These are unusual times, and the state of affairs can change quickly. Please check the latest travel guidance before making your journey. Our writers visited these hotels pre-pandemic.
If you’re after a long-haul beach holiday with an excellent spa at your hotel, an Indian Ocean or Asian destination may first spring to mind. But the Caribbean can also definitely fulfil your wishes. The region’s islands have a wide selection of luxurious hotels with outstanding spas, offering state-of-the-art facilities and expert treatments, often using natural, local products. The settings for massages, such as in a rainforest or a tropical garden, right by the sea or next to a palm-dotted beach, can be memorable too. Here’s our pick of the best spa hotels in the Caribbean.
Sugar Beach
Soufriere, Saint Lucia
Nestled between St Lucia’s landmark Pitons on a former sugar plantation, this luxurious hotel is all about tropical elegance, from the palm-backed beaches to plunge pools with every room, suite and villa. Facilities include a vast main pool, watersports (snorkelling in the bay is first rate), tennis courts, and a memorable spa with seven treehouse treatment rooms perched above the forest floor. Local ingredients such as banana, coconut, cocoa butter and aloe vera are used in some therapies which span bamboo massages to hot rock therapies. It’s a remarkable setting for some me-time, especially when the kids are kept busy with plenty of supervised activities elsewhere.
From
£
423
per night
Rates provided by
Booking.com
Four Seasons Resort Nevis
Saint Kitts and Nevis
With an immaculate golf course, three pools, 10 tennis courts and the long white sands of Pinney’s Beach there’s no shortage of things to enjoy at this sporty and family-friendly resort. But when it comes to rejuvenating down time, the palatial spa complex tempts with peaceful pools and spacious restful outdoor relaxation areas. Opt for the Caribbean Fusion massage with lemongrass and coconut milk ($175) or the Nevisian massage involving a foot cleanse, aromatic scrub (crafted from brown sugar, cinnamon, coconut and nutmeg) and soothing massage with long, flowing strokes ($190). A high level of service and luxurious accommodation keep the sensual feeling lasting longer.
From
£
347
per night
Rates provided by
Booking.com
Coral Reef Club
Saint James, Barbados
Unshowy elegance pervades the Coral Reef Club, an old-school, high-end hotel set in a dozen acres of glorious gardens on Barbados’ west coast. The classy, understated look and feel extends to the beautiful colonial-style spa, which, with its waterfalls and vegetation, feels perfectly integrated into its garden setting. The four treatment rooms have foot ritual patios – products use include local plants and fruit as well as the Natura Bissé range – and there is a steam room and outdoor hydro pool.
Yoga takes place here twice a week. There are also two big and attractive swimming pools set tranquilly in the grounds, a watersports centre (with diving on offer), two tennis courts and a gym.
Yoga takes place here twice a week. There are also two big and attractive swimming pools set tranquilly in the grounds, a watersports centre (with diving on offer), two tennis courts and a gym.
From
£
282
per night
Rates provided by
Booking.com
Carlisle Bay
Old Road, Antigua, Antigua and Barbuda
Carlisle Bay, tucked away on its own south-coast beach, sets a standard for Caribbean hotels with its sophisticated, stylish interiors and a fabulously restrained spa. Many Caribbean spas tend to be a little dated or gaudy, but the Cara Organic Beauty Spa, like the rest of this hotel, oozes a steely glamour. There are facials using super brand ESPA and you can also dabble with wraps, scrubs and massages. Can’t decide? They offer a 120-minute “Pepperpot of Massages” ($255) where hot lava stone, foot reflexology, Indian head, and West Indian body massages are combined. Uniquely, there are treatments for teens too, plus a yoga pavilion, wet room and sauna. Small but oh-so-sweet.
From
£
299
per night
Rates provided by
Booking.com
The BodyHoliday
Cap Estate, Saint Lucia
At most hotels, spa treatments cost extra. But at The BodyHoliday, one of the Caribbean’s best-equipped all-inclusive hotels near St Lucia’s northern tip, the rates include a 50-minute treatment each day, plus yoga, pilates and tai chi sessions, and a host of sporty activities. The award-winning spa is a sight to behold, resembling a mini-Alhambra, featuring 36 treatment rooms, a thalassotherapy pool, Ayurvedic temple, yoga decks and a ‘body science’ clinic. The daily programme of activities and classes is extensive to say the least: there’s a tennis centre, golf (driving nets and pitch and putt), watersports galore, cycling, fencing and much more. Expect good food and comfy rooms.
