This Beneath-the-radar Caribbean Island Is About to Turn into the Subsequent Large Vacation spot

As I sat poolside studying a ebook, I seen an older man with silver locs strolling alongside the seaside. He was carrying a white bucket and instantly I knew what it held. With a wave of my hand, I captured his consideration. “Do you may have any Julie mangoes?” He checked out me with a smile and mentioned, “Fortunate for you, I’ve one left.” The island woman in me was content material: sand, solar, and a candy Julie mango. 

Probably the most southern of the Caribbean’s Windward Islands, Grenada is not any stranger to tourism. However the previous few years have taken the island from an insider vacation spot to a spot on the tip of everybody’s tongues — together with my very own. “Grenada is having a renaissance. I’ve all the time thought it was an incredible island, however it’s actually Grenada to the world proper now. Tourism is booming,” says Petra Roach, CEO of the Grenada Tourism Authority. 

Considered one of my favourite locations to remain on the island is Silversands Grand Anse, which opened in 2018. I’m an individual of Caribbean descent — my household is Haitian and Guyanese — and the resort has turn out to be an extension of house in the course of the 5 years I’ve been visiting. The wow-worthy property, which has the longest infinity pool within the Caribbean, is only one of many luxurious inns which have popped up on the “Spice Island” in recent times.

In February, I flew to Grenada to go to Silversands Seaside Home, which had simply made its debut on Portici Seaside. The property has the minimalist feel and look of its sibling in Grand Anse, however feels a world away. Whereas the Seaside Home doesn’t have a grand infinity pool on the entrance, the seemingly infinite blue water of Portici wasn’t a nasty alternative. 

Once I arrived, Azzuro restaurant, which overlooks the seaside, was buzzing with workers getting ready for lunch, however I didn’t have to attend till then to eat, as a result of that they had already ready a plate of panko-crusted coconut shrimp — a favourite of mine from the opposite location. My villa was on the heart of the seaside, with views excellent for sunrises, and much sufficient from the pool that I felt like I used to be in a bubble. 

Nevertheless, on this go to there can be no bubbles. After just a few days at Grand Anse, I drove an hour north to St. David parish and Six Senses La Sagesse. This sprawling, village-style resort is the primary Six Senses outpost within the Caribbean, with grounds enveloped by two pristine seashores and a lagoon. As I headed to my hillside pool suite, I made word of the dried nutmeg shells that had been sprinkled on prime of the flower beds and added a pleasing aroma to the air, and of the brand new lodge below building subsequent door — an InterContinental resort, scheduled to open in 2025. 

Worldwide hospitality manufacturers aren’t the one ones serving to Grenada make its mark. Barry Collymore, proprietor and govt chairman of Mount Cinnamon Seaside Resort, is worked up in regards to the property’s latest suite and villa upgrades — however is extra happy with his one hundred pc Caribbean workers. “We had been importing all the abilities, and as I did my analysis across the islands, I noticed that it was a fairly widespread factor,” he says. 

To deal with this, he launched the West Indies Faculty of Hospitality in 2021. “We’ve been capable of grant 2,000 scholarships, many to proficient Grenadians,” Collymore says. 

Airways have been noticing Grenada’s rise additionally. In 2023 JetBlue elevated its service from New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport and Boston Logan Worldwide Airport, making entry to Grenada from the East Coast even simpler.

The tourist-focused actions enable guests to have a good time the candy facet of the island, like viewing the well-known Molinere Underwater Sculpture Park with regionally owned Savvy Crusing, or having fun with a five-course meal at Dexter’s Restaurant, positioned in chef Dexter Burris’s home. He and his crew share laughs, tales, and regionally flavored dishes on the 2 quaint balconies that overlook the streets beneath. The expertise feels extra like a Sunday meal at grandma’s home than a conventional restaurant second, and that’s the appeal. 

That appeal may also be discovered at St. George’s market, the place guests should cease to seize the island’s foremost export, nutmeg. It may also be discovered beneath the tranquil Seven Sister Waterfalls and within the tales of girls farmers at GRENROP, a corporation that helps the manufacturing of money crops. As Grenadian publicist Yvette Noel-Schure places it: “Once I see nutmeg from Grenada, I’m related to the land, to the soil, and to my previous. I’m related to being a farmer’s granddaughter and realizing that my training was paid for with the sale of nutmeg, cocoa, and bananas.” 

Like Roach, Collymore, and lots of different Grenadians, Noel-Schure desires to share her homeland with the world, however is concurrently protecting of it. “I’m an elitist on the subject of Grenada,” she says. “This nation is for particular individuals. And I’m not speaking about shade or earnings. You simply need to have a superb spirit about you and a pleasure in your coronary heart, as a result of Grenada is particular.” 

A model of this story first appeared within the December 2024/January 2025 situation of Journey + Leisure below the headline “Prepared for Prime Time.”