BARBADOS

Gentle hills roll right down to rosy shores in Barbados, and a colonial past offers a host of historical attractions, from small villages rife with charm to old sugar mills and restored plantation estates that hark back to the 1600s.

Get a taste of the UK with a cricket match, the national sport of the sovereign island country. Take in a leisurely afternoon tea, where tiers of pastries and finger sandwiches break the view of the tropical waters before you ... or make time for “tee” instead with championship golfing under an average of 3,000 annual hours of sun. Next, take the white glove off and trade it in for your best jacket for dinner on the Platinum Coast—the 15-mile Millionaires’ Playground—before tossing it aside to dance with abandon to live reggae and calypso, even more lively during Crop Over. Enjoy the melodies; they play over the harmony of British elegance and Bajan hospitality where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Caribbean Sea.