The best hotels in the Caribbean for winter sun in 2025
Warm nights, beautiful beaches, a turquoise sea and hit-the-spot rum cocktails... A trip to the Caribbean needs little selling, but where should you stay? The region is home to some of the world's most glamorous hotels, some with long, celebrity-studded histories, others more recent openings with cool credentials. Life centres around the white sand beaches and tranquil pools at these civilised hotels, but visitors also come for the lively nightlife, spice-loving menus and punchy rum cocktails. Active travellers will find plenty to amuse them close by, whether tastes run to hiking the rainforest-clad mountains, snorkelling in the coral reefs no comma or touring local rum distilleries. Back on site, most of the best hotels have excellent spas where the stresses of your usual life can be swept away with massages and treatments. Nigel Tisdall, a frequent visitor and travel expert, picks ten stylish and characterful Caribbean hotels to visit in the coming months.
The best hotels in the Caribbean
Nigel D. Lord1/10Jamaica Inn, Jamaica
Welcoming guests since the 1950s, family-owned Jamaica Inn rests beside a small private beach near Ocho Rios with elegant Wedgwood blue and white buildings framing a croquet lawn determined to defy the Caribbean climate. Its pedigree is impeccable – this is where Marilyn Monroe honeymooned and Winston Churchill loved to paint, and each winter regulars check in to enjoy definitive cocktails mixed by old retainer staff and dinner under the stars in a smart frock. All 52 suites have a sea view and there's a spa with comprehensive treatments that include body scrubs with a choice of nine local ingredients such as coffee, lemongrass, pimento and CBD oil. Expect to fall in love with Shadow V, the latest in a dynasty of black labradors that have been lolling around the gardens – and at times riding on paddleboards – since the 1970s.
Address: Main Street, Ocho Rios, Jamaica
Double rooms from £390 per night with breakfast.
2/10Sugar Beach, A Viceroy Resort, St Lucia
Bang between St Lucia's magnificent World Heritage-listed twin peaks, the Pitons, Sugar Beach is a winning mix of scenic location and arty, fun hotel. Set within a 100 acre former plantation, it's a smart pick if you're an active sort who fancies climbing Gros Piton (start early), snorkelling in the adjacent marine reserve and keeping fit in the recently-added Racquet Club offering tennis, padel and pickleball. The resort also works well for romance and relaxation thanks to a decent-size beach and serene white guest rooms with king-size four-poster beds and butler service. Further treats are a huge pool, the treehouse-style Rainforest Spa and an engrossing modern art collection that yomps from Warhol to Banksy with a companion audio tour.
Address: Val Des Pitons, Forbidden Beach, La Baie de Silence, St Lucia
Double rooms from £1,328 per night with breakfast.
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3/10Cap Juluca, a Belmond Hotel, Anguilla
Connoisseurs of dream beaches regularly doff their sun hats to the crescent of perfect sand that is Maundays Bay. Here, in splendid isolation, rests the bright white, Moorish-style Cap Juluca, set on a spacious beachfront site with 108 rooms and suites in a smart and cheerful style. Originally opened in 1988 but now masterfully zhuzhed up by Belmond, it is pure heaven for anyone who likes to wake up to bright sunshine then walk straight into a warm sea enlivened by divebombing pelicans. Culinary highs include classy Italian and Peruvian restaurants and a beach shack serving lobster rolls and jalapeño margaritas. Equipped with seven treatment rooms and a rooftop infinity pool, the Guerlain Spa offers sophisticated therapies ranging from a 90-minute longevity facial to a tai chi class and sound bath.
Address: Maundays Bay, 2640, Anguilla
Double rooms from £1,345 per night with breakfast.
Romain Reglade4/10Eden Rock St-Barths, St Barths
Created in 1953 by an intrepid French aviator, lipstick-red Eden Rock is the place to stay on St Barths if you like to be at the heart of the party. Set on a rocky promontory in Baie de St Jean, it's part of the Oetker Collection and has long-drawn an A-list crowd as suites honouring Howard Hughes and Greta Garbo attest. Regular visitors, known as 'Rockers', include Tom Hanks and Kate Moss but there's no velvet rope snottiness – just lively people wanting to have fun, deep pockets essential. Add in a restaurant overseen by Jean-Georges Vongerichten, public spaces by Martin Brudnizki Design Studio and 37 rooms with a restful, seaside luxe style and good times are assured. Crowning all this is the Eden Spa featuring Dr Barbara Sturm skincare and a high-tech medical centre offering hydrafacials and bodysculpting.
Address: Baie de Saint Jean, 97133, St Barthélemy
Double rooms from £817 per night with breakfast.
