Despite its enduring popularity as a travel destination, the Caribbean remains widely misunderstood by visitors: If you’re only heading there to unplug on the beach or island-hop via a megacruise, it’s easy to focus on overtouristed hot spots and miss out on the nuances of what makes each island sing. But a slew of new openings promises to change all that by focusing not only on disconnecting from the stresses of life back home but also connecting with the melting-pot of cultures and varied ecosystems here on the ground.
New airports and airline routes are taking visitors to formerly harder-to-reach islands like South Caicos and Barbuda; cultural festivals promise to put burgeoning culinary and arts scenes in the international spotlight; and immersive resorts are reopening after devastating hurricanes. Here’s everything you need to know about what’s new and exciting in the Caribbean right now.
28 of the 52 guest rooms at Peter Island Resort offer direct access to the beach.
Courtesy of Peter Island Resort
Exciting hotel openings in Turks & Caicos, the British Virgin Islands, and beyond
One of the most exciting hotel stories in the region is the December 2024 reopening of Peter Island Resort, the largest private island resort in the British Virgin Islands, which had been closed since 2017 due to damage caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. A reimagined layout means that many of the 52 rooms and suites now offer direct access to the crescent-shaped Deadman’s Beach, and guests will be able to plan beach picnics, candlelit dinners in the sand, and afternoon tea with Caribbean specialties.
What hasn’t changed, however, is how the resort integrates the BVI’s outstanding views and natural wonders. “I tell guests not to miss Sunset Loop,” says general manager Ed Linsley of a high mountain peak where Adirondack chairs are set out to take in the views. “At sunset, we take guests up there with drinks and hors d’oeuvres—it’s a special way to kick off the evening.”
Off-island, Linsley says, the local boat charter business is coming back strong after so many lost their vessels in 2017. “It’s great to see these businesses thriving again and having so many charters sailing the BVI again.” For a day trip, he recommends sailing to the nearby island of Anegeda, about 15 nautical miles north of Virgin Gorda, where lobster farms destroyed by the storms are bouncing back, and then eating at the family-run Big Bamboo, which specializes in dishes like grilled lobster and conch fritters.
Elsewhere in the British Virgin Islands, Virgin Gorda’s Bitter End Yacht Club is expanding its intimate collection of accommodations, with the recent addition of four beach bungalows and six new lofts that are cantilevered over the water; a luxury spa and pool are in the works. From here, you’ll have easy access to Virgin Gorda’s unparalleled beaches, including the granite-boulder-strewn Baths and Devil’s Bay National Parks.
In Turks and Caicos, South Caicos island is set to welcome Salterra, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa in February 2025, with a design that’s inspired by the island’s natural salt flats (or salinas) that fueled the historic salt industry here. The palette is beachy and neutral with organic materials like coral and sisal, and activities range from cocktail- and ceviche-making classes to guided bonefishing excursions and diving tours to help coral cultivation and planting. In November, the Strand resort debuted on Providenciales, the most populated island in the Turks and Caicos chain, and this new member of the Leading Hotels of the World comprises villas, suites, and residences along Cooper Jack Bay; a few have their own infinity pools. Guests have access to a private marina, where they can book guided expeditions to the Caicos Bank atoll on a captained Boston Whaler boat.
On January 22, 2025, the 252-room St. Regis Aruba Resort opened its doors, complete with a casino, a spa, and bars and restaurants, including the Japanese Korean–accented Akira Back. And, of course, the location on Aruba’s Palm Beach will include all the St. Regis “rituals” you know and love, such as champagne sabering and a signature Bloody Mary. St. Regis is also expanding in the Dominican Republic, with a Cap Cana location taking reservations for stays from mid-April.
The brunch at Mar y Rosa includes brioche French toast with seasonal fruits and papaya marmalade.
Courtesy of Mar y Rosa
A rising culinary scene in Puerto Rico
San Juan is emerging as not only one of the most interesting food cities in the Caribbean but also across the United States. In 2023, Natalie Vallejo of Cocina al Fondo became the first Puerto Rican chef to win a James Beard Award, earning the title best chef in the South, and this spring, the city is hosting the inaugural Puerto Rico Wine & Food Festival for four days April 3–6.
Founder Robert Weakley promises a lineup that will showcase both established and emerging talents and innovation and tradition in cooking. “Host chef and Puerto Rico native Mario Pagán is an influential and respected leader in the community, and he’s paved the way for so many of the chefs joining us this year,” Weakley says. “We can’t wait for guests to experience the likes of James Beard finalists Gabriel Hernández of Verde Mesa [which bills itself as Old San Juan’s first farm-to-table restaurant] and Carlos Portela of [experimental tasting-menu spot] Orujo, alongside rising stars such as Raúl Correa of Bacoa and Abel Mendoza of Estela.”
Outside of the festival, Weakley says, “You should get to know chef Guillermo López Folch and his restaurant, Lala, which just celebrated its first anniversary. A lot of people first heard of Lala because of its connection to celebrity owner Bad Bunny, but it quickly became an island favorite.” The sprawling restaurant in the Mall of San Juan is known for its sophisticated design, raw bar, and 300-plus wine labels, with a menu that borrows liberally from global cuisines. Show-stopping dishes include burrata with tomato sorbet, yellowtail with XO sauce and mezcal-roasted pineapple, and a French omelette with Ibérico ham and black truffle gruyère.
