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So, for context, I live in Florida. However, if I'm being honest, I'm not that big of a beach person. I don't mind the beach, and if there is a particularly beautiful one, I'm happy to stroll alongside it for a couple hours, but the "resort" type travel just doesn't really do it for me. I prefer to have unique experiences/attend festivals, hike in mountains and to see natural wonders, walk around a historic old town or modern city, visit archaeological sites, eat distinctive food etc. My question then, is which places in the Caribbean would I most want to prioritize visiting? Since, I've only really been to (apart from Yucatan, notably):
-Nassau (Capital of the Bahamas. Not the most exciting city I've ever been, but a decent downtown with some historic properties, and a cool fort. If I go back, I'd probably focus more on that aspect and the food, not so much Paradise Island. Frankly, the fact that cars drove on the other side added to the uniqueness of it all.)
-Bahamas Cays (Quite nice/relaxing for a day of a cruise, but not somewhere I'd make a separate trip.)
-San Juan (Only a half day stay, but definitely somewhere I want to get back to)
-Cayman Islands (We went swimming with stingrays which was pretty cool. I did like how it wasn't especially crammed with tourists like certain places.)
-Aruba (The port town was just okay, but we did a helmet dive excursion here, probably my favorite experience out of all these because being 20-30 feet underwater and having that vantage point was highly unique. I'm not that great a swimmer, but this experience made me eventually want to learn to scuba dive.)
From my experience, the places I want to go (besides absolutely exploring San Juan and the El Yunque of Puerto Rico more thoroughly), are:
1. Havana, Cuba: Top of the list for me. It's an easy flight, and the old town looks significant and gorgeous. Added plus that it is relatively close to the water, and that I could take a day trip to Vinales to see the mountains/caves/tobacco fields.
2. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: Seems to have a nice historic town also, and is perhaps positioning itself as a major Caribbean urban center. Has somewhat big mountains nearby too I think.
3. Port Au Prince, Haiti: A place that's really hurting, but a place that I do want to see firsthand, but also for the primary purpose of doing some type of service project to help those in the area.
4. Castries, Saint Lucia: Town is probably quite small, not too much to see, but this island appears to me to be arguably the most beautiful in the Caribbean, and at least for a few days, to have great hiking options.
5. Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago: "Capital", not only of this country, but also probably exists as a hub city for a number of the island nations around it, and perhaps even Guyana/Suriname (and other portions of NE South America). Also, Carnival, which, from what I understand, rivals perhaps even the one in Rio.
So what do you think? Given my tastes, is this a list that makes pretty good sense? Merida, Mexico and surrounds, in addition to Cartagena, Colombia are quite high on my list, but I didn't include them, since those are on the Caribbean, but aren't in the Caribbean. Any others that you would recommend? I have considered taking some type of Island Hopper cruise perhaps from San Juan, so that I could collect a few countries, and get some ideas on what I like best (plus, if I'm on a cruise, I suppose if I wasn't big on one place, I could check out a new place the next day.).
Regards: A non-beach person (and hot weather person, for that matter), still trying to enjoy the attractions of what is near.
What did you like about Cuba? Do you go on a packaged tour or travel independently? Did you stay in a large hotel or were there smaller local guest houses available?
Curious because we've never been and are in the general area, wouldn't be too expensive a hop.
The only 2 Caribbean places that offer more than most are: Puerto Rico and Trinidad & Tobago.
Granted, I went to Puerto Rico long before the hurricane debacle so I don't know how tourist-ready they are yet at the moment. But we rented a car and explored the island, from the Caribbean side to the Atlantic side, went to the mountain, went on a guided night swim with the planktons that glow in the dark, went to Vieques. I think Puerto Ricans are some of the warmest people on earth. They were ever ready to help non-Spanish speaking tourists like us for simple things, like translated menu and ordered food for us, ever ready to chat with us about their island, etc. Plus their food was fantastic!! I found Caribbean food to be bland in general, except Puerto Rico (due to its strong Spanish influence). Their Le-chon was to die for! The entire time we were in PR, we barely spent time lounging at the beach because there were too many things to see and do.
Trinidad and Tobago was also excellent, although less safe than PR. We liked exploring Trinidad and its night markets filled with road side food vendors. Their food had a lot of Indian / African influence to it, very tasty. Tobago was more laid back, and that was our little 'vacation from vacation' place. You do need to be careful exploring Trinidad at night as some areas are unsafe for unsuspecting tourists.
I would have put Jamaica up there were it not for their abysmal safety situation right now. Jamaica has a lot to offer (and we enjoyed our visit there years ago) but I heard 3 countries (UK, Canada, and US) told their tourists to stay inside their resort compound when visiting Jamaica due to increased violence in Montego Bay area. What a shame.
Aruba is the only place in the Caribbean I've been to multiple times. Honestly going by what you're looking for most of the Caribbean doesn't seem to suit you. It sounds like you would be better off in Costa Rica or something.
On a side note I'm going to have to pick on you and some others if you only saw a country by way of a cruise ship you most likely did not get a true feel for it.
Aruba is the only place in the Caribbean I've been to multiple times. Honestly going by what you're looking for most of the Caribbean doesn't seem to suit you. It sounds like you would be better off in Costa Rica or something.
On a side note I'm going to have to pick on you and some others if you only saw a country by way of a cruise ship you most likely did not get a true feel for it.
On a side note I'm going to have to pick on you and some others if you only saw a country by way of a cruise ship you most likely did not get a true feel for it.
Actually, I think a cruise would be perfect for the OP. It lets you have a small sample of several different islands -- just enough of a taste to decide which ones warrant further exploration on a future trip, and which ones aren't worth returning to.
Not that I've been to all that many Caribbean islands, but my favorites would be Cozumel (for the food and cheerful atmosphere), Grand Cayman (for the friendliness and non-pushiness of the people), and St. Maarten (for the uniqueness of a small island being shared by two different countries).
Bermuda beats all of these places, hands down. But it's not in the Caribbean. Ditto for any of the main Hawaiian islands, again on both counts.
I read your interests and IF those really are what you are looking for, think about Mexico. Think about going places that are inland - you don't care for beaches anyway. Stop going to places where tourists and cruise ships flock (and that includes St Lucia). Go to smaller towns and get out of the big cities. Go to Europe or Asia.
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