Vibe: Visitors to the Petite Anse are after peace and quiet. Guests really fit in with the locals, who drop in for a chat, a drink or a meal. This is a good honeymoon spot, and a great place to escape to after you’ve spent some touristy time around the southern peninsula and in the fancier resorts of St. George’s.

Rooms: Eleven stand-alone, air-conditioned bungalows feature decks or terraces and hammocks to fall asleep in. Wooden flooring and simple colonial-style wooden furniture is unfussy and functional. Canopied beds have netting to swirl around you, though a steady ocean breeze here keeps the bugs away. Spacious ensuite bathrooms are more open to the elements and to the front deck. Two rooms in the main part of the hotel are also well-equipped and comfortable.

THINGS TO DO: IN GRENADA
TASTE TO TRY: GRENADA GASTRONOMY

F&B: The European-inspired dining room is a destination restaurant, with many locals stopping in, elevating the insider experience. Fruit and vegetables come from the owners’ gardens or are carefully sourced from regional farmers. Fish is sourced from local anglers. The menus change daily and also include steaks, chops, chicken and fresh salads—and homemade ice cream. A traditional breakfast of fried bread and salted fish will stick to your ribs. A lounge area is equipped with a library and stacks of board games to while away rainy afternoons.

Extras: Annie is famous for her love of animals, which roam the complex and become fast friends. She sometimes rides down from her nearby plantation house atop Darius the donkey. I played with a mischievous teenaged cat for a half-hour in my room each night at turndown until he got bored and wandered off.

Off-Site: This little retreat is miles away from the neighbours and that’s exactly how you want it. The hotel looks out to Ronde Island and Carriacou, and their surrounding little Lower Grenadine islands. The resort is a six-minute walk from the beaches of Sauteurs Bay. In the car, you’re six kilometres from Levera National Park, 11 kilometres from Belmont Estate with its plantation tours and museum, and 45 kilometres from Maurice Bishop International Airport.

Rate: $$

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Vibe: Nicely dressed, mostly young Canadians, Americans, English and Europeans co-mingle at the Ocean Two breakfast buffet and later in the pool. Say hello to lots of young couples and honeymooners, some LGBTQ, fun-loving packs of special-occasion celebrants, a few families, some multigenerational, not a lot of kids. Everybody loves a rum punch, I noticed. The front desk is absolutely razor sharp.

THINGS TO DO: IN BARBADOS

Rooms: Traditional mahogany furniture and contemporary furnishings dress up clean and comfortable rooms, equipped with TVs, rainfall showers and furnished balconies. Some rooms have whirlpool tubs. Big one- and two-bedroom suites also have full kitchens (with big fridges) and living/dining areas—really these are like small apartments. My suite came with a little de-humidifier, which was greatly appreciated.

F&B: Ocean Two keeps it simple with just one open-air restaurant steps from the beach and pool serving a breakfast buffet, lunch and dinner. The food and beverage program is overseen by chefs who also lead the kitchens at Sea Breeze Beach House and South Beach Hotel. The restaurant and swim-up share the same bar, but the real action is in the expansive lobby lounge and onyx bar of Oasis, which runs from the front desk straight out to the pool. Swooping, pillow-laden banquettes and basket chairs lend a patio feel. A rooftop terrace and plunge pool is a good spot to watch the sun go down on your day.

TASTE TO TRY: COU-COU

Extras: Ocean Two is the perfect size, a Goldilocks medium, neither sprawling nor puny. It has its own little stretch of beach and a pool split into two sections, one long enough to swim laps. But my most favourite touch is retro: the big, metal, plush pool loungers reminiscent of a Golden Girls lanai. They just don’t make them like that anymore. A 24-hour gym works off the calories from all the rice and beans.

Off-Site: Ocean Two is steps from Dover Beach on the Caribbean Sea along the south west coast of Barbados in the busy hotel-heavy Saint Lawrence Gap area. Both the capital of Bridgetown and the airport are about a 25-minute drive away. A strip of casual restaurants and bars is just a five-minute walk away—you can stumble home.

