The wife and I are looking for a last minute destination beach vacation and are wanting to go around April for 6-7 nights. Looking for a great beach, drinks and food. Would prefer to just do an all-inclusive. Any suggestions?

Hedonism - EOT

Following. EPM north of Cancun is a possibility. We are looking for some place new (out of Houston).

Best beach vacation and all inclusive don't compute for me.

BVIs and Vieques are my top 2, followed by Grand Cayman

Doesn't have to be an all-inclusive. Looking for somewhere that's somewhat new and clean. Cost not a big factor.
Been to Mexico too many times, so would prefer something different.

Little Dix Bay in the BVI or Caneel Bay on St. John in the USVI.

Grace Bay, Providenciales, Turks & Caicos
The clearest water I have ever seen, besides a pool
I've also heard good things about Body Holiday, Saint Lucia

If cost is not a concern, I'd recommend French Polynesia. United flies direct now from SFO. Definitely a bucket list kind of trip.

SW AG80 said:

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Little Dix Bay in the BVI or Caneel Bay on St. John in the USVI.

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Those will be closed for an extended period of time. Otherwise, I would have recommended the exact same.

I always recommend El Dorado Maroma or El Dorado Casitas. Food is amazing and if you're going to relax there's no reason to leave the resort.

You are right. Can't believe I forgot about the hurricane because we had to change our trip plans for this summer because of the damage to Caneel Bay.

SW AG80 said:

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You are right. Can't believe I forgot about the hurricane because we had to change our trip plans for this summer because of the damage to Caneel Bay.

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We were supposed to stay at Little Dix Bay in June (hadn't booked it but was the plan up until Sept). Going to Belize instead. Totally different vibe but it'll be cool. LDB won't open til late 2019 I was told.

Where are you staying in Belize? We looked there also.

Ramon's on Amergris Caye. It seems family friendly so we chose it. Also going inland to San Ignacio.

+1 for Belize. Stayed at Matachica on a Texags rec. Loved it.

Barbados

coastsrs said:

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Barbados

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Coastsrs with the correct answer

I've never considered Barbados. What do you like about it and where do your stay?

Was going to suggest Barbados as well. Definitely my favorite place I've been in the Caribbean. Very nice island so you can go explore and the people are just normal people. Not nearly as touristy as a lot of other islands. I don't think that there are nearly as many great big resorts, more smaller ones that are basically just nice hotels with pools.

The east coast is beautiful but more more sparsely populated. Most of the hotels are on the west (leeward) side because the water is calmer. Nice beaches.

I'll have to look up where we stayed

Kauai. Surprised that hasn't been mentioned yet. You can pick a different, beautiful beach every day and do incredible hikes.

Rent a house in San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua.

TXCityAggie said:

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Rent a house in San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua.

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We had high bid on a villa at a pet shelter fundraiser a few years back. Really liked San Juan del Sur and Granada also.
http://www.sanjuanbeachhouse.com

YouBet said:

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Kauai. Surprised that hasn't been mentioned yet. You can pick a different, beautiful beach every day and do incredible hikes.

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We spend a lot of time there, so much that I want to buy a condo! It's one of my favorite places on earth. I try to snorkel Tunnels every morning that I'm not lounging at K'ee. Afternoons are spent at other beaches, hiking, or just driving around. I'm hoping to hike Napali when we go next year.

BSD said:

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YouBet said:

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Kauai. Surprised that hasn't been mentioned yet. You can pick a different, beautiful beach every day and do incredible hikes.

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We spend a lot of time there, so much that I want to buy a condo! It's one of my favorite places on earth. I try to snorkel Tunnels every morning that I'm not lounging at K'ee. Afternoons are spent at other beaches, hiking, or just driving around. I'm hoping to hike Napali when we go next year.

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Spent a few days at Tunnels this last trip. Didn't do any snorkeling though. We hiked the canyon our first trip. I need to look that up because I can't remember which trail but it was essentially the trail at the very end of the drive up the canyon.

YouBet said:

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Spent a few days at Tunnels this last trip. Didn't do any snorkeling though. We hiked the canyon our first trip. I need to look that up because I can't remember which trail but it was essentially the trail at the very end of the drive up the canyon.

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We've done several trails on the canyon side. There's a really good one that takes you a great ridge with Na Pali views most of the way (many others are covered with vegetation). That is very near the end of the drive up the canyon, maybe the stop before the last stop. There's also some great inner canyon trails that go to tops of waterfalls that I like. I can't remember those names though.

As far as tunnels, it's the best snorkeling on Kauai. I start at the east side of the reef and go out to the outer reef and follow the current back west. The inner reef next to shore is awesome too. You can see why they call it tunnels there.

Here's a good map I pulled from a book in our condo...

Curacao has been our favorite.

Anyone done The Cove in Bahamas? I think it's part of Atlantis but more private.

We were thinking of trying out the Bahamas this year. I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts. We'd want adult only so don't think we'd want Atlantis.

We're going to Eleuthera in May. First time to Bahamas.

Such an open-ended question... if you talk to 100 different people, you'll get 50 people telling you to go to Mexico, and the other 50 people giving you about 40 different answers..

If you aren't going to leave the resort, then it really won't matter where you go because all the nice 'chain' resorts will offer just about the same thing, if you pay enough money.

If you are looking for unique things, then that's different. Personally when I look for beaches, I look for other things that go along with it... because we like to explore (hiking, etc), we like the nature stuff (eco-tourism, mountains, volcanos, hot springs, jungles, rivers, white-water rafting, etc), we like cultural stuff, etc. etc. We also like unique stuff... miles of white sand beaches - that's not too unique. Pink Sand beach, maybe unique. Great Barrier Reef, maybe unique if you are into diving. Over the water bungalow, mostly unique. Hot Springs, unique. etc. etc.

Curious to see what OP really wants to do or get out of it.

Rosewood Mayakoba in Playa was really nice. Very convenient and, being a Rosewood property, the place was incredible.

BSD said:

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Ramon's on Amergris Caye. It seems family friendly so we chose it. Also going inland to San Ignacio.

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We just got back from Ramon's. My only complaint is they didn't serve liquor, beer and wine only. My wife's best friend lives near placencia so we try to go down twice a year. I really like Windy Hill in San Ignacio. Down south hard to beat Belcampo (north of Punta Gorda). We've stayed around Placencia the most, I recommend Roberts Grove, The Placencia Resort, or Maya Beach Hotel and Bistro.

My favorite hotel in San Pedro is the Phoenix, they have a great restaurant as well. Ramon's was great, but it's hard to sit on a beach and not have at least one fruity cocktail. Their pool gets no sun and is as cold as ice as well. We love Belize, fire away with any more questions.

Anyone ever been to Mustique?