Four Seasons Resort Nevis

Four Seasons Nevis has anchored this small, unhurried island since 1991, and the setting remains among the Caribbean's most painterly: the resort spreads along Pinney's Beach, a three-mile ribbon of golden sand facing St Kitts across the channel, with the green cone of Nevis Peak—usually wearing its halo of cloud—rising directly behind. Arrival by the resort's launch from St Kitts, cutting across the strait, is the proper introduction.

This is one of the brand's definitive family resorts, and the machinery is superb: an extensive kids-for-all-seasons programme, a family pool complex separate from the adult infinity pool, and the sense of space—350 acres—that lets energetic children and peace-seeking couples coexist without friction. Rooms and residence villas are plantation-inflected, in stone, mahogany and shutters, most within a short stroll of the sand.

The Robert Trent Jones II golf course is a genuine event, climbing from the coast through rainforest ravines onto the volcano's lower slopes with vervet monkeys for gallery; tennis, water sports and a beachfront spa fill the rest. Dining spans beach grills, steak and Caribbean menus, and the island beyond—sugar-mill inns, hot springs, Charlestown's Georgian streets—rewards exploring. For families wanting scale without brashness, Nevis remains the benchmark.