Saint George's

Saint George's needs 2 days: the Carenage, its horseshoe-shaped bay ringed by red-roofed colonial houses, on one, and an excursion to a spice plantation to see nutmeg cultivation -which gives the island its nickname- on the other. December-April is best. It's mid-priced for the Caribbean. Considered one of the prettiest bays in the Caribbean, it produces around a third of the world's nutmeg despite its small size, and its colonial old town of overlapping French and British forts reflects centuries of dispute between both empires over the island.