San Juan, Aruba, Barbados, Philipsburg, St. Kitts

Aruba is the Caribbean, but with a charming rugged edge. Brightly coloured houses, vibrant street life and a distinct buzz in the air, are all part of the experience when you visit the capital Oranjestad.You can walk at the Schooner Market and watch merchants sell exotic fruit and fresh fish direct from tiny boats. Aruba is beaches, sun and shopping along Main Street and Lloyd G. Smith Boulevard.Arikok National Park, Aruba's natural treasure, covers nearly one-fifth of the island and is home to rare endemic flaura and fauna, caves for exploring, hiking and ragged, wind-torn bits of coastline for mountain climbing.

Our stop at Bridgetown Barbados will reveal the British influence most directly in the historic old section of town, which has been singled out as aUNESCO World Heritage Site. Among other highlights, take a visi at the Barbados Museum and the Careenage district, with its bars and restaurants. While in Barbados, you will see various remnants and influences of the English settlerswho arrived in what is now Bridgetown in 1628: Cricket is the national sport, afternoon tea is 
a given, and motorists hug left. Before leaving, you can visit a rum distillery or take a tour to Bathsheba Pools.

Philipsburg is the capital of the Dutch section of the island Saint Maarten, which, geographically 60% percent French and 40% Dutch.

This Caribbean gem lies between clear Caribbean Sea and the Great Salt Pond, on a gentle arc of land with a saltwater lake to the north and a bay to the south.  There is an esplanade running alongside a white sand beach, giving you the opportunity to choose either shopping or sunning. You can do exciting shopping at the duty-free boutiques of Front Street, one of the great shopping avenues of the Caribbean and search the quaint clothes boutiques or browse for duty-free bargains. Outside town, you can choose from one of the island's nearly 40 beaches, such as Mullet Bay, which is one of the nicest. 

Part of the Windward Island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis, the busy port of Bassterre eases along a sheltered bay surrounded by green hills and mountains, in a setting that's all Caribbean. Highlights of the town include Independence Square, the old section of town; the Circus, a main shopping district; and St. George's Anglican Church, built and rebuilt in the 300 years since its initial construction. The British and the French played keep-away with the island of St. Kitts in the 17th and 18th centuries, with the British ultimately controlling the island, its capital, Basseterre, and Fort Brimstone, the "Gibraltar of the West Indies", located on Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site of historical, cultural and architectural significance.