With its smaller sister islands - Carriacou (13 square miles) and Petit Martinique (just 486 acres) - Grenada rests at the foot of the Windward Island chain in the Caribbean's deep south. If you can drag yourself away from its idyllic beaches and bays, take an eco-trip into the interior to see the spice plantations that have kept the world supplied with nutmeg. Cinnamon, cloves, pimento, ginger and vanilla are grown here, as are cocoa trees.

Back in the capital of St. George's, you can't fail to admire this harbour town, often voted the most attractive in the Caribbean. Spread around the busy working port like an amphitheatre, its pastel-coloured French villas line cobbled streets. For a change of scene, take the ferry to Carriacou, where you'll find life even more laid back than in Grenada. Travel on to Petit Martinique - population 1,000 - where things happen only when ships put in.