Four Caribbean idylls

The best for beaches

"If you want a pampering, indulgent stay right on a fabulous beach, Spice Island Beach Resort is the best choice on Grenada, and one of the best options in the Caribbean," says Fred Mawer in The Daily Telegraph. There is more than a mile of golden sand, with calm water that is "perfect for swimming".

The hotel offers "a smart but unflashy, contemporary style". Go for a Seagrape Beach Suite with its double whirlpool baths. Outside, expect "a private terrace right by the beach and sun loungers awaiting on the sand".

Five-course dinners are served most evenings. "The food is overall pretty good, with interesting local dishes."

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Rates start from $914 per night all inclusive, or $1,338 for a Seagrape Beach Suite. Find out more at Spiceislandbeachresort.com , or call 01372-475783.

The best for views

Enjoy "gorgeous views at The Inn at English Harbour" in Antigua, says Alice Jones in The Independent. View one comes as you are ushered into "a 19th-century stone house its windows give glimpses of turquoise, gold and green below. Out on the adjoining terrace, the panorama proper opens up, rolling down over terraces to English Harbour and its yachts". On the hotel's second level, the sun loungers give "close-up views of the harbour and its bobbing boats".

The hotel offers "simple, old-fashioned luxury": four-poster beds "draped in white muslin, polished dark-wood floors and Venetian blinds". For food, the beach-front venue The Reef offers an excellent breakfast. In the evening the more formal Terrace serves "substantial steaks and catch of the day".

Double rooms cost from $545, half board. For more information visit the website at Theinn.ag , or call 00 126 846 01014.

The best for style

The Peninsula House in the Dominican Republic got Cond Nast Traveller's Gold List's highest 2013 score for the Caribbean. The family-owned hotel is a Victorian-style plantation house with wraparound verandahs overlooking acres of coconut palms and is "one of the best bed-and-breakfasts in the Caribbean", says Fodor's.

Museum-quality sculptures, paintings and objects d'art "elevate the rooms and common areas". The bedrooms boast "antiques such as Chinese bamboo storage trunks and Indian ivory cabinets", notes Cond Nast Traveller.

Take the free shuttle ride to the hotel's Beach Restaurant, which serves exceptional contemporary cuisine

Rates start from $580 per night, including breakfast. For more, visit Thepeninsulahouse.com , or call 00 1 809 962 7447.

The best for spa therapies

For "unplugged luxury", head to Petit St Vincent, a private island resort close to Barbados, says Susan D'Arcy in The Sunday Times. The 22 cottages have no phones, TVs or wi-fi; instead, there is "a flag system to alert your butler if you need more books or are running short of rum punch".

The Treetop Spa is "Robinson Crusoe's den reimagined by Tom Ford and scattered with scented candles". The four treatment rooms are on stilts so they "sidle fabulously into the canopy, and one wall folds back to catch the cooling Caribbean trade winds". There are daily yoga sessions, a jogging trail and two miles of beach.

From $1,100 a night for a one-bed cottage, full board. Spa treatments from $50 for a back massage. For more visit www.petitstvincent.com , or call 00 1 954 963 7401.