Anguilla

This British Overseas Territory remains a low-key place, with narrow roads and few large buildings. A tranquil speck in the Leeward Islands, Anguilla is 16 miles long, 3 miles wide and home to about 16,000 inhabitants. The landscape is flat and scrubby, but the sea is a luminous turquoise, and the white-sand beaches are among the best in the Caribbean. Perhaps because of its proximity to the French islands of St. Martin and St. Barths, Anguilla boasts a surprising number of excellent restaurants. Most visitors arrive either by plane from Puerto Rico (75 minutes) or by private hotel cruiser from St. Martin (35 minutes). For the more adventurous, there is an entertaining public ferry.

Editor Tips

Peerless Sands

Anguilla has superlative beaches. As the island has developed, my favorites have shifted. Shoal Bay used to be exquisite, but nowadays it can be overcrowded. Meads Bay, on the northwest coast, boasts a mile of sugary sand flanked by two upscale resorts: Malliouhana and the Four Seasons. On the south coast, Cove Bay offers stunning vistas across to the peaks of St. Martin