Where to Go in 2026: The Five-Square-Mile Caribbean Island That’s Nothing Like Its Neighbors

It’s a shiny new year, so this month on Unpacked, we’re diving into Afar’s ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Where to Go list⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: 24 emerging regions and overlooked locales to explore this year.

Places like Saba, a tiny Dutch Caribbean island with no beaches, no cruise ports, and the world’s shortest commercial runway—just 400 meters long. What it does have: lush volcanic landscapes, 20 hand-built hiking trails, and a population of just over 2,000.

In this episode, host Aislyn Greene talks with ⁠Bianca Bujan⁠, a Vancouver-based travel journalist who shares the thrilling 12-minute flight from St. Martin, the island’s gingerbread-house architecture, and why her teenager called it his favorite trip ever—despite spotty wifi and no beaches.

Transcript

Aislyn Greene: I’m Aislyn Greene, and this is Unpacked, the podcast that unpacks the world’s most interesting destinations and the deeper stories behind travel. Happy New Year, everyone, and welcome back. I don’t know about you, but I’m deep in calendaring and planning for 2026, so it makes sense this week that we’re talking about Afar’s Where to Go in 2026 list. If you’ve been listening, you’ve heard all about it. We released our full list of 24 emerging regions and overlooked Cities in December, as well as 8 Unpacked episodes featuring the writers who traveled to and shared our favorite new places.

In this first month of the new year, we have 7 final episodes for you, and it feels like a fittingly Afar-ish end. Because today I’m talking about the island of Saba with Canadian journalist Bianca Bujan. Bianca is based in Vancouver, BC, but travels the world for her work from Arizona to Rwanda, often with one of her three kids as a travel companion.

And in this episode, she shares her experience traveling to the small, quirky Dutch Caribbean island of Saba with her 14 year old son along for the ride. Bianca reveals the thrilling slash terrifying way you land on the island if you come in by plane, as well as the surprising ways that Saba is different from its beachy neighbours and the mashup of Dutch and Caribbean culture that appears in everything from the art to the food.

Bianca, welcome to unpacked. It’s so lovely to have you here today.

Bianca Bujan: Thank you so much for having me.

Aislyn: Yes. All right. We’re talking about the Caribbean today. Yeah. Which is interesting. In January 2026, there’s a lot of news that is featuring the Caribbean, but we’re not here to talk about that because we’re going to talk about Saba, which is this really unique island in the Caribbean. So can you tell me a little bit more about how you came to discover this place?

Bianca: I was invited to visit Saba on a press trip. I’m a travel journalist and I visited with my 14 year old son. So we did a little trip. Just the two of us.

Aislyn: Amazing. Yeah. And one of the things that jumped out at me in your story and then when I was watching some videos, is the landing, like how you arrive in Saba? Can you tell us what that feels and looks like?

Bianca: Yes. So I am actually not a huge fan of flying on small planes, so that alone had me nervous. Um, but knowing that I was going to be landing on the world’s shortest commercial runway, it’s only 400 meters long. Had me freaking out a bit when we were planning on taking off. Um, my son was with me and he was super excited, so I just kind of tried to keep my cool and not act too nervous. The flight was actually super smooth and short. It’s only 12 minutes from St. Martin and yeah, it was smooth. It was thrilling. It felt kind of like we were heading straight into a mountain. And then we dipped down and we stopped just before, like it felt like we were going to go into the water, but we stopped just before. The pilots are super skilled and knowledgeable. It was kind of like, you know, I get really nervous going on roller coasters, but it was one of those things where after I did it, I wanted to do it again. It was super fun.

Aislyn: Yeah, well, someone who also gets nervous on small planes, that helps a ton. Until I have a chance to experience that landing myself. Can you tell us a little bit more about what makes Saba unique? Because it’s not like other islands in the Caribbean, right?

Bianca: Yeah, it’s a really special place. Um, the island is only 5 square miles and the population is just over 2,000. So it’s a really small community and a small island. Most people go for the amazing hiking and diving. They have, you know, a bunch of hiking trails, about 20 different hiking trails there. There’s no beaches or cruise ports. It’s just lush landscape, lots of trees.

There’s one main road that goes through the island, and then there’s 4 tiny towns. That all makes it quite unique in itself. And then the houses, they all look pretty much the same. They look like gingerbread houses. They all have white walls and steep red or green roofs and stone foundations and dark green shutters. So it’s quite uniform. And I did ask about that when I was there, and they explained to me that back in the day when people first settled on Saba because they don’t have a proper port. Materials were brought in by ships on the rocky shores, the house parts were all pre-cut and then this was before the main road was built. So they had what was called the ladder, which was a steep staircase of hundreds of stone steps that were carved into the cliff. And they would bring those pre-cut parts off the boat and carry them by hand or on their shoulders or backs up these steep steps. And then when they got to the top, they would carry them by donkey down like some narrow trails.

Aislyn: Did that make you appreciate the places you stayed more? Because one B&B I was looking at said their piano had even been hauled in that way.

