Let's be honest – this is why you take a Caribbean vacation. Food, shopping, nightlife, gambling, golf and the historical landmarks could melt into the sea, but if the perfect white sands and crystal blue waters remained the region would still command hundreds of thousands of visitors a year to its pristine shores. While you can pick a perfect Caribbean beach the old-fashioned way - by throwing a dart at a large-scale map - and probably be perfectly happy, there are a few locations that will enhance any Caribbean beach vacation tenfold.
The white sands of Antigua are world-renowned. They looked as if they've been bleached by the sun for eons. And there's hardly a beach that fails the already high standards set by the region - indeed some of the best beaches in the Caribbean are here. Though many of Antigua's offerings are similar, Runaway Beach and Half Moon Bay stand head and shoulders above the others.
The same can be said of the island of St. Martin – it is hard to go wrong, whether you are just visiting for a day or staying on one of the many Carribean beach resorts here. Baie Orientale is simply amazing – many repeat visitors will tell you it is not just one of the best beaches in the Caribbean – it is THE best. There's a reason it is invariably crowded, both on the nude side and the prude side.
Most Caribbean beach vacations include a trip to Jamaica. Between the low prices and immaculate sand, the island is the most visited in the whole region for a reason. Seven Mile Beach, located in Negril (though the beach of the same name found in the Cayman Islands is hardly a step down) is understandably popular for one simple reason – the party rarely stops. Home to many of the most notoriously wild Carribean beach resorts, this beach is guaranteed to be hopping at any time of day or night.
White and black sand beaches can be found on Martinique, but Anse Mitan is another must-see for any Europhile on a Caribbean beach vacation. What Toulouse or Avignon would look like if it was located deep in the heart of the Caribbean, calypso music intermingles with the colonial architecture and French-styled parks, and the perfect sand is thankfully close to many of the cheapest hotels on the entire island.
Another of the best beaches in the Caribbean is Shoal Bay in Anguilla. The snorkeling and diving are so famous here that if the rest of the island disappeared, it would be unlikely to hurt Anguilla's tourism industry.
Barbados' southern coast is where you'll find myriad beautiful beaches such as Crane Beach and Accra beach. Even more popular is the island's western coast, where the Gold Coast makes itself the place to be in Barbados – Caribbean beach resorts hardly get better than the ones you'll find here, primarily near Mullins and Brighton Beach.
But there is not one island that doesn't have something unique and beautiful to offer. Even St. Lucia and Dominica, both islands more notable for their lush forests than bone-white sands, still have a wide variety of choice destinations to lay out beneath the sun.
