Bajan Bliss

The island is neither unmanageably large like Cuba nor a glorified sandbank. Rather, it's just right, with enough historical heritage and ecosystems to keep the most sunbed-phobic explorer busy for a week.

There are colonial-era reminders in the elegant plantation estates of the hilly interior and a very differing vibe on the starkly contrasting east and west coasts. As the outlier of the Windward Island chain that breaks south towards South America, Barbados's east coast is the first landfall for any waves crossing the Atlantic and retains a windswept and sparsely populated feel. For those who prefer someone around to watch them strut their stuff, the protected west coast is where the glamour is at and is, accordingly, home to some of the priciest real estate anywhere in the western hemisphere.

A string of eye-wateringly expensive hotels, chic restaurants, golf course resorts and polo fields lines this idyllic palm-fringed coastline all the way from the famous '3 Ws' roundabouts outside the airport (celebrating Bajan cricket heroes of old in Walcott, Weekes and Worrell) to the northern tip of the island.

But in amongst the bling there are some hidden hotel gems, and needless to say we can point you in the right direction. There are, perhaps even more surprisingly, some wonderful little restaurants off the beaten track that don't set you back an arm and a leg - most celebrated of all being Doris's Place, a shack beside the north-south coast road serving whatever happened to have been the catch of the day in super laidback surroundings but guaranteed to be as good as a meal as you have all stay on the island.