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The best hotels in the Caribbean
It's estimated there are over 250,000 hotel rooms dotted across the Caribbean Islands. Many of these fall into the supersized resort trope, where sprawling pools and buffet lines attract the winter sun crowds just looking to flop and drop. But there are diamond addresses scattered along these golden shores too, some secretive boltholes that are kept hush-hush by loyal fans. Others are grand dames with names that are recognised and revered around the world. For a shortlist of the top stays, these are the best hotels in the Caribbean to know about.
How we choose the best hotels in the Caribbean
Every hotel on this list has been selected independently by our editors and written by a Condé Nast Traveller journalist who knows the destination and has stayed at that property. When choosing hotels, our editors consider both luxury properties and boutique and lesser-known boltholes that offer an authentic and insider experience of a destination. We're always looking for beautiful design, a great location and warm service – as well as serious sustainability credentials. We update this list regularly as new hotels open and existing ones evolve.
Courtesy Jumby Bay IslandJumby Bay Island, Antigua
Featured on our 2023 Gold List of the best hotels in the world
Colourful is the best adjective for Jumby Bay. Emerald-green lizards dart up white-washed walls, tortoises come with red legs, iridescent hummingbirds hover over pink Mexican creepers, and yellow-chested bananaquits search for crumbs on breakfast tables. There are blindingly white sands to cross and turquoise waters to slip into for a world of plump orange starfish, yellow-tailed snappers, rays, and blue tang. All still vivid in my memory. Beneath all this shifting colour is the lush 300-acre private island that remains one of the most exclusive in the Caribbean. Its “no cars, no keys” policy brings a feeling of intimacy to the sensational villas, three restaurants, a spa (think Tata Harper), and the 28 suites (soon to be 40) that make up the hotel, all of which offer luxury as dazzling as the island’s colours. The generously sized suites come with a little entrance courtyard where a wicker chair swings, suspended, in the warm breeze. Terraces overlook the sea or are inset with a pool. Some bathrooms spill outside with vast tubs waiting under palm fronds. Step outside your room to enjoy Taittinger on tap (part of the inclusive rates, which also offer limitless water sports) or sip Antigua black daiquiris made with local black pineapple. Food served at the Estate House, once part of the original sugar plantation, brims with a sense of place. But the best experience has to be a rum tasting with the barman, Jimmy, which leads to serious Caribbean contentment. From about £1,888 per night. Mary Lussiana
Courtesy Cheval Blanc Isle De FranceCheval Blanc St-Barth, St Barts
Featured on our 2023 Gold List of the best hotels in the world
In a hidden corner of St Barts, down a steep and winding mountainous road, you come to a Gauguin-like canopy of lush green vegetation, beyond which the half-moon sandy perfection of Flamands beach reveals itself and the Cheval Blanc Isle de France reigns supreme. Low-built and quietly sprawling, the property was elegantly renovated following Hurricane Irma by Parisian design supremo Jacques Grange, whose interiors speak to a chic European aesthetic of quiet indulgences: linens and ikat prints; palettes of pale greens, blues, and pinks; and raffia, bamboo, and stone accents. The atmosphere is almost Parisian (Bulgari hosts a fashion show here, and there’s a Guerlain spa on the premises) but with a devil-may-care attitude. Young French culinary star Jean Imbert’s Creole-inspired menu at La Case (and laid-back beach restaurant La Cabane) is light but gastronomic, and the cocktails are sublime. I spend my lunches with feet in the sand at La Cabane, watching a parade of Birkin bag–carrying Upper East Side ladies power-walking along the beach, moguls on their phones doing business, and boho French girls running into the waves in tiny Eres bikinis. It reminds me of St.-Tropez’s Plage Pampelonne, but a lot less frenetic, and with an ambience that’s both relaxed and indulgent. My assigned butler WhatsApps me when my room is done or a spa appointment is due. But it’s my private yoga sessions in the garden’s pagoda with the late Alber Elbaz’s personal instructor, Nicolas Legrez, that I won’t forget in a hurry. From about £637. Vassi Chamberlain
Bronwyn KnightSandals Curaçao, Curaçao
Introduced into the Sandals vision by the late Founder Gordon "Butch" Stewart, Sandals Royal Curacao is the newest addition to the Sandals collection and the first to inhabit the C of the ABC islands. Formerly the Santa Barbara Resort Curaçao, the spot was renovated in 2021 and reopened for its official debut as an all-inclusive Sandals property in June 2022 with the party of a lifetime. A celebration of the rich and colourful culture of Curacao, the launch was an introduction to a new ‘island-first’ approach to hospitality, including dining incentives with local restaurants and the opportunity for guests in certain rooms to explore the island in a MINI Cooper.
