Best Caribbean Christmas

Did you know there are more than 5,000 Caribbean islands? How do you go about choosing the island or islands that you might enjoy most? To discover the best Caribbean island for you for Christmas or any other time of the year, you need to decide what it is you would like to do and see most. Although beaches, sunshine, and a dazzling cerulean blue sea may be plentiful no two islands are the same.

What comes to mind when you picture traveling to a Caribbean Island for a vacation? Do you prefer quiet, peaceful, relaxing destinations or would you prefer a vacation with lots of sights, sounds, and nightlife? Would you like to spend time snorkeling or diving? Are you interested in finding some of the most highly rated beaches? Maybe your idea of fun is exploring the shops to find treasures not readily available at home.

The time you spend discovering the “best” island for you will be worth every minute. You will be much more likely to enjoy the trip of a lifetime! Here are some suggestions for the islands that might interest you most as recommended by some of the top travel experts such as Frommer’s, Fodor’s, and Travel and Leisure.

1. Best Caribbean Islands for Peace, Quiet, and Relaxation

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Virgin Gorda shows up often as a highly recommended island for peace and quiet. This island is dominated by protected parkland. Located in the easternmost side of the British Virgin Islands it is reachable by ferry from St. Thomas or Tortola. Vieques, located on the northeast side of Puerto Rico, is still rustic and relaxed. Anguilla is a tiny island with a population numbering only 13,000 or so. It is the northern most island in the Windward island chain (by St. Maarten). This is a place where even the rich and famous go for privacy and quiet.

2. Best Caribbean Islands for Nightlife

Aruba boasts 10 casinos each with unique shows, restaurants, and bars. In Barbados you’ll find lots of bars, pubs, restaurants, and dance clubs. St. Thomas is often listed as the island having the most active nightlife. St. Maarten/St. Martin has lots of dance clubs and restaurants each with a bar. Jamaica is a special favorite for their distinctive music and folkloric stage shows. Curacao has many casinos, gambling, and lively bars. Puerto Rico is well known for their dance clubs as well as casinos, cabaret shows, bars, and taverns.

3. Best Caribbean Islands for Diving and Snorkeling

The Caribbean offers many opportunities for diving and snorkeling. Some of the most well liked locations include the islands of Bonaire, Trunk Bay in the Virgin Islands, Antigua, Grand Cayman, Turks & Caicos, and Virgin Gorda.

4. Best Caribbean Beaches

In addition to the more widely known white sand beaches, the Caribbean islands also boast pink sand and black sand beaches. Which would you like to experience?

The black sand beaches are found on the volcanic islands of the Caribbean. These include St. Lucia, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts, Nevis, and Dominica. Pink sand beaches are formed by fine, white sand mixed with flecks of red plankton. The most famous pink sand beach of the Caribbean is a three-mile stretch of sand located on an islet of Eluethera Island. Another favorite pink sand beach is located on Harbour Island on the Bahamas. A famous powdery white sand beach seven miles long is located on Grand Cayman. This beach is lined with condos and luxurious resorts. Anguilla, on the other hand, has 33 smaller white sand beaches and is still relatively undeveloped. Canouan, a remote and tiny island, is one of the The Grenadines. On this island you may find one of the most secluded stretches of powdery white sand in the Caribbean.

5. Best Caribbean Islands for Shopping

The Bahamas are famous for their Straw Market with handbags, woven mats, hats, and more. St. Lucia and St. Maartin/St. Martin have lots of duty free shops. St. Barts is somewhat like the south of France with sophisticated shops filled with French and Italian fashions and other luxury goods. Barbados has strong ties with Britain so you will find bargains on British goods such as bone china and crystal from England and Ireland. Other great shopping islands include Antigua and Aruba.

This is just a short list of the many possible choices you have for a Caribbean Christmas vacation over the holidays or another time of the year. For example, some islands are better choices than others for hiking, sailing, and all-inclusive vacation packages. Check back for more articles and great links for the best Caribbean island resources online to plan your trip.

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Airfares are going up. If you are hoping to travel to the Caribbean for the Christmas season the time to book your flights is NOW! This year is unlike any we’ve experienced before. Bargain rates for flights over the holidays may no longer exist but the airline situation may create some unexpected bargain prices for you on the islands if you know where to look. Or you may want to consider revising your plans to take a trip before the holidays. There are a number of things to keep in mind.

With the high price of fuel, travel to certain locations will be harder to come by as airlines cut back on the availability of seats for unprofitable routes. For the moment there seem to be an abundance of empty seats available to such places as Europe, Florida, and the Caribbean during September. However this will not last long. U.S. carriers are expected to retire many aircraft. By the holiday season prices will be much higher especially when you include the additional fees for checked bags, pets and pillows or blankets on flights.

Travel for Thanksgiving and Christmas have traditionally been two of the busiest travel times of the year. For now there are still seats for the holiday season but that won’t last long. Some airlines are adding flights to the most popular destinations in the Caribbean. Virgin Atlantic Airlines, with flights from London, just recently added five flights to Jamaica. JetBlue is offering more flights to the top spots in the Caribbean from the United States.

However, even the islands that traditionally have had the most flights, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and the Bahamas, are looking at a reduction in service overall. With fewer flights available, some of the islands may offer incentives to sway your choice of destination. It seems that Puerto Rico is actively pursuing this angle.

Unless you have a particular reason for needing to book your flight over the holidays and cost is not an issue, you can realize significant savings by traveling before the holidays or postponing your trip till after the high season ends in mid-April. If you have any flexibility, the month of September would be an excellent time to snap up the kind of bargain rate tickets for flights to the Caribbean that we may not see again for a long time, if ever.

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