When choosing a location for the first season of her new travel show, Beyond the Resort, Natalie Preddie had little doubt it had to be St. Lucia. It was there, on the densely forested, teardrop-shaped island in the Eastern Caribbean, that she encountered a refreshing model of Caribbean tourism—one she hopes to see more of.
During one of her many visits, Preddie, a Toronto-based journalist with family roots in Jamaica, had hiked up Gros Piton, the larger of two UNESCO-protected peaks on the island’s southwest coast. “When you go,” she explains, “it has to be with a guide from the village Fond Gens Libres, at the bottom of the mountain.” The village’s French name translates to “valley of the free”—it’s thought to have started as a refuge for formerly enslaved people, descendants of whom still live there today. As many as 200,000 tourists visit Gros and Petit Piton annually, so allowing residents to determine outsider access is a way “to sustain their cultural and economic existence,” Preddie says. “This was a place that their ancestors ran to for their lives, right? And they survived here. This is a place that deserves to be protected.”
Fond Gens Libres is a natural first stop for Beyond the Resort, now available on YouTube, which invites viewers to consider the impact of mass tourism and all-inclusive culture on a region with plenty of both. “The fact that was the catalyst for my whole mission is that 85 percent of every dollar spent in the Caribbean leaves,” Preddie explains. In episode one, Preddie and travel companion Kayla-Marie Williams (a former news anchor) summit Gros Piton once again—reflecting on the deeper, more respectful connections and long-term economic resilience made possible when locals are part of the tourism narrative, both figuratively and literally.
The dynamics of international travel have long been a topic of conversation in the Caribbean, where many tourism boards are actively trying to address both the economic leakage Preddie describes and the monolithic ideas some travelers have of the region. “I always found, growing up, that it was portrayed in a very homogeneous lens—that the Caribbean was, like, beaches and relaxation and cocktails,” Preddie says. Of course, she acknowledges, beaches and relaxation and cocktails are appealing for a reason. “But I thought, ‘There’s so much more to these islands.’ My family’s Jamaican, and as a Black, mixed-race journalist, I wanted to see this region approached with both familiarity and curiosity. It’s complex, it’s creative, and it’s so human.”
Stonefield Villa Resort, known for its Piton views, is just one St. Lucia stop for host Natalie Preddie (right) and traveling companion Kayla-Marie Williams in Beyond the Resort.
Courtesy of Beyond the Resort
Preddie’s larger goal for Beyond the Resort is to show these many facets, inspiring viewers to look at the whole Caribbean—a place as nuanced and well-rounded as any on earth. “The Caribbean is not a product or a place that is ready for you when you are ready,” she says—”it is a place that has history, that has culture, that has livelihoods, that has stories.” If you’re not seeing that during your trip, Beyond the Resort argues, you’re missing out.
Here, Preddie shares a few tips from her years of covering Caribbean travel to inspire you to get off property, learn something new, and see the real heart of the islands—supporting locals along the way.
Identify a few things you can’t find anywhere else
“There is so much culture in these islands, and they are so different from one another,” Preddie says. “When you go to Guadeloupe, you can’t expect the same experience that you’re going to have in Barbados.” Part of what drives her new travel show, she explains, is the sheer diversity of this region—something many people may not fully appreciate. “I really invite people to take what they think they know and go one layer deeper, to ask more questions about where they are.”
It might sound basic, but no matter the scale of your trip, doing some research beforehand will pay off. “Look up one cultural tradition or festival that’s going on, one piece of history that still affects daily life,” Preddie advises. Her parents, for example, go to Anguilla regularly and always make a point of knowing where their favorite local singer, Bankie Banx, will be playing. “It’s just a little bit of extra legwork”—but if you have a sense of what makes the place stand out, you’ll know what to look for when you’re there.
When it comes to sources, Preddie advises, don’t underestimate what the official tourism board has to say. “Tourism websites want to highlight their local businesses [and] what makes their islands unique, so I always think that’s a great place to start,” she says. Many destinations, including St. Lucia, the Bahamas, Guadeloupe, and Jamaica, have pages, programs, or entire sites dedicated to community tourism.
For a different perspective, she adds, “look up some local influencers on social and see what they’re saying”—it’s a simple way to get recommendations from a local before you go.
Drivers know everything, so let them lead
“A driver will be your best friend on an island,” Preddie says. “I find that Caribbean drivers are like the mayor and the handyperson—they know everybody and everything. They’ll show you the hidden waterfalls, they’ll take you to a salt pan that people don’t know about.” If you’re looking for recommendations for a bar or restaurant, she adds, “They will tell you straight up…‘Here’s where the tourists go, but it’s actually better here.’” During a trip to St. Lucia, she remembers, a driver recommended the Saturday market in Castries, where she found the best hot sauce she’d ever had.
Preddie and Williams browse the stalls at Castries Market, in St. Lucia’s capital city.
