Down Mexico way
Mandarin Oriental’s new ultra-luxury Riviera Maya resort on the Yucatán peninsula is a secluded hideaway of individual villas and bungalows set in a private, 10ha (26acre) enclave tangled with mangroves and streams. Near by are numerous freshwater sinkholes and caverns offering swimming and snorkelling through underground rivers; and the astonishing Mayan ruins of Tulum. Although only half an hour from brash Cancún, this resort feels about as far away from the noisy, Texan-dominated holiday city as it is possible to get. Fly to Cancún on a cheap ’n’ cheerful direct charter, or on scheduled flights via the US.
Details: Seasons in Style (01244 202000, www.seasonsinstyle.com). A week’s stay costs £2,490, including flights on American Airlines via Miami and private transfers.

Barbados sports stars
Kids, here is a chance to have fun on holiday, joining in with your local peers. The Barbados Sports Camp will be laying on cricket, football and netball coaching for visiting children and Barbadians aged between 9 and 17, every day from August 5 until 29. And it’s absolutely free. A bus picks you up from your hotel, and takes you to the University of West Indies sports ground in Bridgetown, where “international stars” (names still to be announced) are waiting to coach you and organise matches. There are some excellent family deals going at the new all-inclusive Almond Casuarina Beach Resort, due to open in February on the island’s south coast.
Details: Virgin Holidays (0871 2220304, www.virginholidays.com). A week at Almond Casuarina Beach Resort in July/August 2008 costs £1,249 per adult and £439 per child sharing, including direct flights from Gatwick or Manchester, transfers, and all food, drink and watersports. Register for the Sports Camp at: www.barbados-sports-camp.com.

Family-friendly Grenada
The legacy of Hurricane Ivan, which laid Grenada waste in 2004, has been to “Build Back Better” – as billboards entreat. Nowhere on this spice-scented island has this been done with more care and attention to comfort, aesthetics and family-friendliness than with the 32 self-catering Blue Horizons cottages. All have private kitchens and verandas, and are scattered around a shared pool near Grand Anse Beach.
Details: Just Grenada (01373 814214, www.justgrenada.co.uk) charges £590 for a week’s stay in a one-bedroom cottage, including flights and transfers. Children sharing their parents’ room pay only for flights, from £349.

Independent-minded Dominica
Next year lush, black-sanded and mountainous Dominica will celebrate 30 years of independence with a year of “Reunion 2008” festivities such as the Mas Dominik Carnival, and World Creole Music festival. Visitors, lured by the astonishing bird life, whale watching and rainforest hikes, will see another aspect of the island.
Details: Jetlife (0871 9027877, www.jetlife.com). A week’s room only at the four-star Fort Young Hotel costs £765, including flights and transfers.

Posh hotels in St Lucia

St Lucia is the Caribbean’s latest Alist getaway. Susan d’Arcy tries the island’s new super-luxe hotels

Background

• What’s new in the Caribbean

• Mother's day in the Caribbean

• Jamaica's culinary feasts

• Going solo in a Caribbean health club

10 Caribbean islands with direct flights

Don't spend half your week in the sun waiting for connecting flights.Chris Haslam picks the true fly-and-flops in the tropics

Background

• 10 Caribbean islands with direct flights

• Under canvas in the Caribbean

• Ship shape in the Caribbean

• Kids and a posh Caribbean resort

• In deep, in the Caymans

Related Links

• Jamaica's culinary feasts

Turtles on Antigua
Jumby Bay Island, just off the Antigua coast, is a wildlife haven and nesting site for hawksbill turtles. Guests at the island’s luxurious resort can choose to be on permanent “turtle watch”, and are woken on the magical nights when females emerge from the sea to lay their eggs in the sand. Enthusiasts can join the “Turtle Team”, who tag and record data on the turtles. There are no cars on the island, the beaches are some of Antigua’s best, and the turtle excitement is the limit of the nightlife.
Details: Western & Oriental (0870 4991122, www.westernoriental.com). A week’s all inclusive at Jumby Bay in a deluxe room with plunge pool and open-air bathroom costs £2,446.

Revolutionary Cuba A Revolutionary Trails journey follows in the footsteps of Fidel and Che. The itinerary includes a three-day trek through stunning landscape in the remote Sierra Maestra. The trip also takes in the towns of Santiago and Vinales, and some R&R on the beach at Cayo Levisa before ending in Havana.
Details: Explore (0844 4990901, www.explore.co.uk). The 15-day trip includes flights, transport, accommodation, breakfast and some meals.

Island-hopping on Honduras
Roatan, Guanaja and Utila, the so-called Bay Islands, are part of one of the longest fringing reef systems in the world – blissful palm-fringed coral pinpricks surrounded by powdery white sand and limpid water. You can make day trips by boat between the islands, and combine the holiday with a stay at a lodge in the Pico Bonito cloud forest on mainland Honduras.
Details: Trips Worldwide (0117-311 4400, www.tripsworldwide.co.uk). A 12-day trip costs £2,045, including three nights’ half board at Pico Bonito Lodge at La Ceiba in the rainforest and a week’s B&B at Las Rocas on Roatan, flights via Madrid and transfers.

Cutting-edge St Lucia
The Cricket World Cup this year seems to have been the catalyst for building a handful of cutting-edge new hotels on this beautiful, yet still relatively undeveloped island. None is more astonishing than Jade Mountain, a scattering of individual bungalows reached by catwalks and bridges. Each of these so-called sanctuaries is an extravagant sweep of space between fibre optic-lit whirlpools, with infinity pools facing St Lucia’s twin Piton mountains.
Details: Caribtours (020-7751 0660, www.caribtours.co.uk). A week’s stay in an infinity pool suite at Jade Mountain, including breakfast, private transfers and flights on BA or Virgin, costs £3,256.

All prices are per person based on two sharing, and are for sample dates over the coming months.