Midway between St Lucia and the Spice Isle, little Saint Vincent and The Grenadines remains one of the less-visited corners of the Caribbean. A French colony that once pumped out huge crops of tobacco and sugarcane back to Europe, the nation is set over a series of islets and cays that run for hundreds of kilometers through the Windwards. Saint Vincent is the epicentre of the action, rising in rugged cliffs from the Carib swells to the pretty tin-shack towns of Barrouallie, the deep craggy craters of La Soufriere Volcano, and the verdant rainforests around Buccament Bay. Most Saint Vincent and Grenadines tour guides are based at Kingston, the capital that is home to the historic Fort Charlotte and imbued with the pretty walkways of the island’s Botanic Gardens. Beaches and the waters beyond are another major draw (this is the Caribbean after all!), with the sparkling sands of Young Island, Indian Bay and palm-dotted Petit Byahaut, and the black coral at the Wall, the New Guinea Reef and the Anchor Reef some of the finest on the menu.