This article was originally published in January 2024 and was updated June 15, 2026, with new information.
The Caribbean is more popular than ever. According to the latest official stats, a record-breaking 35 million travelers visited the region in 2025, and more recent estimates show that the numbers keep climbing. So it’s no wonder the best-known beaches and attractions can feel packed, especially during peak season.
I’ve been traveling throughout the Caribbean for decades, from off-the-beaten-path islands like Bequia to tourism powerhouses like Jamaica and the Bahamas. I even got married in the Caribbean. Over the years, I’ve learned that some of the most memorable experiences happen when you venture beyond the obvious stops and seek out an overlooked island, head away from the beach, spend time with local guides, or support small businesses that reflect the culture of a destination. And that’s just for starters. Here are a handful of ideas that will help you get off the tourist trail and discover a side of the Caribbean that many travelers miss.
Explore under-the-radar islands
Consider skipping the Caribbean heavyweights in favor of a lesser-known island. Tiny, volcanic Saba, (on Afar’s list of Best Places to Travel in 2026), measures only five square miles and is home to fewer than 2,000 people. You’ll find some of the region’s best preserved diving spots (don’t miss the coral-encrusted Eye of the Needle), plus charming hotels like the Cottage Club, which has 10 gingerbread-style bungalows, frangipani-filled gardens, and sea views.
Related: The Five-Square-Mile Caribbean Island That’s Nothing Like Its Neighbors
Salterra Resort & Spa takes design and culinary inspiration from South Caicos’s history of salt production.
Courtesy of Salterra, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa
Most people who visit Turks and Caicos stick to Providenciales, but this archipelago has so much more to offer. Try remote South Caicos, where you can spot colorful sea life in Starfish Alley and migrating humpback whales offshore from January to April. At Salterra Resort & Spa (one of Afar’s Best New Hotels of 2026), guests can take part in coral restoration experiences and dine at Brine restaurant, where the chef makes his own salt.
Another blissfully uncrowded spot is the Dutch island of Bonaire, with one of the Caribbean’s oldest marine reserves, thousands of flamingos, and excellent shore diving. For a stay that embraces the island’s laid-back vibe, check into Delfins Beach Resort Bonaire on a quiet stretch of coast.
Writer and on-air travel expert Sarah Greaves-Gabbadon (aka JetSetSarah) knows the Caribbean inside out and one of her favorite escapes is Bequia, which is part of the country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. “It looks like the Caribbean from the 1960s James Bond movies, with one waterfront main street and women shopping with straw baskets,” she says. Her hotel of choice: Bequia Beach Hotel, set on crescent-shaped Friendship Bay.
Related: It’s Not Worth Visiting the Caribbean if You Never Leave the Resort. Here’s How to Travel Deeper
YS Falls is a seven-tiered waterfall surrounded by natural swimming pools and picnic lawns.
Courtesy of Sandals Resorts
Seek alternatives to famous attractions
In Jamaica, tourists flock to Dunn’s River Falls to climb the waterfalls. Savvy travelers head instead to YS Falls, a lesser visited spot on the island’s South Coast. Set on a former cane farm, the seven-tiered waterfall is surrounded by gardens and towering trees. Here, you don’t have to wait in line to climb the falls or cool off in the natural pools.
A popular Caribbean attraction is Stingray City in the Cayman Islands, where visitors swim with the rays in shallow waters. However, the human interactions in this area have actually changed these creatures’ natural behavior. For a more ethical (and less touristed) option, the Central Caribbean Marine Institute on Little Cayman offers diving-with-a-purpose trips to assist the research team with citizen science projects.
On Barbados, most travelers stick to the white-sand Caribbean beaches along the Platinum Coast. But Nicolas Alleyne, CEO of Blu Isles, a luxury boutique travel planner, recommends the wild shores of Bathsheba on the island’s Atlantic side. “It’s very rustic, rural, and unspoiled, with amazingly beautiful rock formations,” he says. “Have lunch at Zemi Café—the food is phenomenal and they give back to the community.”
Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas is the oldest town in the U.S. Virgin Islands
Courtesy of U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism
Go beyond the beach
The Caribbean is renowned for its beaches, but stepping away from the shore reveals a different kind of beauty. On Nevis, locally owned Nevis Sun Tours specializes in experiences that showcase the island’s history, culture, and agricultural traditions. Travelers can visit Alexander Hamilton’s birthplace and other sites connected to his early life or join “Cooking With Ras Iroy,” a hands-on culinary experience on a Rastafarian farm.
Antigua is famed for its 365 beaches, one for each day of the year. Trade the blue hues of the coast for the dense, dark greens of the lush interior at Wallings Nature Reserve, where you can soar over the treetops with Antigua Rainforest Zipline Tours.
Podcaster, filmmaker, and retreat leader Riselle Celestina of the Traveling Island Girl warns that there’s not much that hasn’t been discovered on French St. Martin, so she recommends going for a hike. “There are hiking trails that you can do all over the island because St. Martin is so hilly,” she says. “Head to Paradise Peak at the highest point of the island—the view is really spectacular.”
Influencer Gabrielle Querrard is an ancestral Virgin Islander who has gathered a following thanks to her millennial take on local history. To make the most of a visit to St. Thomas, she recommends exploring downtown Charlotte Amalie, the oldest town in the Virgin Islands. The St. Thomas Historical Trust offers walking tours that bring the city’s history to life.
Curaçao is known for its white-sand beaches, and a local tour guide can take you to the best ones.
Courtesy of the Curaçao Tourist Board
Book a tour with a local outfitter
Level up your Caribbean experience by exploring with plugged-in guides who know how to avoid the hordes. On Anguilla, Shellecia Brooks-Johnson—writer, marketer, and owner of the lifestyle site My Anguilla Experience—recommends an island-based tour company called Quest Experiences, founded by Clemvio Hodge, whose father started the magazine What We Do in Anguilla. “They offer experiences like salt picking, johnny cake making, rum tastings, and hikes along the coast,” says Brooks-Johnson.
Want to see the real Curaçao? Guide Elton Sint Jago, who proudly wears a Curaçao T-shirt whenever he travels abroad, loves to take travelers to San Juan. The area is known for its undeveloped white-sand beaches. “No showers, no palapas, no hotels, just the beach and pure nature,” he says.
In the British Virgin Islands, Sef Graham turned a pandemic hiking hobby into Hike BVI, a company that helps travelers discover secluded bays, historic ruins, and panoramic viewpoints that many visitors never see. Some of the trails were cleared by Graham himself. He also leads camping trips and excursions to lesser-visited islands like Anegada.
On St. Lucia, Amy Stephen—a local youth activist and entrepreneur—founded to showcase the fishing village of Anse La Raye, where she grew up. Her excursions range from kayaking and e-biking to cultural experiences that highlight the area’s history and natural beauty.
Look for boutique lodgings
Menus at Secret Bay are a showcase of ingredients grown on site.
Courtesy of Secret Bay
The Caribbean has its share of big, glitzy resorts, but a surefire strategy for keeping it real is to opt for small hotels that contribute to the unique character of each island. In the coastal village of Treasure Beach on Jamaica, Jakes Hotel has mosaic-covered cottages and strong ties to the local creative community. Don’t miss the property’s Full Moon Dinners, which showcase seafood from local fishermen and produce from nearby farms.
In the Bahamas, the Potlatch Club, a boutique resort on Eleuthera’s pink-sand shores, marries a glamorous 1960s past with modern sophistication.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, the 19-room Dreamcatcher is owned by Dreamers Welcome, an LGBTQ+-owned hospitality group cofounded by a Puerto Rican artist. Just a block from the beach, the property has a stylishly eclectic mix of hammocks, antiques, stained-glass doors, and open-air showers.
Secret Bay, an all-villa Relais & Châteaux resort on under-the-radar Dominica’s northwestern coast, has become a leading example of design-driven sustainability in the Caribbean. The 27 villas are carefully sited in the rainforest to minimize disruption, yet luxuries were not spared—think private pools and well-equipped kitchens.
One of Celestina’s favorite secret finds on Dutch St. Maarten is Pasture Piece, a B&B that dates to the 1800s and has one well-appointed room to rent, plus a small museum. “It comes with a long family history—the owner’s grandparents bought it from the landowners back in the days after slavery,” she says. “It’s something that hasn’t been done before.”
