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Cutting the cost of a Caribbean vacation
Looking for a break from the prices at big name resorts? Here are 10 places to stay on the beach for less than $160 a night.
By DAVID SWANSON
Published July 24, 2005
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[Photo: David Swanson]
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| Hotel Diamant in Les Bains, Martinique, is a low cost Carribean resort. |
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During seven years of writing a magazine column devoted to the Caribbean on a budget, what I hear most from readers is a desire for beachfront bargains. And there are hotels in the "affordable" category - even on the priciest islands such as Anguilla and St. Barts - but they are "stealth" lodgings, below the radar of most casual visitors and sometimes on islands that require a bit more effort to reach.
Here are some of my favorites, offering both solid value and soft sand close to your room. None are name-brand chain resorts. Are all smallish inns, some lacking a restaurant or bar. One doesn't even have a front desk.
On Anguilla
Carimar Beach Club, summer doubles from $160 a night.
Pricey Anguilla has plenty of superb beaches, and the dozen or so that are occupied by resorts big and small represent varying degrees of fabulous.
But you don't have to challenge your credit limits to stay on Meads Bay: Right on the beach is the 24-unit Carimar Beach Club. These are individually owned condos wrapped around a nicely tended garden.
Room decor is attractive, not luxurious. Each of the one- and two-bedroom units has a full kitchen, so you can stock up from the local deli for easy meals. All units have a view of the sea, and the more expensive rooms in front sit on the sand. There's no restaurant or bar, but three of the island's better dining rooms are within a 10-minute walk.
On Aruba
MVC Eagle Beach, starting at $60 per night.
Aruba is best known for the high-rises that line Palm Beach. The next strand south, Eagle Beach, is just as beautiful, and the hotels tend to be smaller, the action on the sand a bit more relaxed. And last year, a marine recreational camp was converted into a simple, upbeat 19-room inn, across the street from the beach.
Accommodations are found in a two-story lodge facility. The rooms are small and modestly decorated; each has two twin beds, private shower and bathroom, and air conditioning. Rooms do not have TVs or phones. There are three "family rooms" that are double the size.
A mostly Dutch crowd stays at the MVC, congregating around a casual and inexpensive restaurant serving local specialties. A tennis court and a shallow pool ideal for children round out the facilities.
The MVC is the best buy in the Dutch Antilles.
On Barbados
Sea Foam Haciendas, from $110 a night.
Chock-a-block with upscale restaurants and luxury resorts, Barbados is one of the Caribbean's more polished destinations. That means there is a decent contingent of affordable lodging options, most of them apartment-style buildings found along the south coast.
At the three-story Sea Foam Haciendas, 12 two-bedroom units overlook a good beach and provide a full, smartly equipped kitchen, cable TV, direct-dial phones, air conditioning and full maid service. Every apartment has a wide balcony offering a sea view through almond and casuarina trees.
Watersports are nearby, as are abundant dining and nightlife options, minimizing the need for a rental car (the island's scheduled bus service is an easy way to travel along the beach-lined coasts). The Sea Foam team will hook you up with a local chef who can prepare meals in your room for far less than local restaurant prices.
On Jost Van Dyke, BVI
Sandcastle, from $140.
There's no airport on the island, so you reach 3-square-mile Jost (pronounced yoast) Van Dykefrom Tortola, via a dilapidated ferry named When. The little island is the Caribbean distilled to its essentials: There's no golf course, no casino, no dutyfree shopping, and the few cars are outnumbered by hammocks. But there is a trio of picture-perfect beaches, and sitting in the middle of resplendent White Bay is the six-room Sandcastle, the island's closest approximation to a hotel.
The Sandcastle doesn't offer much recreational gear beyond kayaks and board games, and that's the point. There is a beach bar where, legend has it, the dark rum-based Painkiller was invented.
Rooms sit on the beach and have sun-heated showers, though there is electricity (most of the time) for the rooms. Two rooms even have air conditioning. You won't spend many waking hours in your room, though, as the hammock-laced beach delivers perfect relaxation. The small, informal restaurant serves meals to guests and the yachties who drop anchor.
