Curaçao

Curaçao's beaches may be nubbled with coral or strewn with imported grains and the local liqueur a first rate gut-rot, but it more than makes up for these niggles with high comfort levels, guaranteed balminess and a friendliness that constantly threatens to bubble over into a party.

The island's scrubby landscape is strewn with cacti, keening divi-divi trees and lizards looking glibly at diving weirdos with oxygen strapped to their backs. The capital, Willemstad, manages to be both dinky and grand while serving up the food, shopping and slickness of a town much less manageable.