires a ferry to Carriacou then water taxi to Sandy, but a terrific day trip. The views on the Grenadines are spectacular. From Mopion, or Petit St. Vincent, or Palm Island, looking back at Union looks like a miniature Bora Bora. St. Lucia (which you can combine with also) has rainforrests and is lush to explore. Barbados has the shopping and cuisine, the 4 star (and 5 star) hotels and nightlife. The water in Barbados is turqouise, just not as crystal clear as you find in the Grenadines. This grouping will give you more snorkeling/landscapes option.

The Anguilla/St. Martin/St. Barth trip the 3 couldn't be more different from each other. They are fairly easy to hop around. None of them really have decent snorkeling. Anguilla has stunning beaches (some of the best in the world) with the turqouise clear water you crave. The hotels are stunning, as is the food. It's flat, dry and scrubby looking, it's about food and beaches. St. Martin is more casual, only 20 minute ferry from Anguilla. It's hilly (but not lush) and has excellent restaurants, and the best shopping in the Caribbean. They are casinos and nightlife. St. Barth is small, hilly and very dramatic. Excellent food, upscale expensive shopping, it's about an hour's ferry ride from St. Martin. The water is not as pretty, but this is the island to "see and be seen"-very chic. The island is very expensive. This grouping in general will be more expensive than the first grouping. This grouping will give you the better beaches, food/shopping option.

For snorkeling, jungles, you may want to consider Mexico. Check out Maroma for the upscale part, Playa Del Carmen for the snorkeling, jungle, active part.

you got good advice from the previous posters.
don't worry about the water.. the water in Granada and Barbados is blue,blue,blue.
Cabo is not in the Caribbean and you can't beat the colors of the water in the Caribbean.

I have not been to Grenada, St. Barts or Barbados but all my research tells me St. Barts is a very fine place to visit. I have been to Anguilla/St. Martin twice. I would definitely recommend a trip back there to you. I really liked the trip to Anguilla best because we took the ferry over to AXA for a day trip. You could easily split a weeks trip into 3/4 days at each place. I would go for the week in AXA though. Fly USA through Charlotte, NC then direct to SXM and take the ferry over to AXA. I went by boat which is much quicker but it's about $250.00 each way. I stayed at Cap Juluca and highly recommend it but I might try Cuisinart if I go back. One thing I can say is the food on AXA is the best I ever had in the Caribbean, including St. Thomas, Virgin Gorda, Tortola, St. John, SXM and Jamaica. Take a day trip to SXM but have lunch/dinner at Tropicana near the small craft harbor at St. Martin. I never had a bad meal on AXA. There were several weddings at CJ while I was there so you can't go wrong there. Good luck.

iw - why does it make you nervous? SBH is everything A trav. said, but it is a very laid back place at the same time. It is beautiful and I am sure you will have a wonderful time. BTW there area many places you can eat which are not very expensive, you just have to look around and do some research. For example, The Wall House, which is very good, does prix fixe menu for dinner for 25 E. OR there are places less than that. In St Jean there are some little cafes and restaurants, all which have menus posted and you can preview before you decide.

To the OP, you have gotten some good info. here, sorry to jump in, just wanted to try to put IWs mind at rest

Funny how in all this "candid info." I didn't see a single mention of the CRIME islands such as St. Martin and Barbados are notorious for.

Anguilla is considered one of the safest and friendliest islands in the Caribbean. Perhaps second only to the Caymans.

Unless the situation has changed dramatically in the last couple of years, Barbados generally is considered very safe. It is one of the larger (in terms of land and population) and more developed Caribbean islands, so in sheer volume, it may have more crimes than a much smaller island, but relatively speaking, it has very few crimes. I visited Barbados alone a few years ago (I'm female) and felt perfectly safe. I'd be a little cautious about St. Martin, as it seems to have somewhat higher crime rates.

I worked in both Grenada and Barbados. I got my dive certificate at Rogers Dive shop on Barbados. Barbados is much more upbeat to me than Grenada- I found the locals much nicer. The diving and snorkling was very good, but you had to ask at the dive shops for recommendations. Grenada has a reef surrounding the island, so there is the option to dive from the beach and snorkel too, which is intersting. There is a lot more nightlife and action on Barbados, but it is easy to avoid if you want. The west coast is very peaceful. The hotels are nice, but the house rentals are nicer. Ive seen them on carribeanway.com and cyberrentals.com.
I can't wait to go back to Barbados, I will probably never go to Grenada again- just too many other options. The beaches are much more prototypical on Barbados than Grenada, gentle waves, long sandy strips. The locals (Bajans) are lovely on Barbados- educated and interested- wheras in Grenada they seemed much more tourist burnt- which, to their defense, likely has something to do with the fact that we did indeed invade Grenada in 1983. Hope that helps!

MIM....Thank you for the good thoughts. My mind feels better!

SVG main island St. Vincent....mountains,rain forest, lush and very green. Beautiful flowers. IMHO true sense of the "real unspoiled Caribbean" Beaches are not the Corona commercial type but in some places equally as stunning only different. There is some excellent dining availble at the Grandview Hotel and Xscape. Young Island also hase a great restaurant. Young Island is a private resort just off the southern coast. Johnny Depp stayed here during the filming of POTC. They have there own website google Young Island.

Bequia is the next island in the chain with mixed price accommodations. This is where you will find the most shopping in Port Elizabeth. Nice beaches too. Nightlife but not over the top. One of my favorite stops in the Grenadines.

Mustique.... home of the rich and famous. Cotton House would be the available accommodation. Pricey but some say they love it.

Canouan....Tamarind Resort and Raffles Resort. Donald Trump's Caribbean take on casinos.

Mayreau....Salt Whistle Bay exclusive, private resort. Close to Tobago Cays which has the best to offer in uninhabited islands and snorkeling. Great place to film a Corona commercial.

Palm Island.....Private resort sister property to Young Island. If I had the choice between the two would take Young Island over Palm any day.

Union....don't know much my time there has been brief.
There are a few other smaller islands in the chain too Petit St. Vincent is another and I've never been there.

Anguilla....expensive, beautiful sandy wide beaches yet didn't do much for me.

St. Bart's....one of my favorites in the FWI still yet another playground of the rich and famous. Nice beaches, excellent cuisine, shopping, chic European flair with the island twist.

St. Maarten/Martin....I like the island but too commercialized for me. Nightlife, casinos, restaurants etc. Large range of accommodations.

Grenada.... mountains, lush and green, some beautiful beaches. Range of accommodations available. Some shopping. Bouncing back from Hurricane Ivan but not easy to reach from the States. Flights are crazy and schedules outrageous.

Barbados....not one I would choose to spend time on except for connecting flights. Very commercial but others absolutely love it.

You would do well to visit other travel forums. You can find them by doing a google. If you want more info on St. Vincent and the Grenadines I suggest visiting www.svgtourism.com
Also narrow down your must haves/would like to have and not so important to have and this will help you in making a decision. There are so many islands to choose from but none have it all to meet the needs of everyone.
Good luck and enjoy your search.