5 Best Sights in Dominica

These 40-acre gardens, founded in 1891 to encourage the supply of properly propagated seedlings to island farmers, is a great place to relax, stroll, or even watch a cricket match. In addition to the extensive collection of tropical plants and trees, there's also a parrot aviary. At the Forestry Division office, which is also on the grounds, you can find numerous publications on the island's flora, fauna, and national parks. The forestry officers are particularly knowledgeable on these subjects and can also recommend good hiking guides.

The 40-acre Botanical Gardens, founded in 1891 as an annex of London's Kew Gardens, is a great place to relax, stroll, or watch a cricket match. In addition to the extensive collection of tropical plants and trees, there's also a parrot aviary. At the Forestry Division office, which is also on the garden grounds, you can find numerous publications on the island's flora, fauna, and national parks. The forestry officers are particularly knowledgeable on these subjects and can also recommend good hiking guides.

The old Market House (1810), used for slave trading in colonial times and later as a post office, now houses the island's national museum. This labor of love by local writer and historian Dr. Lennox Honychurch contains furnishings, documents, prints, and maps that date back hundreds of years; you can also find an entire Carib hut, as well as Carib canoes, baskets, and other artifacts.

The closest beach to Roseau—but a half-hour's drive north—this long stretch of silvery gray-sand beach on the west coast is just outside the village of Méro. The waters are warm and calm, and the entire community comes here on weekend afternoons. This is the island's most popular beach and one of the few with amenities. Amenities: food and drink; showers; toilets. Best for: parties; swimming.

At this landmark, the island's first sugarcane processing mill and rum distillery—used by British settlers during the late 18th and 19th centuries—and later a lime plantation, you can see exhibits on sugar and coffee processing as well as on island heritage—including costumes worn during Carnival.