Somethingfor everyone

From single-parent families to multi-generational groups, a Caribbean holiday will be filled with memorable experiences for families of all shapes and sizes

Life’s a beach

With its powder-soft sand beaches, warm and shallow waters and year-round sunshine, it’s little wonder the Caribbean is a firm favourite for family holidays.

Alongside the simple pleasures of building sandcastles and swimming, the region is blessed with magnificent coral reefs for diving and snorkelling, with mysterious shipwrecks that will make a child’s imagination run wild.

They’re also home to beaches that are internationallyrenowned for water sports, among them Bathsheba Beach, Barbados, for surfing; Cabarete in the Dominican Republic for kitesurfing; and magical natural phenomenon, like Grand Cayman’s Bioluminescent Bay.

Make a spLash

When it comes to waterparks, the Caribbean can point to some of the best in the world. A new aqua park at the 25-acre, fun-filled Five Islands in Trinidad is home to the Caribbean’s longest lazy river, a double wave pool and a dedicated water play zone for the little ones. Its Pirate’s Bay attraction alone features 13 slide experiences, a huge dumping bucket and numerous interactive spray features.

St Lucia’s Splash Island guarantees water-based fun for big and small on the inflatable obstacle-course, with a trampoline, climbing wall, monkey bars, swing, slide, hurdles and more.

In The Bahamas, The Royal at Atlantis, the Aquaventure water park has around 141 acres of pools and rides for a full day of fun, including the rip-roaring Power Tower – one that’s not for the fainthearted.

Go wiLd

Whether on land or sea, the region’s wildlife is a big draw, especially for smaller children who can brush up against a friendly fever of stingrays at Stingray City in the Cayman Islands and in Antigua, or get up close to turtles at the Cayman Turtle Centre.

St Maarten, the Dominican Republic and

Jamaica are just some of the islands where you can swim with dolphins. In Big Major Cay, one of 365 islands in Exuma in The Bahamas, you can even swim with the 20 or so pigs and piglets living an easy life. Whether young or old, hearts cannot fail to be won over by the mischievous green monkeys found in Barbados.

adrenaLin adventures

Active families will find plenty of attractions to get the heart racing.

At Jamaica’s Mystic Mountain, speed junkies can bobsled down a 1,000m long run or fly through the rainforest canopy on a zip line.

More zip line experiences are to be found on St. Kitts, Antigua, Grenada, Saint Lucia, St. Martin, and Trinidad. In Belize, combine the thrill of a zip line with cave tubing.

Take A Tour

Catch a ride on the St. Kitts Scenic Railway, otherwise known as the ‘Sugar Train’, past old sugarcane estates, small villages, farms, rainforests and, of course, fields of sugar cane. The views of the ocean and Mount Liamuiga are spectacular.

Part train journey and part bus ride, on the way you’ll also be treated to Caribbean folk songs from the St. Kitts Railway Choir. Cruise on a catamaran from Antigua to neighbouring Barbuda to the Codrington Lagoon National Park to see the one of the world’s largest colonies of frigate birds that live there among pristine mangrove lagoons. Or jump aboard a Jolly Roger Pirate Cruise in Bridgetown, Barbados, for a swashbuckling tour. On offer is entertainment fun, snorkeling, shipwrecks, fish and turtles, lunch and, for the adults, an open bar. You’ll go snorkelling among shipwrecks, explore offshore caves where buccaneers once hid their treasure, swing from the ropes and even walk the plank.

Where To Stay

From private villas with your own chef to all-inclusive resorts with kids clubs and activities for the whole family, all accommodation options are covered.

For extended families, the villas at the all-inclusive St. James’s Club in Antigua has two beaches, six tropical pools, a wide choice of dining options and an excellent complimentary kids club.

On a secluded 100-acre peninsula on the southeastern coast, it’s also a great base from which to explore the island.

At Atlantis in The Bahamas there are 35 restaurants, 11 pools (two especially for children) and a cinema experience with kidfriendly films screened daily. There’s also family yoga on the beach, a pottery studio and an underground maze recreating the ruined Lost Continent, with piranha! •

With its rich heritage, stunning landscapes, and enviable weather, the Caribbean is well represented in all types of media across the world, from 20th-century literature right through to modern day TV and films.

The Big Screen

Since as far back as 1957, when An Island in The Sun was filmed in Barbados and Grenada, the Caribbean has regularly played host to epic love stories, action thrillers, dramas and, of course, a pirate-themed blockbuster or two.

When Ian Fleming settled in Oracabessa Bay, Jamaica, to write his now best selling James Bond book series, little did he know that decades later fans would be able to stay in the very villa he called home.

The adaptations of his novels have seen film crews return to the Caribbean numerous times. For Dr No (1962), Sean Connery and the crew were drawn to places like Dunn’s River Falls, St. Ann and Ocho Rios in Jamaica. In GoldenEye (1995), Pierce Brosnan’s Bond played out a dramatic fight scene at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, and Daniel Craig’s Bond in CasinoRoyale (2006) spent time filming at The Ocean Club,

A Four Seasons Resort in The Bahamas.

Disney’s The Pirates of the Caribbean series was filmed across the region, showcasing St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica, Puerto Rico. More recently, The Lost City, starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, was filmed in the Dominican Republic and the Marvel sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, was filmed in Puerto Rico.

Television

The BBC comedy-crime drama Death in Paradise has been fuelling Brits with wanderlust ever since its fictional island of Saint Marie first graced our screens in 2011. Although the idyllic island doesn’t actually exist, fans can visit Guadeloupe, where the majority of the series is filmed, mainly in the charming coastal town of Deshaies.

Books

A wide selection of novels set in the region offer a taste of island life and explore important topics like colonisation and immigration.

Dominican-British author Jean Rhys’ WideSargassoSea (1966) was framed as a postcolonial and feminist prequel to Charlotte Bronte’s JaneEyre (1847) and tackles themes of race, Caribbean history