Bianca: Yeah, I mean, it definitely was a long process getting them in there. And I mean, now they’ve got their road and and, um, you know, boats can land there so they can bring other materials. But back then it really gave me an appreciation for how everything got there.

Aislyn: Absolutely. Did you visit all 4 of the towns?

Bianca: Um, I went to 3 of the 4 towns. So they’ve got the capital is called the Bottom, and it’s literally just the town that’s like at the bottom of what looks like just a big, jagged mountain. Windward side is kind of the main place where tourists would go, where the hotels and restaurants are primarily. And then there’s Saint John’s, which is more residential. That’s kind of where all the locals live and go to school. There’s not really much there for tourists. And then I went to also Zions Hill, which is also called Hell’s Gate, which is another small town.

Aislyn: Yeah. Okay. Did you have a favorite of all of those?

Bianca: Um, I mean, I liked Windward Side. That’s where I was staying and spent most of my time just walking around, kind of get a really good sense of the community there. And that’s probably where most of the people are.

Aislyn: Okay. You mentioned that the big tourism draws are diving and hiking. Were you able to do or participate in both of those?

Bianca: Yeah, I did a little bit of hiking when I was there. It was raining and kind of muddy. I was there in the off season, so I didn’t get to make it to the top of Mount Scenery, which is technically the highest point of the Netherlands and it’s the most popular hike. It was just too muddy for us to go right to the top, but we did a hike called the ⁠Mas’Cohones Trail⁠, which is about halfway up. Um, and you still get the spectacular views, but it’s not quite as steep and treacherous as the main hike.

Aislyn: Yeah. In your story, you mentioned Crocodile James, who you said helped build the hiking network by hand. So what exactly does that mean, and what was it like to hike with him?

Bianca: Yeah. So, James, he was such an interesting character. He was born and raised on Saba. His family has lived there for 8 generations, and they’ve got over 20 hiking trails, and he helped build a lot of them by hand. He told us about moving big rock boulders out of the way and just kind of paving the path for the hikes, clearing the paths. They’re not, they’re not paved.

And then he also helped build the main stairway that goes to the top of Mount Scenery. So he carried water and cement up the mountain by donkey and sort of hand built those stairs. So he’s really been heavily involved in the hiking scene there, and he still helps maintain the trails. He’s in his 70s now, so he’s super funny but also super knowledgeable. And he’s just like like he does these hikes multiple times a day. Yeah, he’s a powerhouse.

Aislyn: What was it really like to be there and see that scenery? Because as you mentioned, there are no beaches and it looks so mountainous and green. It was very different from what I was anticipating.

Bianca: Yeah, it’s super lush. Like everywhere you look there’s green trees and bushes. But there’s also, one thing I really liked about Saba was the community. So we did a couple of neat community interaction activities. One thing that we did is we joined an organization called ⁠Sea and Learn Foundation⁠ for what they have. It’s called Create and Learn Sessions. So it’s a nonprofit that brings locals and visitors together to learn about nature and cultural heritage. And you do different hands on activities with locals. So we did this wild clay and pit firing experience. So we went and visited kind of this rocky, not beach, but on the shore, dug out some clay, made pottery, made kind of a fire pit. And while we were doing that, we got to talk to local residents and just kind of learn about their experiences on the islands. And yeah, it was really cool.

Aislyn: Wow, that sounds really neat. What about food? You know, what was the eating or the dining experience like on Saba?

Bianca: Surprisingly, they had quite a few restaurants, you know, looking at the small population and the fact that they don’t get a lot of tourism, we definitely went to several different restaurants. And yeah, they served a range of different kinds of food. I mean, there were some Caribbean flavors for sure. Um, because it’s a Dutch island, it’s part of the Netherlands. There was some of that food as well.

Aislyn: All right. Well, so it’s a small island like you mentioned. How much time do you think that somebody should allow for a successful visit?

Bianca: I think 3-4 days would be the perfect amount of time. That would give you time to, you know, do a hike, visit the community, do some of the things that they have there. You could definitely stay longer, but it’s super, you know, chilled and laid back there. So if you don’t mind the quiet vibe then you could definitely stay longer.

Aislyn: Okay. You said it was a pretty short flight to get there, but is it a pretty easy place if you wanted to do some kind of island jumping, is that something that people can do relatively easily?

Bianca: Yeah. As I mentioned, it’s a 12 minute flight from St. Martin on. Um, they have an airline called Winair, and you can also island hop by plane or by water ferry. You can take the ferry from St. Martin as well, but it can get a bit choppy. And obviously you want to land on the shortest runway if you can. But you can also island hop to other nearby islands like St. Eustatius and St. Kitts are both quite close by, so I think people will tend to, you know, add Saba to kind of an island hopping journey.

Aislyn: Yeah, that makes sense. If you’re going to be there, why not? Well, we talked a little bit about food and I was reading about something called the Saba spice or Saba Spice. Did you get to try that?

