Comments on: thinking man (and woman)'s paradise

Question: thinking man (and woman)'s paradise

thinkingwoman — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:09:23 -0800

What Caribbean islands have the best-preserved historical sites and architecture?

Future husband and I want to take a honeymoon in a warm place that offers more (intellectually) than beaches, shopping, and golf. Charming buildings, old plantations and churches, museums, cobblestones, well-preserved indigenous settlements and archaeological sites, etc. (We'd been planning a trip to Italy, but it looks like we won't be able to take enough time off to warrant crossing that many time zones.)

San Juan/Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo/Dominican Republic are obvious choices. What haven't I thought of?

Language is not an issue.

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:36:14 -0800

I know it's not an island, but you could fly to Veracruz, Mexico, rent a car and drive up the Costa Esmeralda to Papantla and back (or back via Xalapa) for a trip that includes warm weather beaches, charming colonial buildings, vibrant indigenous settlements, and archelogical sites.

By: Kololo

Kololo — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:20:17 -0800

Cuba. (Americans go there all the time, by taking a flight to another island, and then a regional flight to cuba from there.)

By: cptnrandy

cptnrandy — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:37:45 -0800

St. John - great beaches, multiple plantation ruins, with the benefit of being mostly a US National Park. Be sure and take the Reef Bay Trail hike provided by the Park Service.

By: thinkingwoman

thinkingwoman — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:58:09 -0800

Good point: Mexico/Latin America are also fine. Mostly want to keep our airline travel under half a day (we are in Tennessee).

By: Sidhedevil

Sidhedevil — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:00:10 -0800

Curacao has very cool architecture, as does Sint Maarten/Saint Martin. Both have interesting parks and caves and what-not. Museums not so much, though the tour of the Curacao factory in Curacao is really not to be missed.

By: coolguymichael

coolguymichael — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:38:06 -0800

Barbados. Don't know about indigenous settlements, but there are preserved plantations and churches.

By: Kellydamnit

Kellydamnit — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:36:21 -0800

The Bahamas (Nassau in specific) seemed to have a lot of preserved architecture when I was there, as well as museums and historically-themed tours.

By: rongorongo

rongorongo — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:19:19 -0800

Dominica? Bequia? St Vincent? Perhaps somewhere like Sucre state in Venezuela. For me quite a good rule is to look for places with a relatively low traffic airport for their size. Somewhere like Barbados, which get several daily large jets full of visitors - plus cruise ship passengers - arriving on something only about 20 miles long - can get a little swamped IMHO.