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Solo travel in the Caribbean

The Caribbean, Island by Island

The Caribbean is where I keep returning. Not to one island but to many of them, each with its own language, its own currency, its own pace and its own way of greeting someone who arrives without company. From a distance they blur into a single postcard. Up close they could hardly be more different.

This page gathers every Caribbean guide on the site, grouped by where the islands sit and what they share, so you can choose the one that suits the trip you have in mind rather than the one with the loudest marketing.

Choosing an island

Not sure where to start? These two compare the islands side by side, one on the overall solo experience, one on safety alone.

The ABC islands 3

Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao lie off the coast of Venezuela, south of the main hurricane tracks. Dry, wind-scoured and Dutch in their bones, they share Papiamentu as a first language and are among the easiest islands in the region to arrive in alone.

The eastern Caribbean 4

The smaller islands of the eastern arc, from Antigua and Barbados to St. Martin, an island that belongs to two countries at once. Its French and Dutch sides each get a guide of their own.

The big islands 6

Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico: the Greater Antilles, where the Caribbean has cities, mountains and music of its own, and where a good trip asks for a little more planning.

Where the Caribbean meets Latin America 6

Islands and coastline that face the Caribbean but belong to Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua and Colombia, from the resort strip of Cancún to islands you reach only by ferry or small plane.