The small island of Saba might just be the last unspoiled Caribbean destination – and it feels a world away.
Most holidays in the Caribbean follow a similar experience: busy, built-up beaches with oversized resorts offering every holiday experience you can imagine, from a feast of flavours to pampering wellness experiences.
But one place in the Caribbean still provides a one-of-a-kind travel experience, and that’s Saba.
Despite being just a stone’s throw from some of the Caribbean’s most popular destinations like Anguilla and Antigua, you’ve probably never heard of Saba – and that’s because at just five square miles in size, it’s one of the tiniest inhabited islands in the Caribbean. It’s also a special municipality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Saba offers more than your typical cookie-cutter Caribbean experience
This Dutch Caribbean island is a home to 2,000 permanent residents spread across just four villages. In a region known for a very particular type of sun-and-sand, fly-and-flop style of travel, Saba also breaks every Caribbean island stereotype you can imagine.
“Saba is totally different from other Caribbean destinations,” says Malinda Hassell, director of tourism of the Saba Tourist Bureau.
There are no true beaches on Saba, save a few rocky coves and a tiny sliver of sand built up for beach barbecues.
You won’t find any all-inclusive resorts here either. In fact, the island doesn’t have a single branded hotel or resort. However you will find a handful of charming boutique properties – offering less than two hundred hotel rooms on the entire island.
“Instead, it’s a much more adventurous destination,” says Hassell, echoing Saba’s ‘Big Adventure, Small Island’ tagline. “It’s really refreshing for travellers looking for something different.”
Swap the beach for hikes and water sports adventures in Saba
Around 5.2 million trips were made to the Caribbean from Europe and most come for the classic Caribbean beach experience. But while Saba may not have the golden sands of its counterparts, it makes up for it with other adventurous travel experiences.
The island is essentially just the top of a long-dormant volcano peeking above the waves. Its jagged landscapes are now coated in lush, tropical ecosystems hiding hiking trails with stunning scenic viewpoints at every turn.
One of the best things to do in Saba is to hike Mount Scenery, the volcanic peak at the centre of the island and its highest point.
The hike is strenuous but doable, with a well-kept trail to the top cut into the lush rainforest and cloud forest ecosystems by James ‘Crocodile’ Johnson. This machete-wielding septuagenarian still treks the peak almost daily, guiding visitors to the top with the utmost care, pointing out colourful rainforest flowers, wild ginger, and endemic flora and fauna along the way.
The island’s world-class diving and snorkelling is another major draw, and has long-tempted serious in-the-know divers to visit here for up to a week or more.
The dramatically sloping sides of this volcanic cone of an island continue below the sea, making for an unexpectedly diverse underwater topography ripe with vibrant, colourful reefs.
Saba is home to just one dive shop, Sea Saba, but offers an impressive array of experiences, whether you wish to go out on guided dives, swim with sharks, or do your beginner or advanced diving certification in tropical climes.
Unplug for a castaway experience in this remote island destination
Saba’s simplest yet sweetest draw for visitors is less tangible.
Though it’s just a 15-minute flight from its closest neighbour and boasts views of numerous other Caribbean islands on a clear day, it feels uniquely set apart and supremely remote. You’ll feel your stresses float a mile away the second you step onto the island.
In a place where everyone knows everyone, there is no such thing as hustle and bustle – there’s little more to do than enjoy the moment. Saba boasts a level of tranquility that almost feels foreign in our modern world.
Part of Saba’s deliciously remote, removed feel is the effort it takes to get there.
The island is home to the shortest commercial runway in the world, and only receives flights from nearby St. Maarten on tiny aircrafts by regional airline, Winair.
But you can also reach the island using the Makana Ferry Service from nearby Anguilla, St. Kitts, St. Eustatius, and St. Maarten, which is offered throughout the week.
You may wish to take advantage of special fares on day trip flights to the island, but despite Saba’s tiny size, there’s much more to do here than can be packed into a single day.
Stick around for at least two or three days to hike the volcano, go snorkelling or diving, and take advantage of a never-ending array of events and activities that bring islanders and intrepid visitors together.
The longer you stay in Saba, the more you’ll experience the one way in which it lives up to, and far exceeds, one of the most important stereotypes of a Caribbean destination: effusive hospitality.
“If you stay for three or four days, by the time you leave you’ll know everyone on the island,” says Hassell.
“Saba’s size and the community here make it incomparably friendly, safe, and warm towards visitors,” Hassell adds.
Whether you’re drawn to Saba specifically for its lack of beaches or despite it, this island offers a memorable visit among the more crowded corners of the Caribbean.