Rate: $$$

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Vibe: You know that bubbling-under house music soundtrack that sounds like nothing and never ends? That. The CHIC Punta Cana is rather a scene, but you don’t have to participate if you don’t want to. A big casino with Blackjack, Roulette and slot machines is open from noon until 3 a.m. This is balanced out with a Detox Oxygen Bar that serves recreational oxygen shots and healthy drinks.

Rooms: The 320 rooms at the CHIC Punta Cana are super modern, mostly all white with black trim and purple light. That sounds like the ’90s, but it’s actually fun; you feel like you’re starring in a Disaronno TV commercial.

F&B: The à la carte restaurants are an interesting mix: Italian, Japanese, Middle Eastern and steak house, all lavishly decorated and trying really hard. There’s a giant round bar between the lobby and the casino and a sports bar cum nightclub combo that also has billiards. This is good if you want to escape the heat for a couple of hours and watch the game, whatever your game is.

Extras: The Diamond Club upgrade is worth the splurge, as they lay it on thick: butler service, better room-service menus, private check-in lounge, exclusive pool and beach areas, and a Club Lounge that you should not pooh-pooh, because this is where all the nicer booze is. But the Diamond Club kicker is access to the glass-walled, mosaic-tiled Mermaid Pool.

Off-Site: Try to make it over to the coast of Bavaro to soak up the surf vibe and hop on a catamaran for a few hours. You can snorkel in the Cortesito Reef and relax in the natural pools. These are party boats, so bring a fit liver.

Rate: $$$

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Besides the requisite water sports, including great snorkelling and diving, Cabo San Lucas has plenty of outdoor adventure, plus a marina full of boats waiting to cast off for a secluded beach. This is also where more than a few Hollywood celebrities venture down to when they need a break from the limelight, so celebrity-spotting is also a regular pastime.

Don’t be afraid to step outside the all-inclusive resort. Cabo is not only brimming with excellent restaurants and lounges, it’s also a really safe place to wander around, even at night. Cap it all off with some of the most amazing sunsets you can imagine, and you’ve got a date made in paradise.

Visit the Arch. The tourist brochures weren’t lying when they touted the famous arch, El Arco at Land’s End, as a sight to remember. This is on the very tip of the Baja Peninsula where the Pacific Ocean meets the Gulf of California (a.k.a. the Sea of Cortez). Hop on a glass-bottom boat or your preferred watercraft and breeze on over to the end of the world. A popular spot for sea lions, this sheltered neck of the bay is where can sink your toes into the sand of Lover’s Beach or hit the water for a snorkel. Take a quick walk to the Pacific side of the peninsula to watch the waves crash onto Divorce Beach—just don’t dwell on it for too long.

TASTE TO TRY: SANGRITA

Find calmer waters. While the ocean here is notorious for it’s riptides, there are many bays and secluded strips with calmer waters perfect for snorkelling. The thing to do is find a touring outfit that specializes in zodiac-type inflatable watercraft that can zip along the water at 50 mph, stopping at various spots for a snorkel. Some of these beach-hopping adventures wind up on a floating restaurant near the marina for lunch.

Go for the whales. If you can work in your visit around March, that’s the best time to marvel at the humpback whales that wander by Los Cabos in droves, often with calves in tow. You’ll also see sea lions and pods of dolphins that seem to like all the attention they get. Pontoon craft can put you as close to the action as possible, with some tour boats offering hydrophone listening technology that lets you listen in on the whale song.

ME Cabo is gorgeous. Relax in comfort with a cool beach club vibe and really the only swimmable beach in town.

MEBYMELIA.COM
VISITLOSCABOS.TRAVEL

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And just 40 minutes south from Cancun, the city of Playa del Carmen (population 150,000) sits near the middle of the Riviera, opposite the island of Cozumel. Calm, cool and collected, the vibe is assuredly unhurried. And whether you’re touring around, enjoying the water, hunting for souvenirs or just sitting in a chair, you’ll find great people, sublime scenery and amazing food.

Drag the main drag. Avenida Quinta (Fifth Avenue) is the main pedestrian strip, where you can get your shop on any time of the day or night. Hundreds of restaurants, bars and stores line this little main drag, catering to the daily influx of tourists popping off cruise ships for a poke around town. They dock near the south end of Fifth Avenue, making it more touristy; stick to the north end for some peace and quiet, plus a better quality of both shopping and dining.