With this in mind, the minutiae of luxury and the island’s heritage can be found in every inch of the 44 acre estate; from the colourful architecture – a nod to the capital of Willemstad – to the fusion of traditional Curacao flavours experienced at one of the eight restaurants or three food trucks on site. The 351 rooms and suites have been categorised by experience, most with unencumbered sea views or access to private pools. Opportunities to experience the island fully are there for the taking, though it's hard to resist staying put on the white sands of the private Santa Barbara beach or lounging under coconut leaf parasols. Megan Morris
Jeanne Le MennEden Rock, St Barth's
Featured on our 2022 Gold List of the best hotels in the world
From the small plane that flies you to the Caribbean island, the red roofs of Eden Rock in the middle of St Jean beach resemble butterflies clustering on a rock. St Barth’s is French, legally and spiritually, and a relaxed insouciance infuses every part of the hotel, shifting it romantically from the Americanised luxury nooks of other Antilles. You drift between the stepped levels: first the amber glow of Rémy’s Bar, then the pastels of the open-sided Sand Bar restaurant, where breeze-cooled guests eat under wicker monkeys hanging from the ceiling. And then, finally, the glorious beach with its red-and-white loungers and ‘frozé’ cart handing out slush-puppy rosé. The rocky setting means the bedrooms are forced into variety – some slick and glittery, with plunge pools and vast bathrooms; others calm, in sand-coloured rattan, with original art and books by Camus and Chandler.
Eden Rock was reborn after being smashed by Hurricane Irma in 2017, yet the hazy afterglow of a golden age remains – that air of debauched sophistication instilled by its founder, the roguish smuggler-adventurer Rémy de Haenen, and wafted by regulars such as Greta Garbo and Robert Mitchum. I love the breakfasts of perfect French toast, the lunchtime truffle croque monsieurs, the evening ginger Margaritas (I’ve yet to try the cryotherapy in the spa, but could be persuaded). And there are the parties, of course, when Eden Rock twirls at the heart of the island’s social scene. But I prefer the spaces in between, flitting like a butterfly myself from a sun-bed to a bar stool, watched over by Fabrice Moizan, perhaps the slickest hotelier in the Caribbean. This is a French expressionist work of light, water and raffish hedonism. Ruardidh Nicoll
For more options, see our pick fo the best hotels in St Barth's.
Ken HaydenRosewood Little Dix Bay, British Virgin Islands
Featured on our 2021 Gold List of the best hotels in the world
When Little Dix Bay opened in 1964, it was to a glittering three-day party of New York’s elite. The host was Laurance Rockefeller (grandson of oil tycoon John D Rockefeller), whose dream was to create a smart hideout based on the simplicity of a beachcomber lifestyle. An early advocate of conservation, he envisaged the hotel blending unobtrusively into the landscape, giving nature centre stage. Fast forward to today, and an eye-watering £140 million rebuild following Hurricane Irma, and that philosophy remains unchanged – despite the addition of every mod-con and a fleet of boats for easy access to neighbouring islets and deserted beaches. While starry guests continue to roll up, the laid-back vibe is worlds away from the glitz of Barbados.
Arrival by catamaran from Tortola airport shows off the wide bay in which hawksbill turtles feed, the half-mile of powder sands and the gardens throughout which 80 rooms are scattered. The beach is never more than a few steps away. But the heart of the property remains the Pavilion, whose irregular conical roofs have withstood every hurricane for 57 years. A well as the coppery bar and its display of 107 rums, it is home to two of the three restaurants – and this is where Rockefeller’s founding principle is most tastily expressed in produce from Little Dix’s own farm and other local ingredients conjured into Caribbean curries and seafood pots. As pioneers of eco-chic hospitality go, this grande dame has lost none of her mojo. Teresa Levonian Cole
Nick SmithCobblers Cove, Barbados
Featured on our 2021 Gold List of the best hotels in the world
Alan and Lady Elizabeth Godsal were ahead of their time. When the couple purchased a mansion on the Caribbean coast in 1968 with the intent to turn it into a hotel, little did they know that the property’s colour of choice would become today’s hottest shade. Now overseen by their son Hugh and his wife Sam, Cobblers Cove is filled with millennial-pink accents, from the retro, candy-cane-striped pool umbrellas to the Forties-style main building dubbed The Great House, where afternoon tea is served. There’s nothing ostentatious about the set-up, located on a skinny stretch of platinum beach (although sadly this part of the ocean is choppy, making it challenging to go for a swim).
