Top Things to Do in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Without a doubt, the best way to see the majesty of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is from a yacht. Spend eight days aboard a sailing catamaran with Culture Trip where you’ll have the chance to snorkel with turtles at Mayreau, sip cocktails at sunset and swim in a tropical waterfall. Raise the anchor and let the captain and crew do the work, while you sunbathe on deck.

Rocky cliffs plunge into the ocean, creating sheer drama above and below the water on the leeward side of Saint Vincent. Just south of Buccament Bay is an unassuming fissure in the shallow water along the shoreline, which opens up into a narrow passageway through the point. As you swim through, hundreds of bats click and chirp with the sounds of echolocation above your head. Light filters through the opening of the narrow 9m-long (30ft) tunnel, where the seabed drops off onto a vibrant reef.

The interior of Saint Vincent is teeming with life. Deep, fertile valleys overflow with tropical rainforest and rise up to sharp, undulating peaks blanketed in mist. Montreal Gardens, high in the mountains above the Mesopotamia Valley, is a wonderland of waxy ginger lilies and broad, umbrella-like plants. Pathways weave among towering palms, orchids clinging to their sides, lizards jumping between ferns and bromeliads collecting miniature pools of water.

The island of Mustique, awash with the luxurious holiday homes of royalty and celebrities, respects the privacy of its residents. Public access is mostly limited to the main village in Britannia Bay, where you’ll find chic boutiques, a decadent bakery and one of Mick Jagger’s favorite hangouts, Basil’s Bar. Palm thatched roofs sit stilted over the bay where waves lap at the sandy shoreline – the perfect place for a sunset cocktail and spotting A-listers.

A series of five small uninhabited islands make up the shallow Tobago Cays, one of the most picturesque yachting destinations in the Grenadines. The whole atoll is a marine protected area and is surrounded by a shallow barrier reef of sea fans and finger corals. Sea turtles flock to the calm interior of the bay, where they munch on seagrass, unperturbed by curious snorkellers.

Is there anything better than watching the sun set over the Caribbean Sea with a plate full of freshly caught lobster hot off the grill, sand between your toes and palm trees rustling in the cool trade winds overhead? We think you know the answer. Local fishermen in the Tobago Cays set up their grills and picnic tables on the west side of Petit Bateau for a dining experience you won’t forget in a hurry.

Precipitous views are hard to come by when sailing in the Grenadines, but the one from atop the Pinnacle on Union Island more than makes up for it. A three-hour return trip, the hike up is mostly a straightforward walk, until the final ascent when the elevation increases dramatically. Some scrambling, sturdy shoes and a good dose of fearlessness is required to make it to the summit for the 360-degree view of the island, it’s surrounding turquoise waters and the Tobago Cays beyond.

Happy Island, just on the outskirts of Clifton Harbour on Union Island, is a bar and island of its own. Perched precariously upon an enormous pile of discarded conch shells, it appears to be almost growing out of the shallow reef. Jolly bartenders serve free-flowing cocktails while, on busy days, local kitesurfers put on an impressive show, jumping over the length of the island and plucking drinks from the hands of onlookers mid-air.