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‘The Caribbean’. It is a phrase that conjures up a variety of images – many of them tinged with an enticing smallness: miniature coves where waves lap gently at the land; tiny villages of clapboard charm; under-sized boutique hotels for discreet seafront holidays.

And yet the Caribbean is anything but small. Though much of the region is made up of rocky pinpricks in the ocean, wisps of land fringed by palm trees, the Caribbean as a whole stretches out for one million square miles – and a staggering 7000 islands in total.

In other words, it also does ‘big’. And three of the Caribbean’s biggest islands – Antigua, Barbados and Jamaica – are also among its most inviting – home to long, glorious strips of golden shore, first-rate resorts offering top-of-the-range relaxation, and lively nightlife amid truly spectacular scenery.

But, given the choice between which of this wonderful triumvirate should you go for? The quick guide below explains what each happily sun-kissed country has in store…

BEST FOR BEACH BUNNIES: ANTIGUA

Local lore declares that Antigua has 365 beaches – one for every day of the year. And while there is probably an element of exaggeration here, there is no disputing the merry fact that this flat Caribbean paradise is blessed with many a wondrous crescent of sand.

Dickenson Bay, flanked by five-star hotels in the north-west of the island, is the postcard moment that tends to have cameras clicking. But there are other delightful patches too, especially on the sheltered west coast, where, robbed of the power of the open Atlantic, the tide tiptoes to shore. Darkwood Beach, in the south-west, is well worth an afternoon of sunbathing – as are Hawksbill Bay and Deep Bay, midway up the west coast on the Five Islands Peninsula (the latter still guarded by the colonial ghost of Fort Barrington).

Helpfully, flights to Antigua are in ready supply – and you can be topping up your tan on the beach just eight hours of flying time after you’ve waved a farewell to rainy Britain.

BEST FOR FAMILIES: JAMAICA

While it has a loud reputation as one of the brashest of the Caribbean nations, Jamaica makes a fine fist of catering for families. Flights to Jamaica land at at either Kingston, the south-coast capital, or at Montego Bay on the opposite side of the island – this latter option dropping you into a fun-filled realm ideal for holidays with children (of all ages).

Certainly, Jamaica’s north coast has the best of the resort-hotels – many of them in a neat cluster near Montego Bay itself. Further east, you also find Ocho Rios, a playground for older families, where you can go against the flow by climbing Dunn’s River Falls (where scenes from the James Bond classic Dr No were filmed), swim with the planet’s most intelligent mammals at Dolphin Cove, or observe Jamaica’s curious love of bobsleigh at the Mystic Mountain nature park, where a bobsleigh rollercoaster tears through the trees.

BEST FOR COUPLES: BARBADOS

This large but laid-back isle is a tale of two shorelines – its east coast a rugged shoulder assaulted and battered by high Atlantic breakers (and thus loved by local surfers, who battle the spume and spray at Bathsheba), its west coast a rather more serene proposition.

As a result, the majority of Barbados’s best hotels nestle along this soft west edge – the most noted being the gilded getaway of Sandy Lane, where celebrities laze away the day on loungers or the massage table. And there are other, more intimate possibilities here too – honeymoon hideaways and romantic retreats custom-designed for couples who want nothing more than their own company (except perhaps a cocktail and a splendid sunset).

That said, the island is more than just a place to escape the world. Barbados flights land at Grantley Adams Airport on the south coast – from where it’s a quick hop west to the main nightlife zone St Lawrence Gap, or to the town of Oistins, where a legendary fish fry-up, held every Friday night, sees locals and tourists mingle over giant marlin steaks.