Villa Rentals
Caribbean villa rentals provide privacy with plenty of room and a lower cost per person.Caribbean Diving Resorts
Caribbean Resorts and Scuba Diving - A website with information and reviews on vacation resorts, dive schools, restaurants and more for the Caribbean. Visit http://caribbean-diving.com.Caribbean Attractions and Things to Do
It pays to plan ahead with Caribbean attractions, whether you are visiting by cruise or staying a week or more.
Click on a destination to the right for things to do at every destination.
10 Best Caribbean Destinations for Attractions
St. Maarten
Unique attractions include Bay of Grand Case, sailing ventures to nearby St. Barths and Anguilla, and the panoramic views of historic Fort Louis.
Barbados
Attractions include Harrison's Cave; Flower Forest with a botanical garden and nature trail; and Andromeda Natural Gardens.Belize
Belize attractions include many Mayan ruins in addition to its famous cave tubing. It also promotes caving as a tourist attraction.Bahamas
Bahamas attractions include Exuma Caves Land & Sea Park, Lucayan National Park and Hamilton's Settlement.
Cancun
Unique Cancun attractions include the nearby Mayan ruins of Calakmul, Chichén-Itzá, Palenque, Tulum and Uxmal.Cayman Islands
Unique Cayman Islands attractions include caving, a botanic park, the Cayman Turtle Farm with 16,000 sea turtles and Pedro St. James Historic Site.Puerto Rico
Major attractions include Old San Juan, the Bacardi Rum Tour for rum connoisseurs and the gigantic Arecibo radio telescope.Cozumel
Visitors who don't want to snorkel or dive the reefs can go into the center of the island to experience the jungle and lagoons.Antigua
Antigua attractions include historical Sea View Farm Village and Shirley Heights with its military fortifications and overlook of English Harbour.Aruba
Besides the beautiful beaches, Aruba has 42 scuba-diving spots and an array of other water-based recreational activities.
Types of Caribbean Attractions
The Caribbean's most famous attractions offer a chance for vacationers to embrace nature, go adventuring and experience wildlife up close.
People who take western Caribbean cruises will have the chance to try two activities popular on Central American stops -- canopying and cave tubing.
Canopying is common in countries such as Honduras and Costa Rica. Visitors climb a ladder up a tree as high as 100 feet into the air. They are strapped to zip lines and glide from one tree to another with views of rain forests, monkeys and mountains.
Cave tubing in Belize is the most popular adventure excursion in the country. Visitors go to Sibun Caves Branch Archaeological Park, where they jump into a grotto, sink into a large inner tube, and float down a river and through a series of dark caves once used by Mayans for religious ceremonies.
A half dozen destinations including Cancun and the Bahamas offer visitors a chance to swim with trained dolphins in large enclosed pens.
Another swimming adventure is in Barbados, which is one of the few locations with excursions to swim with giant sea turtles that have become comfortable having people in the water with them.
Various snorkeling trips at places like the U.S. Virgin Islands might provide a chance at spotting barracudas.
At Stingray City off Grand Cayman, vacationers can take excursion boats out to a sandbar where a large school of sting ray have become used to swimming with people and even touching them. Visitors jump into the water, which is only three or four feet deep, and go snorkeling with the sting rays.
The most famous waterfalls in the Caribbean is located on Jamaica at Dunn's River Falls. Visitors climb the waterfalls in a daisy chain of people. The climb up the rocks and through the splashing water is 600 feet and challenging, but it draws all ages and anyone who is moderately fit.
Other islands have numerous and sometimes more challenging hikes through rain forests before reaching waterfalls. Islands with well-known falls include St. Lucia, Trinidad, Dominica and Grenada.
Anyone with an interest in history will find Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, as a starting point for understanding the history of the Caribbean. Sites include the forts of San Cristobal and El Morro, both built in the 1500s; and La Fortaleza, also built in the 1500s and the oldest governor's mansion in the Western Hemisphere still in use.
Many other Caribbean destinations such as the British Virgin Islands still have forts, buildings and churches dating back centuries to the time of the original Spanish, Dutch and British explorers.
