baths bvi

Giant boulders strewn along the shore make The Baths a delight for kids. (Photo: Alamy)

Kid-Friendly

Playing Fort and Swimming With Mermaids: 7 Caribbean Family Vacations With a Twist

Getting your kids’ heads out of their devices and into vacation mode is easy in the Caribbean, where you’ll find activities that appeal to everyone from toddlers to teens. For fun adventures, these Caribbean family vacations will have you playing fort, climbing trees, swimming with mermaids, and hanging with a barrel of monkeys.

As always, check for travel restrictions and closures before planning your trip.

Soaring in St. Thomas

Tree Limin Extreme
Kids ages 5 and older can experience the thrill of zip lining off the side of a mountain at Tree Limin’ Extreme. (Photo: Tree Limin’ Extreme)

Kids ages 5 and older can experience the thrill of zip lining off the side of a mountain at Tree Limin’ Extreme in St. Thomas. The park has six zip lines that soar above the rainforest on St. Peter Mountain, including the only “yo yo” zip line in the Caribbean—riders travel both backward and forward as they glide along at 35 mph.

The cable-car ride to the top of Paradise Point above Charlotte Amalie is more sedate, but also offers incredible views and is open to children of any age.

Swim with Sharks at Coral World

Swimming with dolphins, sea lions, and even sharks is a highlight of a visit to Coral World Ocean Park, located on a quiet peninsula on St. Thomas’ north coast. Families also can get under the waves with a SeaTrek or Snuba tour, take a submarine ride to see live coral, tropical fish, and sea turtles, and attend educational talks and exhibitions on conservation and indigenous animals and sea life.

Hiking in St. John

Reef Bay Sugar Mill Ruins
The Reef Bay Trail is great for families with kids who like to hike. (Photo: Getty Images)

A day trip from St. Thomas to St. John is a good family outing that starts and ends with a ferry ride, with some excellent outdoor activity in between. The combination of shade and sea turtles makes the beach at Maho Bay great for kids. It’s part of Virgin Islands National Park, which occupies most of the island and is criss-crossed with hiking trails.

The best for families with kids who like to hike is the Reef Bay Trail, which runs almost entirely downhill for 2.3 miles, passing ancient petroglyphs and the ruins of an old sugar plantation. To avoid the steep uphill return, arrange in advance for a boat pickup at the trail’s end at Reef Bay.

Baths and Mermaids in the BVI

Giant boulders strewn along the shore make The Baths in the nearby British Virgin Islands a delight for kids, who can explore sea caves and swim above underwater rock formations teeming with tropical fish. In addition to leading snorkel and dive trips to The Baths, Dive BVI teaches mermaids (and mermen) of all ages how to swim with a fish tail as part of their Mermaid BVI program.

Monkeys and Spelunking in Barbados

Brick pathways snake through the four-acre Barbados Wildlife Reserve, a compact nature preserve where kids can encounter free-roaming green monkeys as well as other native wildlife, including iguanas, parrots, and caimans. The mountaintop park also has a lookout tower for views of the surrounding countryside.

Moving from high above to down below, Harrison’s Cave has one-hour tram tours through caverns and alongside underground lakes, plus longer headlamp tours for a taste of real caving adventure.

Meet Donkeys and Drive ‘Blokarts’ in Bonaire

Wild donkeys roam Bonaire, the descendants of farm animals brought to the island generation ago. The Bonaire Donkey Sanctuary cares for sick, orphaned, and injured animals and allows visitors to roam the park by car, bike or on foot and feed the donkeys (bring carrots!).

Not all the sailing on Bonaire is on the water. At Landsailing Adventures, wheeled cars with sails called “blokarts” glide around a sandy track—it’s like wind-powered go-karting and can be done by adults and kids alike.

Riding Trains and Playing Fort in St. Kitts and Nevis

The St. Kitts Scenic Railway is a remnant of St. Kitts’ history of sugar-cane cultivation; the 18-mile railway was built almost a century ago to move cane from the fields to a factory in the capital of Basseterre. Families can climb onboard for an open-air train tour before completing the loop around St. Kitts on a tour bus.

The tour includes views of the Brimstone Hill Fortress, raised by the British in the early 1700s to defend the island. Visitors to the largely intact fort can wander through battlements dotted with cannon, powder magazines, barracks, and other structures while learning about the construction and battle history of the fortress.

St. Croix Bio Bay Paddle

In addition to exploring the old forts guarding the towns of Christiansted and Frederiksted, families visiting St. Croix can snorkel the reef trail at Buck Island National Monument and steer a see-thru kayak through Salt River Bay on a bioluminescent night tour, where the bay lights up with the colors of glow-in-the-dark microscopic sea creatures every time paddles dip into the water.