Search results for "caribbean"

Nude Beach. The very mention of these two words often arouses feelings of titillation, embarrassment, outrage or even a combination of the three. For the thousands of people involved in the naturist movement worldwide, however, the idea of a nude beach seems, well, natural. After all, we all come into this world wearing only our birthday suits. Nude and topless beaches first became popular along the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of France in the 1950s. Since then, several beaches from Crete to the Caribbean have become "clothing optional." Below is a list of some of the best stretche...

St. Lucia is the sort of island that travellers to the Caribbean dream about--a small, lush tropical gem that is still relatively unknown. One of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located midway down the Eastern Caribbean chain, between Martinique and St. Vincent, and north of Barbados. St. Lucia is only 27 miles long and 14 miles wide, with a shape that is said to resemble either a mango or an avocado (depending on your taste). The Atlantic Ocean kisses its eastern shore, while the beaches of the west coast owe their beauty to the calm Caribbean Sea.

GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION Cancun, or “Nest of Serpents” in the Mayan language, is Mexico’s world famous tourist resort. Its sophisticated infrastructure, variety of top quality tourism services and diversity of attractions has turned it into the Caribbean’s premier destination. Cancun is visited by more than three million people from all over the world each year and contributes more than one third of Mexico’s tourism generated revenues. Embedded in northern Quintana Roo, a state located in southeast Mexico, Cancun is a hub linking the state’s archaeological sites with those of the nei...

Antigua is an island that has always lived by the wind. In the late 18th century, when Horatio Nelson was still a captain, he made the island Great Britain's most important Caribbean naval center. Today the superbly restored dockyard that bears his name at English Harbour is home base for April's Sailing Week, the Caribbean's premier yachting event – and its most boisterous beach party. As for beaches, Antigua's promoters like to say that the island has 365 of them, one for every day of the year. Certainly there are more beaches than you could ever stroll during a long holi...

You’ve probably know Antigua: resorts aplenty, more than 300 beaches, a favorite with sailors… But what about Barbuda? In the West Indian dual nation of Antigua and Barbuda, she is the forgotten stepchild – and for some sophisticated travelers, that’s all the more reason to count their blessings. Barbuda is actually about half the size of her glamorous sibling (and only a 20-minute flight away). However, as sister islands go, A & B are worlds apart. Barbuda has more than its share of glorious (and virtually deserted) beaches, but most of the island is low and scrubby, and the small populat...

Many visitors to Puerto Rico never leave the streets and plazas of San Juan, and that’s understandable, because this most beautiful of Caribbean cities can charm you in a way few tropical getaways can. Walk along the narrow cobblestone lanes and gaze at the wrought-iron balconies, archways, and plazas, and you are in an 18th-century Spanish colonial city, alive with antique shops, art galleries, and small cafיs. By night, this is a city that lives by its after-hours diversions, set to the rhythms of hip-swiveling Salsa. But there are also other, less familiar Puerto Ricos. Sun-and-sand love...

In the days when sugar was the engine that drove the economy of the West Indies, Nevis was known as the "Queen of the Caribbees. " That was a tribute in part to the island's natural beauty, and also to the glittering social life in the plantation houses – a time epitomized by the courtship of a dashing young British naval officer, Horatio Nelson, and his soon-to-be-bride, Fanny Nisbet. What's remarkable about Nevis is that it has lost neither its natural heritage nor its sense of history. Until recently those plantation houses, transformed into stylish, intimate country inns, set th...

In the late 18th century, the massive fortress of Brimstone Hill was known as "The Gibraltar of the West Indies." Built of black volcanic rock (then called "brimstone"), it was held at times by both the English and French, but was a neglected, almost forgotten legacy when efforts to restore it began in 1965. Today the fort, with one of grandest views in all the Caribbean, is a national park and the island's historical centerpiece. But you don't have to be a history buff to get caught up in charms of St. Kitts. This is mostly a low-key island, but shoppers can survey duty-free barga...

Although 350 islands make up the Archipielago de los Canarreos, Isla de la Juventud is by far the biggest of them and this region is administered from the island's capital, Nueva Gerona. Much of the island is flat and the Cienaga de Lanier is Cuba's second-largest swamp. Isla de la Juventud is the least populated region of Cuba, with most people living in the north of the island. Once known as Parrot Island, it was a hideout for pirates like Francis Drake, John Hawkins, Thomas Baskerville and Henry Morgan, and it inspired Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. The local economy ...

Stroll at sunset down the Malecón, the timeless waterfront wall on the Havana waterfront, and you begin to get the feeling that time itself stopped in this city in the 1950s. It’s not just the old American cars in the streets or the exquisite colonial architecture with peeling paint in Old Havana. Instead, it’s a sense that the world of modern tourism has somehow largely bypassed the Caribbean’s largest island. And that’s an island with some of the region’s finest beaches (Varadero, with 12 miles of palm-lined white-sand, is as close as Cuba comes to a resort area), untapped diving ...