• 1. Where to Stay
• 2. Where to Eat
• 3. What to Do
• 4. Insider’s Tip
• 5. An Oddball Day

The Stoneyhill Studio Apartments are among the island's best inexpensive, non-resort properties.   (Photo: Courtesy of Typically Tropical Villas)

Avoid the crowds of the resort-heavy areas at the Stoneyhill Studio Apartments (from $95; three-night minimum), made up of three simply furnished cottages, with kitchens and a shared pool, tucked away on the island’s quiet southwestern side. You’ll need to rent a 4x4 to navigate the dirt track leading here, but the individual verandas overlooking two beaches and rolling hills are a worthy payoff.

Stay in view of Giorgio Armani’s villa without paying premium prices at the Galley Bay Cottages (starting at $155), a handful of charmingly shabby, West Indian–style wooden homes that catch nice breezes from their hilltop positions but are only a three-minute walk from the beach. All cottages offer kitchens and views of the Caribbean, but book the two-bedroom Spice Cottage for the most space.

Find the beach right outside your front door at the Catamaran Hotel (from $170), where the second-floor rooms feature four-poster beds and better views of the sea and nearby marina. The fourteen brightly decorated rooms do have small kitchens, but there’s also a fine selection of restaurants a few minutes away in English Harbour.

Published on Jan 31, 2013 as a web exclusive.