It’s unprecedented for our annual overture to the winter-sun season to focus on just one region, but this time around we’re breaking with tradition, nailing our colours to the mast and declaring that this year the only place to be is the Caribbean.

It’s a bold statement, but this winter nowhere is offering bluer seas, balmier days and more bewitching beaches at better prices, and you can probably guess why. Caribbean resorts have proved particularly vulnerable to the recession, and like shipwrecked sailors jettisoning cargo, hotels have been slashing margins to stay afloat.

Airfares are attractive, too: British Airways, which is pinning its hopes on a bumper Caribbean season, has increased frequencies to destinations across the region, meaning there are more seats available. Returns to popular islands such as Antigua, Barbados, St Lucia and Tobago are currently on sale for £359 with BA (0844 493 0787, ba.com).

But paying peanuts doesn’t mean you have to stay in some ghastly, all-inclusive, 1,000-room monkey sanctuary. On the contrary: we’ve found more than 20 of the Caribbean’s little treasures — the sort of places you spot while exploring some hidden sliver of sugary sand and spend the rest of your trip wishing you’d booked — and not one of them will cost you more than a grand.

Package prices, unless otherwise stated, are per person, for seven nights, on a B&B basis, between September and mid-December, including return flights from London and resort transfers. For Irish and regional connections ask the operator.

Little Good Harbour, Barbados

If you follow the road up the west coast, beyond the C-list spots such as Sandy Lane and the Colony Club, eventually you’ll find the lovely Little Good Harbour — and you’ll thank me for it. There are just 21 cottage-style suites in this little gem, tucked away in lush tropical gardens and served by the Fish Pot, a simple seaside restaurant that will effectively kill your desire to roam. Since nobody else bothers coming this far north, consider the beach your own. The price is £969 with Key2Holidays (020 7963 6663, key2holidays.co.uk).

Little Arches, Barbados

Craftily hidden behind the casuarina trees lining the white sands of Enterprise beach is Barbados’s second-best-kept secret: the exquisite Little Arches hotel.

The architecture suggests the Amalfi coast, but the warmth of the staff, the prettiness of the beach and the potency of the rum punch confirms that this is the old-fashioned Caribbean at its very best. A week here costs £991 with Tropic Breeze (01548 831550, tropicbreeze.co.uk).

Grand View, St Vincent

With hotel rates tumbling, what you lose on the puddle-jumper — the nickname for the inter-island planes — you gain on accommodation. Utterly worth the time and effort to reach is St Vincent’s enchanting Grand View Beach Hotel, a 19-room, family-run plantation house set in jungly tropical gardens with a grand view towards the Grenadines. Indian Bay Beach is a short walk away and a week costs from £220 if booked direct (00 1 784 458 4811, grandviewhotel.com ). Return flights to St Lucia start at £560 with Virgin Atlantic (0870 380 2007, virgin-atlantic.com), and connections with Liat (00 1 268 480 5601, liatairline.com) are from £61 return.

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