Frangipani Hotel (Bequia)

As a home it began, and a home it still seems to the many Bequia lovers who return year after year to the Frangipani, the quintessential small hotel on a small island in the Caribbean. Built for his family by a Bequia sea captain almost a century ago, the shingle-sided, two-storeybuilding has gracefully presided ever since over the nautical comings and goings of Admiralty Harbour. The property has been in the Mitchell family since 1898, first in boat building and now in hospitality. The hotel celebrated its 40th anniversary year in 2007. You can now savour the scene from the open-sided dining room, or the popular beach bar, or from the sundeck upstairs where you can still enjoy one of the original family rooms. The more luxurious garden rooms, which rise on a gentle slope behind, are hand-crafted of local stone and hardwoods, and each has a balcony facing westward over the yacht basin where the setting sun dips down behind the palms.