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[sanimi]

Hi guys.
My friend and I (both female, late 20s) are planning on going to the Caribbean for a week at the end of September. Having trouble deciding where to go, so any advice would be much appreciated.
We both enjoy relaxing on the beach or doing the odd excursion during the day, then hitting the bars and clubs at night (preferably not only tourists)...
Any suggestions??

Cheers..

[starlagurl]

I would say...Bahamas... it's cheapy cheap cheap and you can do short excursions from Nassau to quieter islands like Harbour Island

Do you have a bigger budget?

St. Martin, is more expensive, however, it's better for nightlife than the Bahamas is. You can also do short excursions to quieter islands like Anguilla and Saba. (I loved Saba way more than Anguilla, BTW)

Good luck, let us know what you decide!

[jeremystravels]

You could do a cruise and see more islands, but would probably have less of the bar/club party atmosphere at night. I think Bahamas would be good if you just picked one, primarily due to the fact that there are dozens of islands within range of each other that you could hop around a lot [I am guessing here]. That way you wouldnt have to stay on one island for the whole week but rather explore many small ones

[starlagurl]

Ixnay on the ruisecay *grimace*

I don't think cruises are very good for 20 somethings who like to party...but maybe I'm wrong.

[jeremystravels]

I had to say it, but it is definitely not for people wanting any resemblance of a party atmosphere. Only if you wanted to see tons of countries as like, a taster. I look at cruises as a brief intro to see if I wanna go back for a week later to really explore.

[starlagurl]

Yeah... very very brief... but I would argue that you don't even get a very good taste of a place, because it is only the four block radius that they cleaned up for the cruise people...

At least, that's what I found in St. Martin/Bahamas.

[sanimi]

Thanks guys. I went on a cruise last year and promised myself that I'd never do that again

From what I've read the Dominican Republic seems to be the least affected by hurricanes in Sept/Oct.. is that true??

Was thinking of going to Bahamas in March, so would probably go somewhere else this autumn.

[jeremystravels]

I dont know much about hurricanes, but it seems like the further south you are the less hurricanes tend to land. That is only from me watching paths of hurricanes over the years though, and not a scientific opinion. Check out various cities rainfall predictions to give you an idea. Weather.com has pretty good averages. You'll see the trends pretty well from those.

[starlagurl]

From what I've read the Dominican Republic seems to be the least affected by hurricanes in Sept/Oct.. is that true??

Judy (semi-backpacker) would know from personal experience. She's ALWAYS in the DR.

[travel_lover]

You've probably booked already now... but if not St Martin is the island for you!! I think it's the caribbean island that most people return to. Over 100 nationalities live there, it the Gourmet Capital of the Caribbean, over 30 beaches... it's the place to visit!!
We find this guide really helpful when we visit www.st-martin-maarten.com

[kur4m4]

Don't know if you're leaving from the US or somewhere else, if not the US my own suggestion would be Cuba. Been there 4 times already and loved it more every time. Might be a bit too big to visit in just a week thou but still totally worth it!

[starlagurl]

You've probably booked already now... but if not St Martin is the island for you!! I think it's the caribbean island that most people return to. Over 100 nationalities live there, it the Gourmet Capital of the Caribbean, over 30 beaches... it's the place to visit!!
We find this guide really helpful when we visit www.st-martin-maarten.com

Ohhhh I loved St. Martin as well...but it's a little pricey.

[semi-backpacker]

From what I've read the Dominican Republic seems to be the least affected by hurricanes in Sept/Oct.. is that true??

Judy (semi-backpacker) would know from personal experience. She's ALWAYS in the DR.

Sorry Louise!!! Don't know how I missed this thread!! Yes, I have been to D.R. during hurricane season, gotten amazing resort rates, and only had 1/2 day of rain, but some of it is luck. I would think that hurricanes do tend to pass through D.R. at a much quicker rate than they do other Caribbean countries.

[kilgiraffe]

Not quite sure how I managed to miss this one either, so just throwing this in there for posterity - as far as I'm aware the Greater Antilles [DR, cuba, bahamas etc] get hit by a lot more hurricanes than the smaller ones. Barbados hasn't had a hurricane hit since 1956 or something, few tropical storms passing through but thats about it, and for the vast majority of the Lesser Antilles [excluding Grenada] it's been roughly the same.