From
£
449
per night
Sandy Lane
Saint James, Barbados
It’s all about conspicuous luxury, shameless pampering and glamour in this famous hotel on the west coast of Barbados. Everything – from an underwater sound system in the vast swimming pool, to golf carts kitted out with GPS systems – is no expense spared and the levels of service is nothing less than astonishing. Among the plethora of facilities, the extraordinarily overblown Romanesque spa
has 11 treatment rooms, all with private gardens or outdoor plunge pools, and there’s a sauna, steam room (sometimes used for rhassoul treatments) and large communal hydrotherapy pool.
has 11 treatment rooms, all with private gardens or outdoor plunge pools, and there’s a sauna, steam room (sometimes used for rhassoul treatments) and large communal hydrotherapy pool.
From
£
737
per night
Laluna
St George’s, Grenada
This intimate, luxury hotel by a secluded beach in south-west Grenada offers a casual-chic ambience. It’s the island’s premier, top-end romantic hideaway, so an unsurprisingly popular choice for honeymooning couples. You walk through a charming fruit and vegetable garden to reach the enticing Indonesian spa, which is half hidden into the tropical undergrowth behind the beach, and offers Balinese therapists, treatments and products. There’s also an open-air yoga pavilion behind the beach with yoga and Pilates sessions on offer most days, as well as a gym and watersports.
From
£
256
per night
Rates provided by
Booking.com
Cheval Blanc St-Barth Isle de France
Saint Barthélemy
Cheval Blanc St-Barth Isle de France is one of a select group of properties owned by LVMH Group that take pride in offering exceptional service and a customised guest experience. Rituals by Guerlain are performed in four treatment rooms and the spa garden pavilion, along with a sauna, an
outdoor relaxation pavilion and a spa terrace. Treatments are tailored specifically to guests’ needs, with signature offerings including a tiaré flower-fragranced exfoliating “Sun-Kissed Ritual” massage that claims to repair and moisturise your skin for a longer-lasting tan and “The Traveller’s Ritual” designed to help with the effects of jet lag.
outdoor relaxation pavilion and a spa terrace. Treatments are tailored specifically to guests’ needs, with signature offerings including a tiaré flower-fragranced exfoliating “Sun-Kissed Ritual” massage that claims to repair and moisturise your skin for a longer-lasting tan and “The Traveller’s Ritual” designed to help with the effects of jet lag.
From
£
663
per night
Zemi Beach House Hotel & Spa
Anguilla
The stand-out attraction at this four-storey, family-friendly resort is its soul-soothing spa centred on a 300 year-old wooden house shipped from Thailand. With five treatment rooms, the Zemi Thai Spa House is set in a walled garden with a yoga deck, vitality pool, juice bar and what’s said to be the largest hammam in the Caribbean. The menu includes body massages, healing rituals and scrubs and the therapists are talented and thorough. Other resort facilities include a palm-lined main pool with a zigzagged design that is lit up at night in cheerful colours. Add in unfussy rooms, two restaurants, a rum bar, three pools and a tennis court and guests have little need to stray further.
From
£
365
per night
Rates provided by
Booking.com
The Rockhouse
Negril, Jamaica
On the ragged limestone cliffs overlooking the translucent water of Negril’s West End, The Rockhouse is a delightful spot where paths meander to the thatched cottages, dining rooms, shady nooks and sunbathing areas. Hidden in the gardens is an award-winning spa with three double treatment rooms (plus two cabanas on the cliff edge for a massage with a sea view), and a bathing pavilion. Treatments use all-natural, Caribbean-made products, and holistic therapies are both unique and unusual, featuring Table Thai (Nuat Thai), Herbal Poultice Massage (Luk Pra Kope), and a Steamy Wonder sauna experience.
From
£
88
per night
Silversands Grenada
St George’s, Grenada
Silversands backs onto Grenada’s best beach, and has an impressively long swimming pool, soothing, high-tech bedrooms and vast, indulgent villas with private pools. A snazzy addition is its elaborate spa complex, complete with a large swimming pool in a courtyard setting, a gym, sauna, steam room, ice cave and experience shower (press buttons and you get various lights, music and jets of water), plus four treatment rooms that manage to have a slightly cave-like feel but also natural light. The Swedish massage is highly recommended.
From
£
617
per night
Rates provided by
Mr & Mrs Smith
Contributions by James Henderson & Nigel Tisdall