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5/10Kamalame Cay, The Bahamas
The glamorous way to arrive at Kamalame Cay is with COCO Bahama Seaplanes, touching down by the beach in a Cessna C208 brightly painted with hummingbirds. Just a 25 minute hop west from Nassau, this privately-owned, low-rise paradise on the east coast of Andros has 22 all-white beach cottages and bungalows sprinkled along the shore. There's a pool, overwater spa and two restaurants with a breakfast basket delivered to your doorstep every morning. Stretching for three miles, the cay makes it easy to feel close to nature being bordered by a bird-rich lagoon and the world's third largest barrier reef. Be prepared for utter peace, romantic picnics and incredible stars.
Address: Great Barrier Reef, Andros, The Bahamas
Double rooms from £501 per night with breakfast.
6/10Calabash, Grenada
Run with devotion by the Garbutt family for over 30 years, Calabash provides the perfect introduction to this charming and relatively undeveloped island. 30 elegantly composed suites rest beside lawns and a small beach in Lance aux Epines. There's complimentary yoga and a spa with treatments that include a Caribbean Rescue Massage while excursions can be arranged to learn about Grenada's impressive rum, spices, chocolate and tropical gardens. Being a Relais and Châteaux property dining well is a given with a choice of three restaurants including one inspired by the Japanese izakaya (informal bar). If you like a hotel with decorum, not to mention complimentary afternoon tea, look no further.
Address: Lance Aux Epines, Saint Georgeʼs, Grenada
Double rooms from £645 per night with breakfast and airport transfers.
© nick @nicksmithphotography.com7/10Cobblers Cove, Barbados
Sam de Terán, designer and co-owner of this family-run boutique hotel near Speightstown, never stops adding fresh treats to this Barbados icon. One is High Spirits, a small recipe book of "easy, elegant cocktails" that she created because "these are mostly written by men and their drinks are way too sweet". It's an impulsive gesture that is so very Cobblers, exemplifying the personal touches that make this child-free, 40 suite beachfront property dating from the 1940s such a charmer. With interiors by Soane Britain and bespoke handmade tiles commissioned from Bert & May, the style is both glamorous and easygoing – think colourful screen-printed linens and rattan chairs, jasmine facials and seersucker bathrobes, a Sunday afternoon barbecue with lobster and a saxophonist.
Address: Cobblers Cove, Road View, Speightstown, St. Peter, Barbados
Double rooms from £605 per night with breakfast.
Edgardo Contreras8/10La Samanna, a Belmond Hotel, St Martin
Split between Dutch (St Maarten) and French (St Martin) sides, this topsy-turvy island is an entertaining curiosity with the Gallic half decidedly more attractive – particularly if you check into this 76-room Mediterranean-style resort overlooking the mile-long white sands of Baie Longue. Here fine dining is to the fore with a formidable buffet breakfast and the Martinique-born chef Marcel Ravin, who has previously garnered two Michelin stars, creating curiosity-inspiring dishes such as a sea urchin and caviar taglioni. Don't miss the subterranean wine cellar, which is like being transported back to a Bordeaux château, and the art gallery devoted to the veteran Caribbean Impressionist painter Sir Roland Richardson.
Address: Baie Longue, Terres Basses, 97064, St Martin
Double rooms from £761 per night with breakfast.
9/10The Inn at English Harbour, Antigua
Set beside Galleon Beach, in the southeast of the island, this refined, 31 suite property comes with spacious lawns, a large pool, two restaurants and a small spa. A highlight is the complimentary water-taxi service across to English Harbour where you can explore the World Heritage-listed Nelson's Dockyard and follow coastal trails. With king-size four-poster beds and elegant bathrooms, this is a place for extreme relaxing – only children aged ten and over are welcome and there is no poolside music – but there is a live band some nights. Being Italian-owned, menus in the hilltop Terrace Restaurant reflect the cuisine of that country and use produce from the on-site organic garden, while a small boutique stocks well-chosen designer clothes and accessories.
Address: Freeman's Bay, No 1, English Harbour, St Paul, Antigua, Antigua and Barbuda
Double rooms from £738 per night with breakfast.
10/10Peter Island, British Virgin Islands
Reopened in 2024 after a seven-year, hurricane-induced closure, this soaring private island resort lies south of Tortola and is an uplifting, luxurious escape where you still feel close to nature. Covering 1,800 acres with five beaches, two pools, an excellent steakhouse and an extensive spa, this is a one-stop paradise with 52 smartly-appointed rooms facing the never-busy sands of Deadman's Beach where you may well find yourself swimming with a passing turtle. A favourite activity at the end of the day is to take a shuttle up to the lofty Sunset Loop for rum cocktails and a panoramic view over the neighbouring islands, while activities include pickleball courts, hiking and boat trips from the 35-slip marina.
Address: Peter Island, British Virgin Islands.
Double rooms from £922 per night with breakfast.