Do a day trip. While sitting in a chair staring at the surf has it’s benefits, block off a day to rent a car for a drive to Tulum, and a visit to both the 13th-century ruins and the surrounding beaches. The only Mayan city built on a coastline, the Tulum pre-hispanic ruins are ringed by a limestone wall seven metres thick, with the prominent castle sitting at the top of the limestone bluffs. This is a very popular tourist site, so try to get there as close to opening time as possible (8 a.m.) to avoid the throngs and take advantage of the best sunlight of the day for your photos.

ALSO VISIT: COZUMEL

Check out the reef. Scuba diving put Playa del Carmen on the map. It was just a sleepy little fishing town until a ferry service began from there to the island of Cozumel, one of the best places to dive in the world. The Great Mesoamerican Reef, which stretches 725 kilometres from Cancun south to the Bay Islands of Honduras, is the world’s second largest reef. It marks the spot for surveying 150 varieties of reef fish and 100 species of coral.

Swim in a cave. Freshwater sinkholes, called cenotes, make for a fun afternoon of crystal-clear diving or snorkelling in and around caves where the visibility can reach up to 125 metres year-round.

Learn something. The Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, at 1.3 million acres, is the largest protected area in the Mexican Caribbean, and includes the 23 archeological sites of the Maya civilization. Promoting ecosystem conservation and the sustainability of natural resources, the Centro Ecológico champions low-impact tourist activities, while educating visitors about the region at the same time. Pasttimes include flyfishing, kayaking, “ponga” boat tours and more, and you can even stay at the centre in deluxe, eco-friendly cabins.

VISITMEXICO.COM

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Twisting around sand dunes and scrubland in a 4×4 with the tires deflated for better traction is a surreal experience, like you’re auditioning for The Amazing Race. Then, the town of Jericoacoara appears out of nowhere, popping out from of behind the dunes.

About 300 km northwest of Fortaleza in the Brazilian state of Ceará, Jericoacoara Beach, population 1,200, was once a simple fishing village without electricity, roads or telephones. Now, it’s a full-on beach retreat, complete with kite and wind surfing, dune buggies and drivers to hire, surfing lessons to take, sand boards to rent for $1 an hour, palapas to sit under and beer to drink.

The town’s tourism boom is fairly recent history: Visitors started arriving in 1985; surfers lured by the calm seas and high waves. Electricity followed in 1998, and the region became a national park in 2002. Because there are still no roads; all the supplies for each and every hotel and business is trucked in over the dunes. A medical helicopter is on hand for emergencies and plans for an airport are in the works.

MORE BRAZIL: CHAPADA DIAMANTINA

Visit the rocks. The stone arch at Pedra Furada is the photo-op-friendly rock formation but the real significance of the rock sites is their cave paintings dating to 12,000 BP. Archaeologists put the rock shelters at this place at more than 40,000 years old. (Fuck you, Clovis people.)

Hop in a dune buggy. Short hops by 4×4 are the order of the day. Check out the Lazy Tree and Dunas de Tatajuba.

Visit other beaches. At nearby Lagoa do Paraíso, a freshwater lagoon about 20 minutes away, a chilled-out vibe prevails, quiet and unfussy, rather bohemian. This is the best beach club in the area, the perfect spot to sip your caipirinha, Brazil’s national cocktail. Visit Lagoa do Amâncio and Buraco Azul (the Blue Hole) for more open space.

Do not miss sunset. Make sure you’re back in Jericoacoara before nightfall, when everybody congregates on the giant Sunset Dune at the water’s edge west of town to watch the sun sink behind the sea, the horseback riders and the determined sand boarders. This is also where you can watch the spins and kicks of kids performing the capoeira, a Brazilian martial art that dates back to the 16th century. 

On your way out of town, you can understand why the wild donkeys—once domestic pack animals for the fishermen—never left this place. You won’t want to either.

INTREPIDTRAVEL.COM
VISITBRASIL.COM

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