Where to Stay in the Caribbean

Whatever you want to do on a tropical vacation — play on the beach with the kids (or with your mate), enjoy a romantic honeymoon, go get to a place where the cell phone reception is null — you'll find it on one of the Caribbean islands. We don't want you to waste precious hours searching for the best lodging options, so we've done all the legwork for you. Consider the following.

The best places to get away from it all

If your idea of a vacation is solitude and no cell phone signal, these options might entice you:

• Guavaberry Spring Bay Vacation Homes (Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands): On the idyllic island of Virgin Gorda, the second island of the British Virgin chain, stands Guavaberry Spring Bay Vacation Homes at Spring Bay, with 18 redwood-built hexagonal houses in a tropical setting of flowers and shrubs. Lodging here is like being in your own private little Caribbean villa. An on-site commissary sells provisions for your home-cooked meals.

• Morritt's Tortuga Club and Resort (Grand Cayman): Tucked away in the eastern sector of this island, 42km (26 miles) from the international airport, stands this plantation-style escapist's retreat. Living is condo-style here on 3.2 beachfront hectares (8 acres). Because the area is known for its excellent diving, many scuba divers check in here — but the resort is suitable for nondivers as well, with its two pools (one with a waterfall) and comfortably furnished one- and two-bedroom town houses, each with a fully equipped kitchen.

• Banana Shout Resort (Negril, Jamaica): If you want your Caribbean life to be laid-back, like it was in the 1950s, you might head to this offbeat resort in fun-loving Negril. Set on 1 hectare (2-1/2 acres) of tropical gardens with waterfalls, it isn't for the faint of heart. You can find the resort in West End, where you can still see hippies who arrived in the 1960s and never left — nor changed their flower-child garb. Your host is Detroit-born Mark Conklin, a psychologist who wrote a racy and hilarious novel of local life called Banana Shout.

The best honeymoon resorts

For some romantic quality time with your new life mate, consider these:

• Sandy Lane Hotel & Golf Club (St. James, Barbados): The classiest resort in the southern Caribbean, Sandy Lane is a celebrity-haunted retreat of the rich and famous. On the Gold Coast of Barbados, this place is clearly the star attraction as resorts go. As soon as a honeymoon couple — or any guest, for that matter — enters this coral-stone Palladian-style mansion, they're pampered and coddled in supreme comfort. Romantic couples generally request one of the sumptuous suites that come with luxurious bathrooms and even their own personal butler.

• Sandals Dunn's River Villagio Beach & Spa (Ocho Rios, Jamaica): An estimated three-fourths of the guests here are young honeymooners (make that male/female romantics only — other couplings are strictly prohibited in the Sandals chain). One of the better members of the Sandals all-inclusive chains taking over Jamaica, this North Coast resort opens onto a wide beach of white sands. Complete honeymoon packages are available, the price fluctuating with the season.

• Horned Dorset Primavera (Rincón, Puerto Rico): The most special and romantic inn on the West Coast of Puerto Rico is both secluded and elegant, a 52-room bastion of luxury, taste, and refinement where two people can be alone and undisturbed until they're ready to emerge again into the real world. A Relais & Châteaux property, this pocket of posh is set in an enchanted garden with a large swimming pool. Bedrooms are custom-designed and fitted with four-poster beds. Opt for one of the delicious suites facing the sea.

The Best Family Resorts

For some fun with the family, consider these resorts:

• Occidental Grand Aruba (Aruba): Opening right onto Aruba's fabled Palm Beach, this handsomely landscaped all-inclusive resort has long been a family favorite. Its children's programs for ages 4 to 12 are among the best on the island and are well supervised and planned. Families frolic daily around the mammoth free-form pool with its cascading waterfalls — a Disney-like setting. Kids delight in the iguanas roaming the property, who are looking for a handout.

• Turtle Beach (Barbados): The flagship of a London-based chain, this all-inclusive resort is the most family oriented on this populous island in the southern Caribbean. Many families book package deals here to take advantage of the resort's Kids Club (ages 3-11), which is the best on the island and includes such fun activities as treasure hunts, painting, and safari-style island expeditions. Throughout the year, the resort offers packages for children. In the off season, for example, one child (age 2-12) stays free, and any others pay half the adult rate.

• Little Dix Bay (Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands): This 98-room posh resort opens onto a half-moon-shaped private bay with a sandy beach, occupying a 200-hectare (500-acre) protected preserve. Some families book a return every year. Not only does it offer the best children's program in the British Virgin Islands, but Little Dix Bay is also a luxuriously comfortable place to stay, filled with many diversions for any age. Families delight in taking up residence in the two-story rondavels designed like Tiki huts on stilts.