Otherwise, you can check in to Sandcastle with little more than a bathing suit and a change of clothes - the true barefoot holiday.
On Jamaica
Rockhouse, from $75.
Surprisingly, many of the accommodations built in Negril in the 1970s were not on the sand but along a 2-mile stretch of cliffs just past the beach, known as the West End. More than a dozen small hotels still perch along the rocks, and steps, ladders or cave-like passageways lead down to the water. Swimming and snorkeling amid the seductive grottos is rewarding in its own way.
Built in 1972, Rockhouse has seen considerable refurbishing and expansion and can now claim the hip milieu of a rugged boutique resort. Least-expensive are rooms found in two-story buildings set back from the cliff - these are small and short on privacy but still clean and attractive. Better are the original, thatch-roof, stone cottages, some of which have private outdoor showers.
A striking modern pool and bar has been built into the rocks, while a block of new bungalows brings the number of accommodations to 34.
On Martinique
Diamant Les Bains, from $81.
The French islands aren't the best place to look for bargains now because of the strength of the euro - official currency of the French West Indies - against the dollar. But here's my favorite beach deal in Martinique.
Diamant Les Bains is a palm-embroidered, family-owned hotel facing famed Diamond Rock and St. Lucia. Situated on the beach at the edge of town, this compact miniresort holds sufficient charm. The main building houses the older, and least expensive, of 24 units (beware of traffic noise), while just a few dollars more gets a bed in the collection of sweet bungalows occupying a grassy terrace between the pool and the good beach.
They have air conditioning, unpretentious character and island ambiance, and the restaurant is the locals' pick for classic Creole cuisine, sometimes accompanied by merengue dancing.
On St. John, U.S.V.I.
Cinnamon Bay Campground, from $70.
Eco-tourism has its roots on St. John, home to the U.S. Virgin Islands National Park, which occupies two-thirds of the island..
At Cinnamon Bay, the 40 screened, open-air rooms have electricity, simple cooking facilities and four twin beds. You'll pay $20 to $30 more for a beachfront unit - close enough to the beach you may have to sweep sand out of the doorway. Less expensive still are the semipermanent tents, equipped with wooden floors, gas lanterns and stoves.
A restaurant serves three simple meals a day.
This style of vacation is not for everyone: You make your own bed, and bathrooms are provided in four shared facilities with toilets and unheated showers. But few places can boast rooms for less than $100 a night with a ravishing white sand beach on one side of your bed, and a treasured National Park on the other.
- David Swanson writes the "Affordable Caribbean"column for Caribbean Travel & Life magazine.
If you go
For more information on these accommodations, contact:
Carimar Beach Club, Anguilla: doubles $160 to $200 in summer, plus 20 percent tax/service charge $365 to $440 winter; closed Sept-Oct. Call toll-free 1-800-235-8667 or 264-497-6881; www.carimar.com
MVC Eagle Beach, Aruba: $60 plus 6 percent tax $85 winter. Call 011-297-587-0110; www.mvceaglebeach.com
Sea Foam Haciendas, Barbados: $110 to $145 plus 7.5 percent tax $150-$205 in winter. Call (246) 435-7380; www.seafoamhaciendas.com
Sandcastle, Jost Van Dyke: $140 to $200 plus 17 percent tax/service $225-$275 winter. Call (284) 495-9888; www.sandcastle-bvi.com
Rockhouse, Jamaica: $75 to $195 plus 16.25 percent tax/service $100 to $250 winter. Call (876) 957-4373; www.rockhousehotel.com
Diamant Les Bains, Martinique: $81 to $94 including petit dejeuner ($127 to $149 in winter). Call (011-596-596-76-40-14; no web site.
Cinnamon Bay Campground, St. John: $70-$90 for cottages, $58 for tents, plus 8 percent tax $110-$140 for cottages and $80 for tents in winter; closed September. 800-539-9998 or 340-776-6330; www.cinnamonbay.com
[Last modified July 22, 2005, 10:06:04]
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