What island is going to change my life and make me never want to take another mainland USA beach trip again?

[Anonymous]

Balos beach on Crete.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bali if you can deal with the long flights to get there. Has both beaches and rain forests, which very few places mentioned in this thread can claim. Plus the exchange rate is quite good.

Puerto Rico has both and the added benefit of being a fairly short direct flight from DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bali if you can deal with the long flights to get there. Has both beaches and rain forests, which very few places mentioned in this thread can claim. Plus the exchange rate is quite good.

Where did you stay? We were thinking of doing SEA next spring or summer and would love to get any inputs!

If Ubud, Chedi Club or Four Seasons are great but if you have money to burn then there's always Mandapa and Amandari.

Along the beaches you have the Raffles, Andaz, and W.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where to stay in Cayman?

Seriously? There are better island beaches

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bali if you can deal with the long flights to get there. Has both beaches and rain forests, which very few places mentioned in this thread can claim. Plus the exchange rate is quite good.

Puerto Rico has both and the added benefit of being a fairly short direct flight from DC.

If you think the beaches in PR are all that, you need to travel more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cayman is beautiful and safe and easy to navigate on your own with a rental car.

St. Lucia has rough water and is not a safe island for tourists to navigate alone.

I mean. Yeah you can drive around but to where? Poverty and resorts and cruise ship towns, is my recollection of cayman. Stingrays were neat. But no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Catalina?? Really??

Catalina is adorable. Great place.

[Anonymous]

My vote is Grenada! Somewhat off the beaten path for the Caribbean- which means you can get good local food (it really is spice island)or do more international if that’s your thing. Excellent beaches, fantastic hiking and very chill. But if your preference is for active night life and casinos, that is lacking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Catalina?

For the wine mixer?

Only when I have to make my nut leasing helicopters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cayman is beautiful and safe and easy to navigate on your own with a rental car.

St. Lucia has rough water and is not a safe island for tourists to navigate alone.

I mean. Yeah you can drive around but to where? Poverty and resorts and cruise ship towns, is my recollection of cayman. Stingrays were neat. But no.

Poverty? Less than 1% live in poverty and it's the financial hub of the region. I can see disliking it for other reasons, but it’s pretty remarkable compared to the rest of the Caribbean how little poverty there is there. It's not one of the many places you leave the resort and people are living in hovels. Weird take.

[Anonymous]

Grace Bay Turks and Caicos has ruined me for other beaches. Just got back, and it's pure white sand, no seaweed or rocks in the ocean, you just sort of wade in and it's crystal clear water. Best beach I've ever been on. We didn't feel unsafe at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Grace Bay Turks and Caicos has ruined me for other beaches. Just got back, and it's pure white sand, no seaweed or rocks in the ocean, you just sort of wade in and it's crystal clear water. Best beach I've ever been on. We didn't feel unsafe at all.

Oh and another thing - my husband is a big scuba diver and he said it was the best he'd ever seen. We did a boat where you could see the reef from the bottom and it was great to see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Grace Bay Turks and Caicos has ruined me for other beaches. Just got back, and it's pure white sand, no seaweed or rocks in the ocean, you just sort of wade in and it's crystal clear water. Best beach I've ever been on. We didn't feel unsafe at all.

But your teen was bored?

[Anonymous]

Svalbard!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Grace Bay Turks and Caicos has ruined me for other beaches. Just got back, and it's pure white sand, no seaweed or rocks in the ocean, you just sort of wade in and it's crystal clear water. Best beach I've ever been on. We didn't feel unsafe at all.

Oh and another thing - my husband is a big scuba diver and he said it was the best he'd ever seen. We did a boat where you could see the reef from the bottom and it was great to see.

I'm surprised by this. We just got back from Turks, and DH and my three big kids went diving, and they all thought it was just okay. I stayed back with our little one, and I think that we saw more snorkeling than they saw diving (like turtles).