Anguilla (Caribbean)

Sometimes a resort is known for what it doesn't have - such as casinos, jazzy nightclub action, duty-free shopping plazas, nudist-friendly beaches, cheap junk food and the like. Such is the case on the eel-shaped island of Anguilla where serenity, divine dining, multi-starred hotels and body-pampering spas - plus some 33 beaches - are the main tourist draws. Forget that other stuff.

Architecture is another Anguillan plus, and represents a myriad of styles and cultures. Maundy Bay is wrapped in Moorish-type villas where your welcome drink is apt to be an island herbal magical medical cure called "bush tea." Other encounters of the architectural kind include resorts done up in Spanish Mediterranean fashion, rainbow-hued Caribbean clapboard houses, Greek-island structures in glistening white and cobalt blue and wrap-around verandahs on West Indian-styled bungalows.

Most of the above are fairly recent imported cultures. However, old traditional ways are everywhere prevalent. Anguillans, for centuries, have made their living as fishermen and boat-builders. Their boats, painted in pastel and candy colours, often went far out into the Atlantic. Anguillan boats are as seaworthy as they are pretty. Christopher Columbus "discovered" the island in 1493. The French sailed by 1556; the English made the island a colony in 1650 and so Anguilla remains today.

About the only bad things are the Manchiniel trees. Sit under one after a rain and it could drip blister-forming toxic latex on your previously healthy skin. And another thing - as befits a proper English place, no skinny dipping! For un-English, clothing-optional beach escapades, take the 30-minute ferry ride from Blowing Point Harbour to French and saucy, nude beach-friendly St Martin.

Anguilla is also renowned for its world-class diving, sailing, yachting, windsurfing, health spa and fishing opportunities in the blue-green, gin-clear seas of this island.

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