Young Island Resort

Rooms and decor

Picture yourself standing on the Villa Beach jetty south of Kingstown, looking across clear water just 200 yards to a small green island with wood cottages tucked into the trees. You wave down the hotel's tiny launch, on station 24 hours a day, and 2 minutes later you step onto a private island where there are no cars, no roads, just dirt paths through a tropical garden. This is Young Island Resort, open since 1968 and still the only private-island resort in the Grenadines you can reach by such a short hotel-boat hop. The 29 cottages are spread across the hillside and along the beach, each built from volcanic stone and local wood under a traditional thatched roof. Inside they're simple — a king bed, a ceiling fan, an old wooden wardrobe, no TV and no phone, which forces you to genuinely cut off from the world. The best part, and the thing reviewers mention most, is the open-air, half-outdoor bathroom: showering with banana plants and open sky overhead is a sight you won't find anywhere else. Mornings bring birdsong, evenings the sound of waves and the smell of frangipani. It may not look luxurious by modern-resort standards, but it has a charm of its own that brings many guests back.

Food and amenities

The other heart of the place is the main restaurant by the water, under the trees and a thatched roof. A lot of reviews agree the kitchen overdelivers for a small Caribbean resort. The menu changes with the season and with the daily catch — fresh seafood from lobster to grouper and tuna, with fruit and vegetables from the resort's own garden, blending Caribbean style with European technique. Dinner is served by candlelight with the sound of the waves, and a St Vincent rum punch makes it. Nearby is the Coconut bar on the beach for an evening drink, with live Caribbean music on some nights. The water activities that make Young Island genuinely worth it are the snorkel gear, kayaks, windsurfers and Hobie Cat sailboats, some free to use. The water is clear enough to see fish from the beach, and you'll find small reefs without going far. Not to be missed is the resort-arranged sailing trip out into the Grenadines — to Bequia, the closest, or Tobago Cays, the marine park many call the most beautiful in the Caribbean, where you can swim with sea turtles in clear water.

Location and getting there

The location is what makes this place special. Although it's called a private island, Young Island sits just 200 yards off the St Vincent shore, so you get both privacy and the option to pop back to the mainland to explore Kingstown whenever you like. From Argyle International Airport (SVD), which opened in 2017, it's about a 30-minute drive south along the coast road to the Young Island Cut pier on Villa Beach. From there you wave down the hotel's launch, on station 24 hours with no booking needed, and cross in 2 minutes. During your stay, if you want to head back to walk the Kingstown market, hike up La Soufrière, or visit the Botanic Gardens — the oldest in the Western Hemisphere — you can call the boat back any time. The island itself is waves, birdsong and the smell of tropical flowers, with no traffic noise and no TV in the rooms. Sunset to the west shows Bequia as a dark silhouette against an orange-pink sky, an image nearly every reviewer notes. It's why so many couples choose this as a honeymoon base — it feels genuinely off the grid, even though it's a short hop from town.

Things to know before booking

Straight talk to help you decide. The most common gripe in real reviews is the state of the rooms. The resort has been open since 1968 and keeps its old island-resort style; it's been updated over the years, but some wood furniture is very old, and the damp of a hot tropical island can leave fabric and wood smelling musty at times. If you expect a polished, modern 5-star resort, you'll be disappointed — this place sells rustic-tropical charm over polish. Second is Wi-Fi: it reaches only the lobby and the main restaurant, and in most cottages the signal doesn't arrive or is very weak, so working or streaming is hard. Come ready to unplug. Third is price — the nightly rate runs fairly high for the state of the rooms, and on-island extras (drinks, meals outside your package, the sailing trip to Tobago Cays) can add hundreds of dollars per couple. Check how many meals and whether drinks are included in the package you book. Last are the mosquitoes: the tropical garden gets very buggy in the rainy season (June to November), so bring your own repellent because the island shop doesn't sell it, and the open-air bathrooms may not suit you if you're nervous about insects or traveling with small children.

Our take

Having read through the real reviews and weighed it against the other options in St Vincent, Young Island Resort is an experience you won't find elsewhere — a genuine private island reached by a 2-minute boat, cottages in a tropical garden, open-air bathrooms among the plants, a kitchen that does fresh seafood well, and an off-the-grid feel without a long flight. If you're a couple after a quiet, romantic honeymoon that doesn't lean on luxury, or someone who wants to cut off from Wi-Fi and your phone to read and listen to the waves for a week, this is the answer. But if you expect Maldives-style modern luxury or 24-hour Wi-Fi, and you want a kids' club for small children, this may not fit — look at a mainland resort or a newer island in the Grenadines instead. Overall we give it 8.8/10, best for honeymooning couples and nature lovers who value private-island charm and a rustic-tropical mood more than modern-hotel polish.