This is a region awash with clever hotels and well-insulated resorts that come with every family-friendly activity and amenity under the sun. The most covetable places are those that strike the perfect balance between fly-and-flop and fast-and-frenzied, with almost all delivering watersports, beachy micro-adventures for tots to teens and flashes of tropical brilliance. Little wonder, in a world of constant change, that Brits return to the Caribbean year on year for the dependable blue skies and beachfront bliss. Show
Main photo: on the beach in St John, US Virgin Islands (Getty Images) *This article contains affiliate links. All products and brands mentioned in this article are selected by our writers and editors based on first-hand experience or customer feedback. We feature properties from a specially selected list of trusted operators who are of a standard that we believe our readers expect. This article contains links which are ads and if you click on a link and buy a product we will earn revenue. These links are signposted with an asterisk. The revenue generated will help us to support the content of this website and to continue to invest in our award-winning journalism. Show more Show less1. Sugar Beach, St LuciaAs the name suggests, everything at this luxury St Lucia resort set on a former 100-acre sugar plantation is designed with the stunning white-sand beach in mind. Windsurfing, sailing and scuba adventures come as standard for most Caribbean family holidays, but Sugar Beach amps up the drama with the indomitable presence of Petit Piton beside the beach and forested slopes that hide a treehouse spa. Statement-making family suites drip with sophistication and the resort also offers beachfront bungalows, tennis courts and — the real deal — coconut bowling. With all this, it feels like some sort of impossible fantasy — albeit one with a pricey final bill. Spa
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 2. Tamarind, BarbadosConnoisseurs will know that Paynes Bay — aka the Platinum Coast — is a centrefold stunner, which makes this unbuttoned Barbados beachfront hotel a study in how to get things right. Child-friendly snorkelling is only a flip-flop away and there are shaded play areas, three gorgeous pools (two specifically for splash-happy families) and a watersports centre that makes banana-boat rides cool for all ages. The full line-up also includes a video games room and wireless headphone parties. Spa Y
3. Curtain Bluff, AntiguaA luxury all-inclusive Antigua resort with free-swinging hammocks, two private beaches and watersports galore, Curtain Bluff is a memory-making headquarters, with families returning as part of a year-on-year sea-and-sand ritual. On the kids’ programme front, the children’s club is included in the hotel rate, and there’s a free tennis clinic, plus sailing, snorkelling and waterskiing alongside a go-wild jungle gym. It’s not all sweat, though: Antigua has a history rich in sugar, which explains cookie-making and ice cream sundae workshops. Spa Y
4. Royalton Bavaro Resort & Spa, Dominican RepublicMany families who come here are drawn by the aquamarine waters and no-messing-about activities. How quirky, you think, when you see the lazy river, but then you spy the Flowrider wave machine and surf simulator and realise this is a resort built for the modern age — hardly surprising, as it’s in the Punta Cana, one of the Dominican Republic‘s most fashionable spots. The entire resort is laid out for ease and there’s a splash park and kids’ club too. Spa Y
5. Carlisle Bay, AntiguaThe ace up this hotel’s sleeve is not the beach, the isolated island location, or the design touches from renowned British hotelier Gordon Campbell Gray, whose influence can be seen in properties from London to Beirut. It’s the go-go tots-to-teens activities, with watersports, tennis courts and fitness centre, plus no-go areas for couples where only noisy families are allowed. The plush-seat cinema screening family movies is a neat touch, as is the bundle of offers that mean you can take advantage of the off-season when most Brits are idling at home. Spa Y
6. The Crane Resort, BarbadosMore timeshare-hotel hybrid, with a village-like atmosphere and assortment of shops, this vacation destination is for families who don’t want to think too hard about their beachfront activities. The rush to all of these takes you past an art gallery, souvenir sellers and a kids’ club, along tropical palm pathways and down steps to world-famous Crane Beach. Your children might coo at the fairytale-style turreted blocks, but the real showstopper is the tiered, clifftop pools. It’s been in business since 1887 — the brag is it’s the Caribbean’s first resort hotel — so the all-inclusive packages are hardly uncharted territory. Spa Y
