Why We're Traveling to the Caribbean Right Now

There are endless reasons to make Caribbean travel plans. Made up of over 7,000 islands and 13 countries—with six official languages spoken across them—there is, quite truly, something for every type of traveler. Ruled by your stomach? Choose between jerk chicken in Jamaica, salt fish fritters in Martinique, or lechón in Cuba. Prefer to follow the music? Look no further than Trinidad’s Carnival, where you’ll find soca music blasting through the streets. Prefer to spend all that hard-earned PTO at a secluded, luxury resort? Well, you don’t need us to tell you how many choices there are.

Of course, it hasn’t been easy for the region in recent years, and nowhere has taken more of a battering than Puerto Rico. Still recovering from hurricanes María and Irma in 2017, this past January it endured a brutal series of earthquakes. Travel to Cuba, meanwhile, is suddenly more confusing, thanks to President Trump’s increase in travel restrictions, but as Tony Perrottet writes, the country’s creative and culinary scenes continue to flourish in spite of it. Needless to say, the best way for us to support both of these places is to continue to travel there—not only to inject tourist dollars into their economies, but so that we can experience them, feel a connection with them, and learn from them.

Which is exactly why we travel in the first place. Keep on reading for eight stories that explore what Caribbean travel looks like today—from new flight routes to help you reach the smallest of isles, to the road trip to take, the village to hide away in, and the destinations to keep an eye on.
—Lale Arikoglu