The early morning calm that cloaks Grenada’s outer surfaces – from its capital harbour front to its rainforests and along white powder beaches – is one aspect any visitor comes to appreciate even more after roaming further into this intriguing tri-island state, also known as the Spice Island. Serenity and stillness are easy to encounter across Grenada, along with all the energy that its people put into both work and leisure. This is a small nation where local communities and traditional cultures still matter, while also preserving and developing its legacies – be it fine small estates, rural village life and its abundant herbs and spices. On Grenada the expression ‘Goin’ up de road’ means you are busy and heading somewhere, but while Grenadians can and do take satisfaction in ‘goin’ up de road’ and seeing their island prosper, they also know how to stay in touch with the pleasures that make the effort worthwhile.

The People:
Ninety per cent of those who live on Grenada today are descended from the British, French, African, and East and original West Indians.  But beyond this mosaic, which forms a friendly and harmonious exterior, you also begin to learn about the deeper complexity of Grenada, and how a small country has made its way back more than once from more than one type of adversity to regain its present-day sense of balance.  The combination of calm and exhilaration infuses its inhabitants, whose working life can often be inspired by their awareness of what is most primal about Grenada.  Take for instance renowned hiking guide Telfor Bedeau, who embodies Grenadian stamina and profound appreciation of the land itself.  Telfor began trekking the inland interiors some 40 years ago as a young man, and has been guiding other hiking enthusiasts into such destinations as Seven Sisters Falls and around the Grand Etang National Park for the past 28 years.  Along the way, he has seen changes come to the landscape, notably with the destruction of Hurricane Ivan in 2004. Telfor is a living archive of most of what is known of the Grenadian park interior’s mountains, paths, aquatic bodies, and still enthusiastically shares it today, at almost 70, as if he had discovered it all just yesterday.

Places to be:
Part of the pleasure in visiting Grenada is the feeling that you are truly in residence, if only for a short time, thanks to the strong emphasis on studio-style accommodation.  It is a model that allows travellers to stay in solitude as much as they wish and self-cater as needed.  This allows for privacy and puts you in contact with your surroundings, the people and daily rhythm of life.

Rebeccah Thompson and Uli Kuhn, owners of the Maca Bana Villas, a cluster of seven breathtaking villas overlooking the bay at Magazine Beach near the island’s southern end, first arrived in the late Nineties to open a restaurant, then expanded into an imaginative version of eco-luxury accommodation in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan. This extends to a “slow food tour” around their eco-farm, where the couple cultivate an assortment of pesticide-free vegetables and fruits and, of course, nutmeg and herbs for the dinner table back at Maca Bana.

A ride up the coast to the small community of Sauteurs at Grenada’s northern and more isolated end is where you will find the small hotel, Petite Anse, that sits perched on a tumbling shoreline with vistas of sister islands Carriacou and Petite Martinique.  The eleven rooms spaced between lush vegetation are self-contained enough to be total hideaways and serve as a launching point into the offshore waters yards away or into the Grenadian interior.  Here too, owner Philip and his wife have ensured the gourmet cuisine at the hotel’s fine restaurant is stocked with fruits and vegetables grown in their own home gardens or sourced from local producers.  While Grenada welcomes tourism, it is careful to integrate it in balance with the fabric of a local community and those resources that can benefit most from it.      

Sights & Treasures:
Being the smallest independent country in the western hemisphere means that most of Grenada’s coast and interior is accessible in a short period of time and with minimum effort. A couple of minutes drive on twisting roads takes you into ever-greener hillsides. The roadside becomes dense with vegetation - a wild convergence of ferns, bamboo groves, heliconia, and kapok trees, while overhead the skies are often heavy with passing rain clouds.  Grenada is an island born of volcanic activity, but for the most part its rolling hills and terrain are easy to navigate by car. 

As you travel further into the interior along the Grand Etang Road, its central region of parks is rugged, dissected by streams and plunging valleys, all covered for the most part by heavy low-hanging forest.  This is the main route to the island’s trails and parks, including Grand Etang National Park itself, but also such natural highlights as Annandale Falls or Concord Falls.

Integral also to Grenada’s interior life is the presence of old and new farming activity - at the old Dougaldston estate, the manager will show you a selection of cocoa, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and other spices grown and harvested here.  A short way from here at the town of Gouyave, you can see the most active form of nutmeg processing at the nutmeg processing station where every piece of the nutmeg is put to use with even the shells being used for compost. 

Gouyave may also serve as your ideal finishing point at the end of a day of inland venturing. It is the main fishing town of Grenada, with a long main street overhung with balconies, frette work and signage, a place where the old fishing lifestyle continues, a stark contrast to the faster world across the ocean. 

The Facts
Population: 101,000 approx.
Currency: East Caribbean Dollar (EC$)
Language: English is the official language; a French-African patois is also often spoken.
Location: The three-island nation of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique in the southeastern Caribbean is the most southerly of the Windward Islands and located between St Vincent and the Grenadines to the north and Trinidad and Tobago to the south.
Area: A land area of 133 sq. miles (344 sq. km.)
Climate: Grenada enjoys a tropical climate with an average year round temperature of 80F (26 C). The dry season falls between January and May, and the rainy season June – December. Hurricane season normally runs from June to November.
Customs / Regulations: A valid passport and return or onward ticket required. Visas are not required from a number of countries, including the US, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Electricity supply: 220V, 50Hz (many hotels also offer a 110V supply).
Time: GMT - 4 hours
Telecommunications: The international dialling code for Grenada is +1 473
Taxes: There is a EC$50 departure tax to pay when leaving Grenada.