7. Windjammer Landing Villa Beach Resort, St LuciaAlmost all Caribbean resorts have swimming pools somewhere amid the florid palms. Few can brag about having six, two of which are for families only. Beside this guaranteed sweetener, this longstanding family favourite has a lucky dip of apartments and villas, some with kitchenettes for picky eaters, others with private infinity pools, and there’s plenty of space to play. Activities include island tours and if your family is the sort that wants to climb a volcano, or zip-line through a rainforest canopy, then this is a summer holiday repackaged as good sport. Afterwards, join a chocolate-making course using St Lucia cocoa beans. Spa Y
8. Rosewood Little Dix Bay, British Virgin IslandsRecently reopened after a four-year closure, a pummelling of the British Virgin Islands from Hurricane Irma and a lockdown revamp, this sprawling 500-acre resort on Virgin Gorda island has the kind of children’s activities most mums and dads dream of doing themselves. Inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, the resort has come up trumps with pirate-themed adventures for little ones to sail and set anchor, make (non-alcoholic) rum, and hunt treasure on land and underwater. In between, there are also deep dives into local culture through Caribbean music and storytelling. To pull all that off is quite a feat. Spa Y 9. True Blue Bay, GrenadaSunglasses are almost a prerequisite for this colour-splashed beachfront resort and the high-tempo sense of fun carries on in the two playgrounds, four pools and animal sculptures that dot the palm-lined paths. For much of the time, you’ll be in the water — snorkelling the underwater sculpture park is sure to turn heads in the classroom — but there’s more substance here than in many other resorts. Take the kids’ club, for instance, which is open to local children, or the hotel’s partnership with a local school, where parents and older kids can give a little back by helping out. One more thing: chocolate is taken seriously here, with the Grenada Chocolate Festival overseen by hotel founder Magdalena Fielden. Spa Y
10. Amanyara, Turks and CaicosYou’ll feel like you’ve won the holiday lottery if you arrive at this uber-exclusive Turks and Caicos retreat on Providenciales’ Atlantic shores. For starters, there’s all the trimmings you’d expect (infinity pools, extensive beachfront, five and six-room villas), but plenty of eye-catching extras. Namely, the Nature Discovery Centre, for GoPro underwater expeditions and specialist-led mangrove safaris, and the Clubhouse, for movie nights with just-made popcorn. It is an envy-inducing Aman, after all, so expect best-in-business service with prices to match. Spa Y
11. Beaches Negril Resort & Spa, JamaicaThis being so-laid-back-it’s-horizontal Jamaica, you have to wonder whether they could do anything more to add to the sense of holiday bliss on Negril’s gorgeous Seven Mile Beach. Here, all-inclusive activities include meet and greets with Sesame Street characters (biscuit-making with Cookie Monster, Big Bird-led nature walks), a pirate-themed waterpark, stages shows, street parades and watersports aplenty. Little ones will love the choice of nine restaurants, mums and dads the seven bars. Spa Y
12. Magdalena Grand Beach & Golf Resort, Trinidad and TobagoThe clever Magdalena clocked ages ago that the key to a memorable family holiday is to make sure the children are happy first; in fact, they were the all-consuming factor when the hotel was designed. That means there’s a free-roaming philosophy in the gated resort, with beaches to romp on, a golf course open to half-pint putters, three pools and a playground. For those with tantrummy toddlers, there are plenty of island tours for every mood, complimentary bikes and a daily activities programme. What preschooler would get fed up with all that? Spa
Y 13. Four Seasons Resort and Residences, AnguillaOf course, the beachfront, ultramarine sea and tropical essence of this bumper-sized resort on lesser-visited Anguilla are all exquisite. More impressive for parents is the all-inclusive, year-round kids’ club, climbing wall, basketball and tennis courts, and excursions to nearby Sandy Island. Golf carts to freewheel from your villa are for children who want to kick up the sand the right way and the hottest ticket is the resort’s private beach club. Here’s a destination that delivers in buckets and spades. Spa Y
14. Hilton Rose Hall Resort & Spa, JamaicaA waterpark with 280-foot waterslide, lazy river, three terraced pools, a private beach and swim-up bars — it’s hardly surprising children adore this all-inclusive kingdom of Montego Bay. The name on the door means you can expect identikit rooms and buffet restaurants, but while it’s been a bumpy few years for Hilton, this remains a hotel that champions the family vacation and does it superbly well. To cap it all off, add a games room, playground and babysitting team to help parents try to get a grip on romance. Spa Y
Take me thereInspired to visit the Caribbean but yet to book your trip? Here are the best packages from Tui* and British Airways*. |
Best luxury all inclusive family resorts in the caribbean
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