First time to the Caribbean, where to go?

I recently went to the Caribbean this summer, so I have many suggestions.

For a nice warm place with lots of beach and nice resorts - ARUBA!

Aruba has extremely nice beaches and everyone there is extremely pleasant to be around. They have very nice cute little shopping centers that you can go to, it's a very down to earth island. When I was there I visited the famous island chapel, the oldest lighthouse on the island, and I go to see the island from a beautiful view known as Casibari Rock!

My personal favorite is St. Maarten! The beaches there are to die for! The water is so clear and beautiful! I actually went to St. Maarten in early March and it was still extremely warm so you can count that it will be warm if you go. I also really loved St. Maarten because I got to swim with dolphins there! It was great, I believe there are a lot of similar opportunities throughout the island.

For shopping and even more clear water St. Thomas is your destination! There are lots of cool animals and clear beaches with white sand, and its so warm there. St. Thomas also has a lot of very ethnic foods, it's sometimes called delicious St. Thomas!

This summer I also went to Curacao! I went to a very cool family are collection, the family has gone all over the world collecting art. I also got to sample some fruit that tasted similar to grapes. There I also saw an AMAZING botanical garden, they fed us delicious juice that was actually squeezed from a flower!

Lastly, I also visited Dominica! Which was extremely fun! I got to go down the longest river on the island on a tube, it was like white water rafting. It's called Wacky Rollers Tubing I believe, if you go you should definitely give that a try!

Hope I helped.

HAVE FUN!

The southern Caribbean is certainly a better guarantee of very warm weather, but if you're only taking 4-6 nights you don't want to spend two days traveling to and fro. For a short trip, go to Riviera Maya or St. Thomas.

The previous poster talked about St. Thomas a bit, but didn't mention that St. John is just a short water taxi ride away. About 80% of ST. John is a national park. It's very nice with good snorkeling. You can also buy duty free jewelry in St. Thomas. Ask the taxi driver to take you to the jewelry street, they are all in one small area. Great deals and they negotiate.

Riviera Maya generally refers to the area south of Cancun ( you fly into Cancun or Cozumel) including Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, Tulum and much more. I would stay in Playa. It is central to everything. You can take the ferry to the island of cozumel and go scuba diving or snorkeling. Take a jeep and drive around the island to see the untouched beaches on the east side. Just gorgeous. There are many historical ruins in the area as well as swimming with dolphins, ziplines, almost anything you could ask for.

Have a great time.

You should look into islands in the Southern Caribbean. It's absolutely beautiful! Maybe you can look into some all-inclusive resorts on one of the islands so that you won't have to worry about food outside of your hotel and most resorts are right on the beach. It should be very warm, also, because they're closer to the equator than we are :)

hands down its got to be cozumel..first time to the carribean you will get more than you want with the night life and the pristine beautiful beaches...rent a jeep and travel all around the island..stopping at all of the beaches along the way, many of which are deserted....great place...great snorkeling..lots of fun.

well i am from Puerto Rico so i recommend you Puerto Rico as an option, But ive been to almost every Caribbean island and my absolute favorite is Aruba so thats what i truly recommend you and one good thing about Aruba is that the island is small so everything is close but don't think that because its small in size its small in fun and entertainment.

try cozumel