Over in the beachfront Condado neighborhood, another buzzy newcomer is in the works at the 1950s-era tropical modernist gem, La Concha Resort. Here, a landmark, seashell-shaped building by architect Mario Salvadori is set to welcome a new Mediterranean-inspired restaurant called Levant from Michael White, who’s best known for his Michelin-starred spots like Marea. Other newcomers include the seafood-centric Mar y Rosa, which opened in May 2024 atop the recently opened Alma boutique hotel, and the farther-flung Aldeana, in the interior town of Cidra. The team incorporates ingredients grown right on the grounds for dishes like paella with white beans and mushrooms and alcapurrias (fritters) that more than justify the hour-long drive from San Juan.
Tour operator Abercrombie & Kent offers an intimate, 10-day trip to Havana, Cuba.
Photo by Spencer Everett
A Jamaican arts festival and the return of Cuba tours
Drawing influence from around the world, Caribbean cultures have yielded a particularly fascinating art scene, and while it might not get the attention of La Biennale di Venezia or the Whitney Biennial, Jamaica’s Kingston Biennial (running from now until June 29, 2025) is worth a visit. This year’s edition comes from a pair of curatorial heavy-hitters: O’Neil Lawrence, the chief curator of the National Gallery of Jamaica, and Ashley James, the Guggenheim’s first Black full-time curator, whose parents emigrated from Jamaica to New York in the 1970s.
Entitled Green X Gold, the biennial exhibition opened at the National Gallery in December, with works from Jamaican and other Caribbean artists and artists from the diaspora. The show takes its name from the colors of the flag and considers the dichotomy between outside perceptions of the islands as a “paradise” versus the oft-ignored ecological impacts of tourism.
In August 2024, Cuba launched its new e-visa program, which promises to streamline the often-convoluted process of getting approved for visits. Major tour companies have responded by returning to the island with new itineraries. After four years away, Tauck resumed its small-group tour operations with the seven-day Cuba: A Cultural Odyssey itinerary; it’s dedicated to what the company calls “people-to-people educational exchange,” meaning guests will get to meet and chat with members of a club for American vintage cars, a former baseball player, tobacco farmers, dance instructors, and more. Along the way, they’ll learn how to roll cigars, visit the house where Ernest Hemingway wrote The Old Man and the Sea, and shop for upcycled purses made from wooden cigar boxes.
Abercrombie & Kent, which pulled out of the island in 2019 due to travel regulations imposed by the first Trump administration, also returned with its new Cuba: People, Art & Culture tour. The 10-day tour takes guests far beyond the well-trodden streets of Old Havana to towns like Camagüey, where you’ll attend a private rehearsal of the renowned Camagüey Ballet, and Trinidad, where you can embrace the rural life at a traditional finca. (Note that the second Trump administration might once again impact travel to Cuba, and the possible end of commercial flights to Havana or the reclosing of the U.S. Embassy on the island.)
Barbuda is now easier to reach with a new airport—and a Nobu Hotel is expected by the end of the year.
Photo by Rick Jamison
New airports and airline routes
Due to the scattered geography of the Caribbean region, the presence of well-connected international airports and direct routes can make or break an island’s tourism prospects. Take, for example, Barbuda, which is most often reached via a 90-minute high-speed ferry (on a good day) from its sister island of Antigua. In October, a new $14 million airport replaced an outdated existing facility, and although it currently only serves smaller regional airlines, its 6,100-foot runway is expected to accommodate more international flights in the coming years. And with new resort developments, such as an in-the-works Nobu Hotel due to open by the end of 2025, there will be more demand than ever before on these sandy shores.
In the Turks and Caicos, the under-explored South Caicos island is also becoming far more accessible thanks to American Airlines’ new direct flights from Miami, which begin on February 15—the only nonstop service to the island from the United States. Most travelers enter the British Overseas Territory through the more-populated Providenciales.
American Airlines has been expanding rapidly in the region. In December, it became the only U.S. airline flying to La Romana, in southeastern Dominican Republic, offering easier access to resorts like Casa de Campo and its top-rated golf course Teeth of the Dog. That month, American also charted a new course with its direct flights from Charlotte and New York (JFK) to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, marking the first major U.S. airline to fly to the tropical volcanic paradise.
The archipelago is having a moment, thanks to the spring 2024 debut of the Sandals Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. “Sandals Saint Vincent is a game changer for Sandals Resorts, too,” Afar contributor Heather Greenwood Davis wrote in her recent review of the property. “Headquartered in Montego Bay, Jamaica, the brand has been a fixture in the Caribbean for more than 40 years, but many associate it with value for money at the expense of authenticity and sense of place. Sandals aims to change all that with the St. Vincent property, calling it an example of ‘Sandals 2.0.’ Sandals Saint Vincent aims to offer a new blueprint for future Sandals resorts, with everything from better design to more locally inspired culinary options.”
In February, United Airlines will kick off a new route from Newark to Dominica, which has been nicknamed “Nature Island of the Caribbean” for its abundant wildlife, rainforests, and second-largest hot spring lake in the world. Snorkelers and divers take note: Back in November 2023, the island nation announced the establishment of the world’s first sperm whale reserve, because this is one of the few places on the planet where you can see (and swim with!) these giants year-round.
Midwestern Delta loyalists can now escape the winter cold with new routes from Minneapolis–St. Paul to Aruba and St. Maarten, while JetBlue—the largest carrier in Puerto Rico—expanded with new flights between the island and Providence, Rhode Island; Westchester County, New York; Santiago, Dominican Republic; Medellín, Colombia; Cancún, Mexico; and St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.
