Fodor's Expert Review Montpelier Plantation & Beach

This Nevisian beauty, a Rélais & Châteaux property, epitomizes understated elegance and graciously updated plantation living: a fieldstone greathouse replicates the 18th-century original, a sugar mill houses an intimate restaurant, and hillside cottages—each with a private sea-view verandah—dot 30 acres of ravishing gardens. Plantation rooms adopt a monochrome, minimalist, modern aesthetic with touches like metallic headboards. Premier rooms offer more traditional Laura Ashley-meets-the-Caribbean decor. Staffers (more than three per room) almost psychically intuit your needs. All you have to do is relax in a hammock contemplating the sea; enjoy tapas, complimentary tea, or live music (three times weekly) by the 60-foot pool; or savor cooking classes, rum tastings, and spa treatments.