Central America & the Caribbean travel tips

11 guides across 11 countries — when to go, how to get around, which ATMs not to use, and what a fair price looks like.

an aerial view of a beach with a boat in the water

Punta CanaDominican RepublicFifty kilometres of palm-backed white sand

two cars parked outside building

HavanaCubaFaded grandeur, classic cars, and live son on every corner

city near body of water during daytime

San JuanPuerto RicoFive centuries of Spanish forts above a Caribbean beach city

aerial photography of white and blue cruise ships during daytime

NassauBahamasPastel colonial streets and impossibly clear water

A hotel pool at the edge of the Caribbean, which is what most visitors to Montego Bay actually see

Montego BayJamaicaReggae, rum and the north coast’s best beaches

city lights and buildings during nighttime

Panama CityPanamaA glass skyline beside a colonial old town and the canal

a city street with a clock tower in the background

AntiguaGuatemalaCobbled baroque streets ringed by three volcanoes

A beach with a lot of people on it

TamarindoCosta RicaPacific surf town with jungle at its back

Thatched sunshades on a beach below green hills, Curacao

CuracaoCuracaoDutch gabled houses in sherbet colours, and coral a few metres offshore

Pickup trucks parked along the shore at a Bonaire dive site

BonaireBonaireA shore-diving island where the reef starts at the road

A divi-divi tree bent by the trade wind on Eagle Beach, Aruba

ArubaArubaDivi-divi trees bent by the trade wind, over seven miles of white sand