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If Goldilocks chose a Caribbean island, it’d be Grenada. Around the same size as the Isle of Wight, it’s neither large and unwieldy nor claustrophobically tiny. Its mountainous interior is unspoilt and its white sand beaches relatively uncrowded, but there’s a buzz to its nightlife, a host of activities on offer, and plenty of exceptional hotels. Neither exactly mainstream, nor totally off the beaten track, Grenada is just right.

Grenada feels like one giant garden, with tropical fruit, flowers and spices in every spare corner

Grenada is anything but middle of the road, however. A location in the eastern Caribbean chain means it’s kept lush by warm, steady trade winds, creating a landscape of flourishing rainforest, tumbling waterfalls and mangrove ecosystems. You’ll find world-class dive sites off its quiet beaches. Tourism has been gentle — there are no high-rise hotels, and even its largest resort, Grand Anse, is low key.

Nicknamed the “Spice Island”, Grenada feels like one giant garden, with tropical fruit, flowers and spices grown in every spare corner, and this leads to a cuisine that’s intimately connected to the fresh produce found on the island. And with a burgeoning chocolate industry too, you’ll find life here really is sweet.

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Main photo: Grande Anse beach pontoon, Grenada (Alamy)

Grenada has a laid-back atmosphere and beaches to rival any in the Caribbean, but it’s worth leaving the lounger behind and discovering the island. The small capital, St George’s, is home to a pretty harbour, an informative national museum and a bustling market where you can see local life unfold and pick up spices to bring home.

There are many garden and estate tours on offer, showcasing the way spices such as nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and vanilla are grown and harvested, and selling delicious homemade delicacies made from them, including jam, ice cream and liqueur.

There’s the largest diveable wreck in the Caribbean and even an underwater sculpture park

Up in the central highlands, the Grand Etang National Park is just half an hour from the southern beaches. Hike among its ferns, flowers and mahogany trees along trails that lead to a beautiful crater lake and a gushing waterfall. You may also meet a Mona monkey — a cute, chubby-cheeked species originally from West Africa that has made Grenada its home.

Offshore, coral reefs teem with marine life, there’s the largest diveable wreck in the Caribbean, and even an underwater sculpture park*, so it’s little wonder that snorkel tours and scuba diving are popular.

Most of Grenada’s hotels are concentrated in the southwestern tip of the island, many stretching along the sands of Grand Anse beach. This doesn’t result in a busy beach-resort feel, however — properties are relatively small and low-rise, and in the main set slightly back behind groves of palms and sea grape trees. This west-facing beach has spectacular sunset views, and a stay here means you can walk to a range of restaurants and bars, both behind the hotel strip and some right by the sand, at the Grand Anse Craft and Spice Market.

At super-luxe Silversands you’ll find a priceless art collection and the longest infinity pool in the Caribbean

While there are some mid-range stays, this is a hotspot for luxury hotels, from grande dame Spice Island Beach Resort, all whitewashed Caribbean charm and colonial-era stylings, to super-luxe Silversands, where you’ll find modern minimalism, a priceless art collection and the longest infinity pool in the Caribbean.

Around the point from Grand Anse there’s accommodation on the south coast too, although it’s more sporadic. Notable addresses are the long-established but constantly innovating True Blue Bay, a charming, cheerful hotel with eco-credentials and a host of on-site activities, and Calabash Grenada, an elegant boutique property with a croquet lawn and its own small but secluded beach.

Grenada’s history has brought a host of influences to its cuisine, from Africa, India, Britain and France. Couple this with the island’s famous spices, fruit and vegetables grown in the fertile volcanic soil, and hauls of fresh fish, and you’ll see why no one goes home lighter having visited Grenada. Must-try traditional dishes include oildown, a one-pot stew fragrant with turmeric and coconut milk, the pilau-like chicken pelau, and crab back, where the crabmeat is baked with herbs and cheese inside the shell.

River Antoine Rum Distillery, still powered by water wheel, is a trip back in time

Cacao grows easily in Grenada, and there are a handful of excellent boutique chocolate producers on the island. Belmont Estate offers a tree-to-bar tour demonstrating every step of the process, and in St George’s the House of Chocolate stocks bars, cakes, brownies and the local speciality cocoa tea from island brands.

Rum is made all over the Caribbean, but the River Antoine Rum Distillery is unique. Still powered by water wheel, and using the original equipment dating back centuries, it’s a trip back in time — until you taste the 75 per cent ABV spirit, which will shock you back into the present day.

Grenada has two little sisters, the small, neighbouring island dependencies of Carriacou and Petite Martinique. Take a day trip to the former — accessible by plane and ferry — to experience the Caribbean of yesteryear: quiet, small-scale and slow-paced. You can amble along quiet streets of brightly painted wooden chattel houses in Hillsborough, the largest town, and check out Windward, a small settlement with a long history of wooden boat-building. The beaches of Carriacou are idyllic, and it isn’t nicknamed the Isle of Reefs for nothing. A snorkel trip will reveal vibrant corals, reef fish, turtles and rays.

The beaches of Carriacou are idyllic, and it isn’t nicknamed the Isle of Reefs for nothing

At the southern tip of Grenada, Woburn Bay is home to the island’s most significant mangrove forest, where iguanas, ospreys, herons and even water snakes lurk among the twisted roots. Explore on a guided kayak tour and you’ll learn more about these fascinating ecosystems, which provide nurseries for young fish, prevent coastal erosion and store carbon dioxide more effectively than rainforests. When you’re all paddled out, stop off at one of the sandy beaches for a dip and a picnic lunch.

The currency in Grenada is the Eastern Caribbean dollar, although many larger and more tourist-focused establishments will accept US dollars too. The average temperature stays around 28C all year round, with coastal breezes to cool things down. You don’t get an island this green without rain; more falls from June to December than from January to May. Flights from the UK stop off en route at either St Lucia or Antigua, so you’ll have a short wait on the tarmac before taking off again.

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