By The Miles Professor

The other day, a reader asked in a comment which is my favorite Caribbean island. Without having to think twice, I answered Grand Cayman and listed a number of reasons why I like it so much. At this point, I’ve been to Grand Cayman twice. Svetlana has been there three times and all I keep hearing from her is “We need to plan another trip to the Cayman Islands.” There is no “best” island and everyone has his own preference what he/she likes on vacation. Anyway, in this post, I am going to pin-point exactly what it is about Grand Cayman that does it for me moreso than any other island I’ve been to.

Smooth Transition from the Plane to the Beach

As soon as the plane touches down, I feel my vacation has already started. The island airport is tiny and passport control literally takes 10 minutes. After that, it’s grab a taxi for a 10-15 minute ride to the hotel, check in quickly and hit the sand. In stark contrast for me is Cancun. There, passport control has a long line and takes 30 minutes at a minimum and then I have to find my pre-ordered ride and spend at least another hour getting to my resort. Even other islands – Barbados, St. Lucia are simply not as efficient at going from my plane to the beach. With Grand Cayman, I can literally be out on the beach enjoying a coconut rum within half an hour of landing.

The Beach is Perfect for Walking

One thing I really didn’t like when I went to Phuket is that the beach on both sides of the hotel was blocked off by rocks. No matter how nice the water is, I need to be able to walk to enjoy the scenery or I’ll just end up getting extremely bored. I am not sure exactly how long Seven Mile Beach is (it may just be named that way) in Grand Cayman, but the fact that we can walk for miles along the sand cannot be disputed. And that’s all I really need for an afternoon – a bit of tanning and a long walk.

The Beach Faces West

This may sound overly meticulous, but I’ve found I really like island and Caribbean where the beach faces west and dislike ones that face South or East. There are a few reasons for this. First, as we all know, the sun sets in the West. Having a beach that actually faces the sun in the afternoon precludes having to choose between the sun and the ocean as scenery. When you’re in Cancun, for example, you find people turning their chairs to chase the sun after 2 pm, precluding the ability to catch sun and look at the water at the same time. Secondly, a beach that faces east will face the Atlantic ocean whilst to the east will be the Caribbean sea. The ocean has rough waves and tides that are tough for swimming and I prefer the water to be as calm as possible. For that reason, west is the way to go for me!

No Beach Merchants

I don’t blame the local population in Caribbean islands for trying to sell tourists various things on the beach, but I certainly enjoy not being disturbed while on vacation. Grand Cayman happens to have a relatively affluent local population that tends to finances and doesn’t appear on the beach. Most of the hotel and local employees are actually visitors or immigrants from foreign countries and don’t end up setting up shop on a local beach. This let’s me enjoy my vacation carefree and undisturbed.

Options for Hotels with Points

In Grand Cayman, I’ve stayed at the The Westin Grand Cayman Seven Mile Beach Resort & Spa (12,000 Starwood points a night in low season and 16,000 in high season) and the Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort (40,000 Marriott Rewards points). I know that when going during high season, rates can be as high as $600 a night so having a reasonably priced points option is very valuable. There’s also a Ritz Carlton on the island, but it costs a significant number of points and, in my opinion, their stretch of beach is no worse than the Westin. I like getting a good deal on vacation and saving money so the presence of points hotels is key for me.

So those are my reasons. I realize that others will have their own favorite islands and some will absolutely hate the Cayman Islands. And, of course, I am sure that my “beach faces west” particularity is going to come off completely too particular. What are everyone else favorite islands and why?

For more on this story go to: http://themilesprofessor.com/2014/07/23/grand-cayman-favorite-island/