Perhaps because it’s half Dutch (the south) and half French (where the spelling is “Saint-Martin”), this island has two, if not more, personalities.

Shaped like the bottom half of a clamshell, this Turks and Caicos island lies southeast of The Bahamas, with which it was united at one point, and north of Cuba.

The most built-up of the three U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Thomas used to be known mainly for its nonstop shopping in Charlotte Amalie, where thousands of cruise ship passengers descend daily.

When The Affluent Traveler polled 3,000 readers a few months ago, readers said that above all, they wanted a beach escape. Where? The Caribbean.

Lunching at Tom Beach Hotel’s La Plage or Nikki Beach St Barth [sic], the sight of so many perfect bodies splashing in the surf between courses almost makes you ignore the artisanal pizza a stunning waitress has just served you. Welcome to St. Barthelemy—aka St. Barts, St. Barths, and St. Barth—where a disproportionate number of women are gorgeous and many of the men look either movie-star handsome or Wall Street rich. Or both.

Why are so many people hot to trot to Cuba? All sorts of reasons.

Seclusion is a luxury, but even a secluded getaway still has to offer enough stimulation—activities, dramatic surroundings, delicious food, snappy service, some other select escapists for companionship—so people don’t feel merely isolated or bored.

The reason Recommend’s November 2011 article about five single-island resorts is still so useful is that when resorts are this successful, owners think twice before making radical changes.

Some employees at Atlantis, Paradise Island, carry business cards that say, “Core Value #1: blow away the customer,” and that’s exactly what Atlantis does.

It’s my daughter’s sweet 16, so we let her choose the family vacation, and she wanted to come back here,” says the woman at one of the picnic tables during the Friday night beach party.