The Best Luxury Hotels in the Caribbean Are Worth the Splurge

Recognize this breezy Bahamian beauty? The luxe colonial-style on Paradise Island’s northern shore played a starring role in Casino Royale—and is every bit as luxurious as the movie lets on. Across 35 acres of manicured gardens, you’ll find a Balinese-inspired spa with open-air treatment rooms, a Tom Weiskopf–designed golf course, tennis courts, and preppy-chic rooms and suites complete with dark wood floors, striped rugs, ocean views, and private butlers to cater that your every need.

Two miles by boat from mainland Antigua sits stunning Jumby Bay, a 300-acre island originally discovered by Christopher Columbus that's now one of the Caribbean's most exclusive all-inclusive stays. The price is steep, to be sure, but includes basically everything you could want in a dream tropical getaway—accommodates in a residential-style cottage or villa (which come with outdoor showers and wraparound decks), five-star service (including beach butlers, natch), and all daily meals, beverages, and tea service. Can't decide which of the four restaurants—posh Estate House, campy Beach Shack, airy Verandah, or laid-back Pool Grille—to dine at first? We feel you. Just be sure to save your appetite (and your best frock) for their weekly White Night BBQ.

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For super seclusion, stay at the over-the-top Four Seasons Resort on St. Kitts's sister island, Nevis. It’s decked out with all the perks you’d imagine: three infinity pools, pavilions with wraparound verandas, and a Robert Trent Jones Jr. golf course all resting at the base of Mount Nevis. There’s also a sailing school, tennis courts, and guided hikes through the rainforest trails.

As far back as the '30s, Dorado Beach has a low-key playground for personalities like Amelia Earhart and, later, JFK, who were lured to Puerto Rico’s idyllic north coast by a mod 50-acre hideaway Laurance Rockefeller built there to entertain Hollywood friends. The redesigned 114-room resort takes cues from the original building but adds Ritz-Carlton’s signature spin with a statement infinity pool, glitzy multi-bedroom villas scattered along the property's three-mile coastline, and a five-acre spa that resets the wellness bar. If you can tear yourself away from your private plunge pool (a suite standard), there’s sublime Spanish-inspired seafood at José Andrés’ Mi Casa restaurant and an 11-mile nature path that’s perfect for sunset strolls.

This posh hideaway, on a 1,000-acre private island a 30-minute boat ride away from Providenciales, is Caribbean seclusion at its most elegant. The 75 guest rooms, villas, and beach houses are the definition of island chic, with gauzy canopied beds, wicker furniture, and airy open-plan layouts. How you spend your days here is up to you—sunbathing on the mile-long beach, luxuriating in your private plunge pool (if you splurged on a swanky beach villa), getting pampered at the spa with a signature Como Shambhala massage—but don’t forget to refuel at one of the two restaurants, which spoil guests with Thai, Japanese, Caribbean, and Mediterranean specialties.

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The Dominican's quiet northern shore, far from the resort-crowded beaches of Punta Cana, still flies under the radar—a perfect spot for Aman's 29th resort. Amanera is a visual stunner, with a main building of glass and Indonesian teak and just 25 villas with large personal pools overlooking the mile-long Playa Grande. While the water is often too rough to swim in, there's more than one way to explore beyond the sand, including mountain biking, trail hiking, and an 18-hole golf course—a first for the Aman brand. At day's end, order up a Mama Juana (a regional drink of dried bark, rum, honey, and red wine) and head for the cigar lounge, where experts hand-roll Dominican puros.

One glance at this cliffside aerie in the cliffs of St. Lucia and you’ll see why it’s been consistently voted one of the world’s best honeymoon hotels (and why your room is slapped with a sky-high rate). Each colorful "sanctuary" features an open fourth wall from which to soak in the distant iconic Pitons—whether it’s from a whirlpool bathroom tub or private infinity pool. If you do manage to drag yourself away from your personal haven, head to the restaurant, where a James Beard Award-winning chef prepares multi-course menus on request. If not, don’t fret: dedicated major domos (personal concierges) are on hand to deliver whatever you need.

The ultra-exclusive Pink Sands Club in Canouan, a breezy island near St. Vincent and the Grenadines, is now an opulent Mandarin Oriental. It opened to the tune of $120 million and it shows, from the bigger-than-spacious suites (which start at 1,300 square feet) to the hillside Lagoon Villas retrofitted with private elevators. We can’t decide which view we like most—from the glass-floored overwater treatment rooms at the spa, the hillside yoga pavilion, the sprawling golf course, or the four restaurants, which serve up international cuisine along with perfect people watching.

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The stunning isle of St. Barts in the French West Indies is all about glitz and glamour, and as far as luxury hotels go, it doesn’t get much better than Le Barthélemy. The new 46-room hotel was built with the world's traveling elite in mind: we’re talking breezy-chic guest rooms with Hermès amenities (some even have heated plunge pools), sun-soaked terraces, a seaside Michelin-starred French restaurant, and—the Instagram gold—a massive infinity pool overlooking the Grand Cul de Sac beach. After lengthy days in the sun, give your skin a break with a soothing treatment at the Le Spa, which incorporates products by La Mer.

When a hotel hails from the same French firm behind brands like Louis Vuitton and Moët & Chandon, you know it's going to be glam. Cheval Blanc, fronting the Baie des Flamands beachfront on St. Barts, is just that. Sprawling villas covered in bougainvillea are effortlessly elegant, with whitewashed interiors, vintage French fabrics, and views of the ocean and gardens. The hotel also happens to be home to the Caribbean's only spa that offers signature Guerlain treatments, as well as a 69-foot yacht and a fleet of mini mokes available for guests to borrow for afternoons of sailing or retail therapy.