Courtesy of Beyond the Resort
Preddie says word-of-mouth recommendations for drivers are often best—from journalists, influencers, friends and family who have recently been—but adds that a quick email to the tourism board can also be fruitful. You can also ask around at taxi stands, and often, your hotel or rental host will also have a local hookup. Even if you book a package trip or are arriving by cruise, Preddie says, you can always hire your own driver, even just for a half-day. Not only will you have a more person-to-person experience than with a larger group, you’ll also be paying the driver or local company directly. With enough advance scheduling, you can usually be picked up right at your resort or cruise port.
To find the heart of a place, follow the food
“Something I always do wherever I go is book a cooking class or a food tour,” Preddie says. Local food culture can tell you a lot about a destination’s past and present—she cites a recent visit on Bequia (a small island in the Grenadines) to Firefly Estate, a former sugar plantation that’s been converted into a sprawling orchard and boutique resort. During one of the regularly scheduled estate tours, the guide not only identified the fruit trees and other edible plants, but explained to the group how they are used. This kind of tour, Preddie says, “gives you a whole new insight to the land itself and what this land offers you.”
Preddie says major platforms like Viator are a great place to start when looking for a guided food tour. Tourism boards will also often have self-directed itineraries on their websites, like Discover Puerto Rico’s culinary tour of Old San Juan, which strings together “small restaurants, mom-and-pop stores, and La Factoría, which was one of [North America’s] top 50 bars.” No matter what, she says, “Force yourself to be a little bit adventurous and always try something that you would not normally get.”
For a deeper taste of place, book a food experience that allows you to sit down with locals—or even be welcomed into their home. Check out Traveling Spoon (which offers cooking classes in many Caribbean destinations, such as Trinidad and Tobago and the British Virgin Islands) or platforms like Tours By Locals that connect travelers with local experts. Preddie also mentions a program launched by Barbados Tourism called Dine With a Bajan, through which you can connect with home cooks who will host you for lunch or dinner. “It’s such an amazing experience, because you are then understanding what is the same and what is different [about people’s daily lives],” she says. “And we left with friends—we’ve already been emailing one another.”
In Belize, which has more than 200 miles of Caribbean coastline, she and her son did two cooking classes, both of them found through the Belize Tourism Board—one with a Garifuna family in an Afro-Indigenous coastal community, and another with a Mayan family in the country’s more forested inland. “The grandmother taught [us] to make tortillas, and my six-year-old was like, ‘This is so much fun,’” she recalls. “That trip has stayed with my son way more than any all-inclusive that we’ve been to.”
Remember, Caribbean nature isn’t just beaches
Located outside the Caribbean hurricane belt, Aruba has a semi-arid climate and is home to several species of cactus.
Photo by Sarah Lutke Wild/Shutterstock
White-sand beaches and palm trees make for a great postcard. Still, says Preddie, “Some of the islands have completely different ecosystems. This is not a manicured lawn.” She likes to go hiking in the Caribbean whenever she can, whether it’s up La Soufrière, St. Vincent’s central volcano (“You can hike up into the crater and there’s a lake there, which is amazing”) or through St. Kitts’ Central Forest Reserve National Park to Wingfield Estate, where Old Road Rum now operates out of the ruins of a 400-year-old distillery.
Explore a bit and you’ll come to appreciate the landscapes that hotels don’t always showcase: mangrove wetlands in the Bahamas or Cayman Islands, cloud forests in Dominica or the Dominican Republic, even cactus-dotted semi-arid shrub in Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. Or consider booking an eco-resort more inland for a home base surrounded by nature—Preddie’s favorites include Hidden Valley Inn in Belize’s Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve. Especially on larger islands, you can consider splitting your trip between popular beach resort areas and unique properties in the interior, such as El Pretexto, a culinary-focused farm retreat in Puerto Rico’s biodiverse tropical highlands; Dominican Tree House Village, a collection of stilted cabins in the rainforest of the Samaná Peninsula, in the Dominican Republic; or Strawberry Hill, in the high-altitude woodlands of Jamaica’s Blue Mountains.
Stop and say hello—you might learn something
Most visitors to Jamaica will fly into Montego Bay, but Preddie recommends Negril, which has a quieter vibe and more small, locally owned hotels.
Photo by Rock Staar/Unsplash
In the end, the most special (and most reliable) travel ideas will come from the people who know and love the place best. “Ask around—ask the people who live there,” Preddie advises. “If you are curious about something, just ask. People love to have conversations about their home.”
Putting care and effort into how you interact with locals is important, Preddie adds—taking time to make connections, while also being mindful of your position as a tourist. It’s the little things, like asking people before you take a photo or video, or making an effort to speak the language. Picking up even a few phrases in French, Spanish, Creole, or Papiamento can go a long way.
“You are visiting someone else’s home, you know?” Preddie adds. “I think it’s just important that we travel with respect and with curiosity.”
