Five-star Caribbean for less

When our summer starts to disappoint, pack your new cozzie and head for the sultry dependability of the Caribbean. As a rule, the flashier the hotel, the higher the summer saving. It only rains a titch more than during the winter; you won't meet any mantisthin supermodels, and there'll be less air-kissing round the pool. The downside? Club Class will be packed with spoilt brats like a designer kindergarten. Stick to economy and feel virtuous. Here's how to go.

Avoid the ghastly offspring of those Miami bankers at the Four Seasons resort round the corner and take your own little darlings to Nisbet Plantation on the tiny island of Nevis where they stay and eat free during the summer. The beach is safe, there's acres of space for noisy games and the staff adore children. Early supervised teas are a speciality, so you can dine later by the light of flickering hurricane lamps in the Great House.

Full whack: £8,044, half board for two adults and two children under 12.
To you: £4,904.
Saving: £3,140.
Book it: ITC Classics (0870 7519300) 1 July-22 August.

Full whack: £5,250, includes week's car hire, complimentary green fees and a $50 spa voucher.
To you: £2,500 for exactly the same deal.
Saving: £2,750.
Book it: Elegant Resorts (01244 897999) now until 31 October.

Full whack: £2,870, including breakfast.
To you: £1,845.
Saving: £1,025
Book it: Elegant Resorts (01244 897999) now until 18 December.

Full whack: £2,058, including breakfast.
To you: £1,104, plus three ? la carte dinners.
Saving: £1,497, includes cost of meals.
Book it: Caribtours (020 7751 0660) now until 20 July.

Cap Juluca, Anguilla, still holds the prize for some of the world's sexiest bathrooms with added private walled gardens for drying off au naturel. Moorish by design, the hotel's idiosyncratic white domes are best at sunset when tinged pomegranate pink. Charlie Dimmock did the garden water features, but they can't hold a drop to the surreal blue of the sea and the Cap's famous beach, which is like walking on powdered silk.

Full whack: £3,040, including continental breakfast.
To you: £1,435.
Saving: £1,605.
Book it: Harlequin Worldwide (01708 850300) now until 17 November.

Full whack: £2,958, including breakfast.
To you: £1,755, half board.
Saving: £1,633 (includes price of seven dinners).
Book it: Scott Dunn World (020 8682 5020) now until 19 July.

Full whack: £4,050, all-inclusive.
To you: £2,165, all-inclusive.
Saving: £1,885.
Book it: Carrier (01625 547020) until 19 July; 1 September-25 October.

Full whack: £1,465.
To you: £915.
Saving: £550.
Book it: Complete Caribbean (01423 531031) 1-30 September.

? Prices are for one week, room only, per person, including return flights, unless stated otherwise.

Full-whack prices are for an equivalent room for one week in January 2003.