Fantasy Islands Close to Florida

Native fishing boat, Barbados

A short flight from Miami can take you virtually across the Atlantic: Sit in the gallery above a heated but civil debate in Parliament, nibble fresh baguettes and espresso in a French cafe or retreat inside a 350-year-old Spanish convent.

All of these pleasures await on the easygoing Caribbean islands off our coast. You’ll find strong vestiges of Europe, from the French, English and Spanish, of course, and also Dutch and Danish colonists. And there’s the spirit of Africa in the descendants of slaves who brought their music, cooking and rituals and East India, too, in the imported laborers who gave the culture more spice.

EXTRA

An Island for Everyone's Taste Whether you are a foodie, diver, explorer or a fashionista, an island has your dream on it.

Diving, bone fishing, wind surfing, lobster dinners and spa treatments fill most vacations, but if your golf game turns sour or beach boredom sets in, get out — or rather into — your island. Get a map, hire a car and turn on local music or flag a local jitney for encounters that all-inclusive resorts don’t include. Some islands have meet-the-locals programs, but you can also explore on your own. Here are a few I found beyond the tiki bar and the straw markets:

Cuisinière on parade, Guadeloupe

» Barbados. In portside Bridgetown, old timbered buildings hang over narrow 17th-century streets, and the large castellated buildings of the government have their own clock tower and statue of Lord Nelson. Red-striped Royal Barbados Police let me into the 1874 Parliament to watch honorables of government and opposition debate. You can catch first-rate cricket at the Kensington Oval, site of the 2007 World Cup, or a pickup match on a surfside pitch and play the ponies on the Garrison Savannnah. Driving across cane fields, I found antique-filled antebellum plantations, a dozen grand country church yards, sugar mills, distilleries and rum shops.

» Guadeloupe. Guadeloupe loves its cuisine of croissants and baguettes and wild thyme and trees of peppers strong enough to cook seven court bouillons. You can taste the blend of France and West Africa in humble markets and gourmet restaurants. Local pots stills refine sugar cane juice into fine rhum agricole, vintage dated and of Cognac quality. On Iles des Saintes, I found a tropical Brittany, where Bretons fish from traditional boats and women wear the old white caps in the glare of the Caribbean sun.

El Yunque rainforest, Puerto Rico

» Puerto Rico. The best part of old San Juan that’s still old is El Convento, now a grand hotel and a grand place to retreat. For a sense of the Spanish city, I like the old churches and the Plaza del Mercado in the central Santurce district. By day, it’s a busy market; by night, it turns into a jolly street party. Art museums from Ponce to San Juan explode with the color and energy of Puerto Rican artists, especially the Museo de Arte, which exhibits brilliant architecture and the culinary aesthetic of Wilo Benet, who makes the island’s old favorites deliciously new at Pikayo. You can find secluded paradores and eco-lodges and in a lush remote crater, the world’s largest radio telescope, scanning the universe and listening for signs of intelligent life.