Grenada puts nutmeg on its flag. The island produces something in the region of a fifth of the world's supply, from trees introduced in 1843, and the spice runs through everything here — the ice cream, the rum punch, the jam, the syrup made from the mace.
In September 2004, Hurricane Ivan destroyed roughly ninety percent of the nutmeg trees. A nutmeg takes seven to nine years to bear fruit and considerably longer to reach full yield, so the industry lost close to a generation in a single night. Production has recovered substantially but not to where it was, and Grenadian farmers will tell you about it plainly if you ask.
That is worth knowing before you buy a jar at the Saturday market. It is not a souvenir; it is a crop somebody waited a decade for.
The island
Grenada is volcanic, mountainous, and green in a way the flat coral Caribbean islands are not. The interior rises into rainforest with a crater lake at Grand Étang, and the road across the middle is a series of hairpins through nutmeg and cocoa.
St George's, the capital, is a horseshoe harbour of pastel warehouses stepped up a hillside, with a fort above it. It is generally reckoned among the most attractive harbours in the Caribbean.
Grand Anse, south of town, is a three-kilometre curve of sand and where most of the hotels are.
L'Anse aux Épines and the south coast have smaller bays, the yacht anchorages and the quieter properties.
Molinere Bay, north of the capital, holds the first underwater sculpture park in the world — figures installed on the seabed from 2006 to take coral growth, visible by snorkel or dive, and created partly to draw divers away from reefs damaged by Ivan.
Carriacou, an hour by ferry north, has about six thousand people, a boatbuilding tradition and almost no development.
The six below are grouped by coast.
Grand Anse
The main beach.
Silversands Grenada occupies a position on Grand Anse with a hundred-metre pool running through the property, an adults-only policy and a design of considerable restraint. It is the best hotel on the island.
Silversands Grenada
Grand Anse · 5★ · $$$$
A hundred-metre pool running through the property
Check availabilitySpice Island Beach Resort sits on the same beach as a family-owned all-inclusive with suites opening onto the sand and a long-standing reputation for service.
Spice Island Beach Resort
Grand Anse · 5★ · $$$$
Family-owned all-inclusive with suites onto the sand
Check availabilityMount Cinnamon Resort & Beach Club occupies a hillside above Grand Anse with cottages, a beach club below and a Grenadian family operation.
Mount Cinnamon Resort & Beach Club
Above Grand Anse · 4★ · $$$
Hillside cottages with a beach club below
Check availabilityThe south coast
Smaller bays and the anchorages.
Calabash Luxury Boutique Hotel sits at L'Anse aux Épines in eight acres of garden with suites among the planting, a beach and breakfast cooked and delivered to the room each morning.
Calabash Luxury Boutique Hotel
L'Anse aux Épines · 5★ · $$$$
Eight acres of garden with breakfast cooked at the door
Check availabilitySix Senses La Sagesse occupies a bay on the southeast coast with villas among the trees, a spa and a wellness-led programme.
Six Senses La Sagesse
La Sagesse, southeast · 5★ · $$$$
Villas among trees with a wellness-led programme
Check availabilityTowards the capital
Radisson Grenada Beach Resort sits on Grand Anse with several pools, full family facilities and rates below the rest of this list.
Radisson Grenada Beach Resort
Grand Anse · 4★ · $$$
Several pools and family facilities at the best rate here
Check availabilityWhat we have left off
The guest houses and apartments across the south coast are excluded, and Grenada has a good supply of them at low prices. They are guest houses rather than hotels.
What to do
Go to the Saturday market in St George's for the spices, and buy nutmeg, mace, cocoa and the leaf-wrapped chocolate.
See a cocoa estate. Grenada makes chocolate on the island rather than exporting beans, which is rare in the Caribbean, and the tours at Belmont and Diamond show the whole process.
Snorkel or dive the Molinere sculpture park, and note that the figures are now substantially colonised by coral, which was the intention.
Walk in Grand Étang, up to Seven Sisters falls or around the crater lake, and expect mona monkeys.
Take the ferry to Carriacou for a day or two, where the pace drops again and the boatbuilders still work on the beach at Windward.
Practical notes
Grenada's airport is fifteen minutes from Grand Anse with connections from the UK, North America and regional hubs.
December to April is the dry season and peak. Hurricane season runs June to November; Grenada sits at the southern end of the belt and is hit less often than the islands north of it, though Ivan showed the exception.
Spice Mas, the carnival, is in August and is the island's biggest event.
Every hotel bookable in Grenada
Why nutmeg?
Introduced in 1843, it became the island's defining crop and is on the flag. Hurricane Ivan destroyed about ninety percent of the trees in 2004.
What is the sculpture park?
Figures installed on the seabed at Molinere from 2006, now colonised by coral, partly created to relieve pressure on damaged reefs.
Grand Anse or the south coast?
Grand Anse for the long beach and the hotels, the south for smaller bays and quiet.
How many nights?
Six. Four on the coast with a day inland and a day to Carriacou.