Bianca: Yeah I did. It’s a local, um, handmade spiced rum. They make it using local herbs and spices and it’s definitely spice forward. Like, it’s not like it’s not like a...

Aislyn: Delivers on the name.

Bianca: Yeah. You taste the spices more than kind of the rum. Um, and it’s a bit thick and syrupy. They usually will have it served on ice, maybe as an after dinner drink or something, but it’s definitely something to try. It’s very specific to Saba in terms of how they make it and what’s in it. And if you’re a real rum lover, they have Rum and Lobster Festival, which I just read about recently. I wasn’t there for it, but it looks really cool. And that happens in November, usually for about 9 days.

Aislyn: Are they actually I wonder if they’re fusing rum and lobster. It’s more like you have rum based cocktails and lobster based meals. Or if you’re if there’s any creativity.

Bianca: Don’t know that I’m sure there’s a bit of both.

Aislyn: Well, we’ll have to go back and find out. Is there anything else that you feel like people should know to plan a successful visit? You mentioned the off season, you know, when is that roughly?

Bianca: I was there in June of 2024, which is technically the off season. I think peak season is between December and April. That’s when it is the driest. But really, you can go any time. I mean, we got to have a really quiet experience there. I don’t think we saw any other tourists during our visit. It was all just locals. But I would say like to plan your visit regardless of when you go. I would definitely pack for different weather conditions. It can change dramatically from one moment to the next, just, you know, being a steep mountain. So, you know, be prepared for warm weather and also rain. I would also say you definitely want to hire a taxi or a driver. I would not personally want to drive there. The roads are, the one road, there’s only one on the island is, um, super windy and steep. And at some points the the road gets so narrow. Like I thought the car was going to be touching on both sides, so I just, I think you need to kind of be an expert to drive through there.

Aislyn: Yeah. Or hire an expert.

Bianca: Yes, yes.

Aislyn: Outsource the driving. All right. Good to know. And then finally, what about hotels, you know, where did you stay? I think you mentioned Juliana’s Hotel in your story.

Bianca: Yeah, we stayed at Juliana’s hotel. It’s in the Windward side town. So it was nice because we could walk to a lot of the island’s, you know, restaurants and shops and stuff. It’s owned by a really friendly local couple. The woman, Johanna, is her name, grew up on Saba and she runs it with her husband Wim, who’s Dutch. And the hotel? It’s a small boutique. It has rooms and suites, and then it also has private cottages.

So we stayed in a cottage called Orchid Cottage and it was super spacious. It was like a small apartment. Um, it had a huge balcony just looking out over all the trees and the lush greenery with a hammock, and it had a beautiful outdoor shower. There’s also an on site restaurant there called Tropics Cafe, and that’s a pretty popular spot for locals, so you’ll see local residents popping in for drinks or for a meal, and then they have an outdoor pool and a small art studio on site.

And then there’s also a new luxury boutique hotel opening up soon. It’s not open yet, but I think in the next month or so called the Scenery Hotel, and that’ll be at the base of Mount Scenery, and it looks super modern and chic, but it’s still really small. I think it’s around 50 rooms or less, so keeping it to that boutique style that they have there.

Aislyn: All right. Well, we’ll link out to all of that in the show notes. But before we end, what did your son think of the trip? You mentioned that you were there with your 14 year old. Did he like it?

Bianca: Yeah. You know what? Honestly, he said it was his favorite trip that we’ve done. We’ve done quite a few trips together. Yeah, I was surprised because it was like the Wi-Fi was super spotty. There’s no beaches. Like it rained for probably half the time we were there. But I think he just like it’s so different from where we live. I think he just loved. Yeah. Um, you know, the experience. We met some really cool locals, and I think he enjoyed just meeting the people that lived there and hearing about how it is to live in such a small population. Yeah, he just loved it.

Aislyn: That is really.

Bianca: A great time. Yeah. He’s been asking to go back, actually.

Aislyn: Yeah, as 14 year old, it doesn’t sound like the place that you would expect, but. But cool. Is he pretty? Yeah. Social. Like when you guys travel together. Does he like talking with people?

Bianca: Yeah, I think because I started traveling with him quite young. He’s he’s become kind of comfortable with talking to people from different places. And yeah.

Aislyn: What an amazing life skill to grow up with that, because you know, that just will serve you well no matter where you go and what you do. So good job mom.

Bianca: Thanks.

Aislyn: All right. Well, Bianca, anything else that you want to add about Saba?

Bianca: It’s just it’s a special place for sure. And I think people should definitely add it to their list. It’s, you know, so much lesser known and definitely has some cool things to offer.

Aislyn: All right. Well, wonderful. So nice to have you here today and happy New Year. Yes.

Bianca: Happy New Year to you too.

Aislyn: Thank you so much for joining this special Where to Go episode. In the show notes, we’ve included links to all the places that Bianca recommended, as well as to her website and social handles. And that is it for the special Where to Go series. We’ll be back with more Unpacked episodes in February. Until then, happy planning and may 2026 make all your travel dreams come true.