The Unexpected Caribbean: Lively, Lovable Trinidad

World-class Carnival, calypso, steel drum music, and two masters of the English language-author V. S. Naipaul and playwright/poet Derek Walcott, both Nobel Laureates-all connect artistically with Trinidad in the West Indies. Among Caribbean countries, Trinidad ranks as an arts powerhouse.

Yet for most Caribbean vacationers, Trinidad's small sister island in the twinned Republic of Trinidad and Tobago remains better known. That disparity follows an almost half-century-old national decision to promote tourism in picturesque, resource-poor Tobago while developing Trinidad's rich oil and natural-gas deposits. Result is that tourism in Trinidad remains a "Trini thing," distinct, pleasurable, homegrown, and largely outside the international mainstream, driven by local investment with few cost-inflating imports. That, plus the six-to-one exchange rate between Trinidad and Tobago's dollar and the U.S. dollar, ensures Trinidad's position as the best year-round buy in Caribbean travel. And even though farthest removed from North America and therefore ...