Related: The Best Boutique Hotels in the Caribbean
Skip the resort buffet
At island-owned restaurants, you’ll eat well and contribute to local communities. On the southern end of Little Exuma Island in the Bahamas, you’ll find a trio of seaside businesses owned by members of the same family. Mary Doris Rolle—the matriarch—runs Mommy’s Bakery with her daughter Maisie, baking cherry pie, pineapple pie, and the bestseller, rum cake. Daughter Denise runs nearby Santanna’s, which serves fresly caught lobster grilled to order. And at Club Arawak, daughter Cassandra makes the best conch fritters on the island.
For a taste of local life in the Dominican Republic, head to Las Terrenas on the Samaná Peninsula. The rustic Luis Restaurant serves the catch of the day just steps from the sand. Guests choose their order from a cooler filled with fresh fish and lobster, then settle in with mamajuana cocktails and watch the waves roll in.
According to Cybelle Brown, managing director of the French colonial–style Stonefield Villa Resort, one of the best restaurants for home-cooked food on St. Lucia is the waterfront Coal Pot restaurant. “Owned by a local woman who is also an artist, it’s a charming location for lunch and dinner,” says Brown.
In the Cayman Islands, Chelsea Tennant—a food expert who runs the Island Epicurean blog—says it’s worth heading to the East End of Grand Cayman, where you’ll find Vivine’s Kitchen, run by a woman who cooks dishes like stewed turtle, stewed conch, and Cayman-style beef. “This is one of the best spots to visit for Caymanian cuisine, and it’s a casual spot attached to her home,” she says.
Long Story Short carries carefully curated books, skincare items, and a host of gift ideas.
Courtesy of Bermuda Tourism Authority
Explore locally owned shops
You’ll find more than just merchandise in Caribbean-owned shops: Each purchase can connect you to the area’s culture and history. In the 17th-century town of St. George’s on Bermuda, you can shop local at Long Story Short, an eco-chic boutique owned by blogger and tour company operator Kristin White. Long Story Short sells books by women of color, sustainable jewelry by social enterprises, and a line of Bermuda-inspired gifts designed by White herself.
In the U.S. Virgin Islands, Gabrielle Querrard is an advocate for island craftsmanship. On St. Croix, she’s a fan of two notable jewelry stores: IB Designs (which creates pieces with symbols of the indigenous Tainos) and Crucian Gold (which incorporates shards of found pottery from Danish times called chaney). “I love businesses like this,” says Querrard. “The owners are Crucians, they employ Crucians, and everything has a story.”
Sister island St. John is gentrifying fast, but you can get a feel for traditional Virgin Islands culture at a hybrid gallery, bookstore, café, and bar. “It highlights everything local,” says Querrard, “from Caribbean history books to artwork that retells the story of the Virgin Islands people—past, present, and future.”
In the Kalinago Territory of Dominica, travelers can shop for handwoven baskets by Indigenous artisans at Barana Autê. The artisans are often nearby and happy to explain their techniques, which have been passed down through generations. Every purchase helps preserve an important cultural tradition while supporting local families.
Travel with purpose
Travelers can also support conservation and community initiatives throughout the Caribbean. On Grand Bahama, Coral Vita is pioneering a unique approach to ocean conservation. Founded by environmental entrepreneurs, the project focuses on cultivating high-tech coral farms to restore the fragile reefs. Travelers can tour the farms, witness the process firsthand, and even adopt a coral to help the reef’s revival.
In Grenada, Aquanauts is helping travelers become active participants in conservation through its Roots-to-Reef program. The initiative connects visitors with the island’s diverse ecosystems through activities such as lionfish removal, mangrove restoration, and sustainable farming. Proceeds support the Aqua Rangers Youth Development Scholarship, which helps train the next generation of marine stewards and conservation leaders.
Aruba is encouraging travelers to turn vacation time into volunteer time. Through the Aruba Volunteer Time Off initiative, visitors can participate in conservation and community projects across the island, from helping at the Aruba Donkey Sanctuary to supporting environmental programs and local nonprofits. Several hotels have even built volunteer experiences into special packages, making it easy for travelers to give back while getting away.
