joanne_76

I’m reading these boards and you all are so knowledgeable, wondering if you can help me decide where to go.

My fiancé and I are planning our honeymoon for mid November and wanted to plan it in the Carribbean. We are trying to find an island that has the shopping, nice restaurants, clubs/bars, luxurious accommodations and beautiful beaches. We definitely need to find a place with a good nightlife.

Then we would like to spend a few days in a island that is a little more private and quiet.

I have researched myself and came up with the Westin in St Maarten for our first part of our trip and then maybe Turks & Caicos or BVI for the 2nd part of our trip.

Any suggestions?

virginia

i can only speak for t&c. i love this island but there is virtually no shopping or nightlife. stunning white sand beaches and some excellent restaurants. good snorkeling and great diving. depending on your version of luxury you could look at point grace, grace bay club, turks and caicos club, the somerset or villa renaissance. le vele is ultra modern. all directly on grace bay beach. or just off provo is parrot cay resort - very secluded..
oh yes, and for really big bucks on provo is amanyara. not on grace bay but in a beautiful spot - assuming you like the flatter drier coral based islands. (coral islands are the ones that have the gorgeous soft white sand that is always cool to walk on)

RoamsAround

You are going to find it rather difficult to get from St. Martin to the Turks & Caicos as you'd first have to make your way back to Miami for the connecting flight to Provo in the T&C. You'll spend at least one full day travelling between those islands and you might possibly have to overnight on route.

Since you are looking to spend "a few days" on one island and a few days on another you should look at destinations where the island you visit are in close proximity to one another. First time visitors to the Caribbean are sometimes under the mistaken impression that the islands are all close together and they are linked by a "mass transit" system of ferries and small planes which is not really the case. Ferries tend to link islands that are only a few miles apart and island hopper planes are needed for longer distances. The thing is there are not all that many flights and not every island is serviced by every regional carrier. To put things in perspective Providenciales (where the main airport is in the T&C's) is well over 750 miles from St. Martin. A ferry (assuming there was one which there is not) would take about 4 days to make the trip and it would be very uncomfortable due to rough waters in the open ocean.

So much for the geography lesson. Now for some useful hints. If you want to visit St. Martin you'll find it much easier to spend the second half of your trip on Anguilla (an excellent choice since it is so much different from At. Martin) or on St. Barth's. Both of these places can be reached in 30 to 60 minutes by ferry or under 15 minutes by airplane. Another group of islands that lend them selves to island hopping are the British Virgin Islands and/or the US Virgin Islands. St. Kitts and Nevis are in close proximity to each other but they are very similar destinations. You can move easily between Antigua and Barbuda. If you were to stay in Puerto Rico you can easily get to Vieques or Culebra for a change of pace.

KVR

Based on your criteria, I would say check out Aruba and Curacao. Aruba has everything you described and then you can find flights to Curacao for something quiter. I would get a TA to help schedule inter-Island flights so you don't spend precious vacation time sitting in airports.

blamona

Combo St. Martin and Anguilla would be perfect for you.

Exactly what you seek-active fun island (st. Martin) quiet private island (Anguilla) only a 20 minute ferry from each other.

If you go to BVI, you have to stick to Virgin Islands.

If you go to Turks, you have to stick to Turks.

You can visit some of the islands in groupings (such as St. Martin/Anguilla) but it's really hard to go to different "groupings " of islands on the same trip.

xkenx

Barbados has everything you want for your active part. Then it is a short hop to go to Grenada for the quiet or to the Grenadines for private island resorts like Young Island, Petit St. Vincent, Palm Island, or Saltwhistle on Mayreau.