Secret Caribbean Island Vacations

It’s freezing out, you’re pale, but who wants to sit on a beach with throngs of tourists? Enjoy isolated relaxation at one of these seven spots before any of your co-workers has been there.

Tree-Hop on Dominica
Dominica, floating in the Caribbean a few miles north of Martinique, is known as nature island. More than half of it is a teeming oceanic rain forest, and it’s home to the eastern Caribbean’s first Unesco world heritage site, Morne Trois Pitons National Park, as well as the world’s second-largest hot spring, the appropriately named Boiling Lake. Hikers of all levels can try a portion of the Waitukubuli National Trail. Along the route’s 14 segments—covering 115 miles bisecting the length of the island—you can see seven waterfalls and climb 56 mountain passes.
Stay Here: At luxurious Secret Bay, designed by Venezuelan architect Fruto Vivas to minimize environmental impact, six villas blend into the hillside. Guests fill out detailed surveys before they arrive so the fridge is stocked with fish, fruit, and wine of their choosing.
+767 445-4444; secretbay.dm; from $517 per unit per night, including two meals daily.
Getting There: The island’s Melville Hall Airport is less than an hour on a puddle-jumper from Antigua, Barbados, St. Maarten, Guadeloupe, or Martinique.