With 40 bedrooms, the place is not especially large – two-storey cottages flank The Great House in a wide U-shape facing the sea – but it is dressed delightfully like a tropical country club. Little kitchenettes stocked with Barbadian chocolate, plantain chips and beer are cheery with pastel patterns, channelling a vintage vibe thanks to plenty of original Seventies island-made rattan furniture. And the hotel’s refreshed look, with fabrics designed to mimic the fronds and ferns in the lush gardens outside, is the culmination of a five-year update led by interiors expert Lulu Lytle of Soane Britain. In a world where people no longer dress up for dinner, guests here still throw on silk and pearls for lemon blinis and mahi-mahi caught by devoted fisherman Dennis ‘Barker’ Bovell – a fixture for the past four decades. If it’s not already clear, the ethos is low-key grace, hinged on quality that comes from supporting everything that’s local. Despite the many turbo-charged properties that dot this sweep of shore, Cobblers Cove remains cosy, family-owned and downright lovely. Kat Odell
For more options, see our pick of the best hotels in Barbados.
Belmond Cap Juluca, Anguilla
Featured on our 2021 Gold List of the best hotels in the world
Rainbows appear frequently on Anguilla, more so than anywhere else in the West Indies, which is why locals call it Rainbow City. So it comes as no surprise that Linda and Charles Hickox called their hotel Cap Juluca, named after the rainbow spirit of the indigenous Arawak people (who actually did find gold in these parts). It gained a loyal following throughout the 1980s and 90s; guests were seduced by the private villas dotting the shore – it’s the only place to stay on this mile-long stretch of pristine sand. When Belmond took the reins in 2017, the group knew it was on to a good thing. What it didn’t bank on was the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma just a few months later. But a top-to-toe renovation has seen the hotel restored to its former glory, and new spaces have been seamlessly integrated with the charm of the original. Greco-Moorish architecture in open-air living rooms and palm-lined terraces neatly frames views of the bay. At Maundays Club, turquoise mosaics lining the pool reflect the ocean, while the tables under the arches at Pimms restaurant are so close to the water’s edge that the red snapper could almost leap right onto the plate. And Rottet Studio’s design sees local heritage included on every surface, from the stone quarried at cliffs where petroglyphs left by the Arawaks were uncovered to the chairs that showcase traditional weaving styles. Every detail is considered here. Not exactly a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but not far off. Catherine Martin
Saba Rock, British Virgin Islands
Featured on our 2022 Hot List of the best new hotels in the world
It may be a tiny speck on the map, covering just one acre and with only nine rooms, but Saba Rock gained our editor's attention as one of the hottest new hotel openings in the Caribbean for 2022. Following the devastation wrought by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the beloved island property was brought back to its former glory with nautical designs, fresh Caribbean flavours, wellness experiences, and water sports galore. Rooms here follow a faultless formula – big picture windows and sliding glass doors overlooking swaying palms and turquoise water. If you can swing it, the two spacious suites are well worth the splurge for their sprawling terraces, picturesque panoramas, and deep-soaking tubs. Rooms from £440. Sallie Lewis
Rosewood Le Guanahani St Barth's
Featured on our 2022 Hot List of the best new hotels in the world
Sprawled along an 18-acre peninsula overlooking Marigot Bay on the so-called ‘other side’ of the island, the recently reopened Rosewood Le Guanahani is a wonderfully secluded slice of St Barth's. Cottages are discreet with private entrances, while many of the suites have private pools. All are enveloped by lazily drooping palm trees and other local fauna, with an endless breeze wafting across the beachside infinity pool and into Beach House St. Barth, a relaxed restaurant where Caribbean flavours are given a Mediterranean twist. This is still the best hotel on the island for watersports, from stand-up paddle-boarding to deep-sea fishing and kitesurfing (especially from December to June during the alizé wind).