Three days in the Bahamas doesn’t have to mean three days at Atlantis. This route spends two days in local, off-resort Nassau, the way actual residents use their own capital, then hands day three to Exuma’s swimming pigs and Thunderball Grotto, the single most photographed thing in the country. The Bahamas is its own nation, not a US state or Puerto Rico, with Nassau as capital and the US dollar taken everywhere at par, so skip the currency exchange entirely.

Nassau’s marquee move is Atlantis: a dynamically priced $195-260 day pass for a water park you can skip and still have a better two days. The Bahamas is its own country, not a US state and not Puerto Rico, with Nassau as capital and the US dollar taken everywhere at par with the Bahamian dollar, so don’t bother exchanging money. A passport is all most visitors need now; the COVID-era health form is gone as of June 2022, and US citizens get roughly eight months visa-free.

The Bahamas is an archipelago of roughly 700 islands scattered across the Atlantic off Florida, and Nassau, the capital on New Providence, is only the first stop, not the whole trip. It is its own country, not a US state and not Puerto Rico, and US dollars work everywhere at par with the Bahamian dollar, so there is no currency to change. A passport is the only paperwork required now; the COVID-era health form ended in June 2022, and flying home from Nassau you clear US customs before you board, at the airport’s own preclearance counter.

The Bahamas is an archipelago of roughly 700 islands and cays scattered across the Atlantic off Florida, and this 5-day plan treats Nassau as the arrival bookend, not the whole trip. It is its own country, not a US state and not Puerto Rico, with Nassau as capital and US dollars taken everywhere at par with the Bahamian dollar, so there is no currency to change. A passport is the only paperwork required now; the COVID-era health form ended in June 2022, and flying home from Nassau you clear US customs before you board, at the airport’s own preclearance counter.

Six days buys a real three-island trip if you accept that two of those days do double duty as transit: two days off-resort in Nassau, two days based on Staniel Cay in the Exumas for the swimming pigs and Thunderball Grotto, and two days on Harbour Island for the pink sand. The Bahamas is an archipelago of roughly 700 islands in the western Atlantic, its own country, not a US state and not Puerto Rico, with Nassau as capital.

A week is enough to treat The Bahamas as more than a Nassau resort stop. This route spends two days in local, off-resort Nassau, three based in the Exumas for swimming pigs and Thunderball Grotto, then two more on Harbour Island for pink sand and Dunmore Town, with every inter-island leg by flight or ferry, since this archipelago of roughly 700 islands has no roads connecting them. The Bahamas is its own country, not a US state or Puerto Rico, with Nassau as capital and US dollars taken everywhere at par with the Bahamian dollar, so there is no currency to exchange.

Three days in Anguilla is not a rushed preview of a bigger trip: it is two full beach days at Shoal Bay East and Rendezvous Bay, then a third day that trades a fourth stretch of sand for a five-minute boat hop to Sandy Island. Prices run on the East Caribbean dollar, pegged at a flat EC$2.70 to US$1, and the tidy math is not a bargain signal. This is a British Overseas Territory, not a St Martin suburb, and it prices itself accordingly.

Two days on Anguilla is not a preview, it is the whole trip: Shoal Bay East, Meads Bay, and Rendezvous Bay, one proper beach-bar meal, and nothing else forced onto the schedule. Fly into Sint Maarten’s Princess Juliana Airport (SXM), then take the public ferry from Marigot to Blowing Point, roughly 20 to 25 minutes across open water. Anguilla is British, quiet by design, and firmly not part of St Martin, whatever the shared airport ride out of SXM might suggest.

Four days in Anguilla is enough to stop checking things off a list. Two beach days at Shoal Bay East and Rendezvous Bay, a boat hop out to Sandy Island, then a fourth day built around Scilly Cay, the Island Harbour lobster shack you summon by waving from the pier. Prices run on the East Caribbean dollar, pegged at a flat EC$2.70 to US$1 since 1976, so the math stays simple even when the total does not.

Five days in Anguilla is where the itinerary logic quietly flips. By day five you have already covered the two beaches that earn the hype, taken the boat out to a cay, and looped the island by car, so the honest move is to stop hunting for a fifth attraction and slow down instead. This route runs the same spine as the four-day trip through Scilly Cay’s wave-down lobster lunch, then hands day five back to whichever beach won you over.

Six days in Anguilla is two days past the point where the island still has new sights to hand out, and this itinerary says so upfront instead of padding the schedule to look busy. The first four days cover the headline beaches, the first offshore cay, and the island loop ending at Scilly Cay’s wave-down lobster lunch; day five trades Anguilla for a Sint Maarten day trip, and day six gives you nothing new on purpose.

Seven days in Anguilla is where the itinerary honestly runs out of new material well before day seven arrives. By day four you have covered both headline beaches, spent a morning on a cay, and looped the whole island by car in under an hour, so a full week does not buy a longer list of sights, it buys a second cay day, a St Martin ferry crossing for something entirely different, and enough slack to sit still on a beach you already like instead of chasing a sixth attraction that does not exist.

The Dominican Republic prices in pesos (DOP), roughly 58-59 to the US dollar this July, though Isla Saona operators and Zona Colonial tour guides will happily quote dollars instead. Three days covers more than a Punta Cana lounge chair: Santo Domingo’s five-centuries-old colonial core plus one real day trip to Isla Saona from Bayahibe, skipping the dense Punta Cana/Bavaro resort strip most first-timers default to. Dry season (December-April) is the easier weather window countrywide.

The Dominican Republic’s currency is the peso (DOP), trading roughly 58-59 to the US dollar in mid-2026 after starting the year near 64, though resorts and tour desks quote dollars anyway. Skip the beach for two days and get something better: Santo Domingo’s Zona Colonial, founded in 1498 and still the oldest continuously inhabited European city in the Americas, older and stranger than anything Punta Cana’s resort strip offers. The capital works any month of the year, unlike the rest of the country’s December-April dry season squeeze.

The peso (DOP) is the country’s real currency, roughly 58-59 to the US dollar in mid-2026, even though resorts, dive shops and canyoning outfitters all quote dollars just the same. A full week runs the whole loop, Santo Domingo, Isla Saona, Samana’s whales and waterfalls, and the north coast’s canyoning and kitesurfing, proof this country reaches well past the Punta Cana strip most first-timers never leave. Dry season (December-April) is the easiest countrywide window, and it overlaps whale season (mid-January-late March).

The peso (DOP) is the only official currency, running roughly 58-59 to the US dollar in mid-2026 after starting the year near 64, though tourism-zone prices show up in dollars regardless. Four days stretches from Santo Domingo’s colonial core to Isla Saona to a first, rushed taste of Samana, proof the country is bigger than a Punta Cana all-inclusive stay even on a short trip. Dry season (December-April) remains the easiest weather window.

Pesos (DOP) run roughly 58-59 to the dollar in mid-2026, quoted alongside USD prices at nearly every tour desk and resort. Five days is the point where Samana stops being a rushed add-on: Santo Domingo, Isla Saona, and a full day for El Limon, Los Haitises’ mangrove caves, or the humpback whales if the calendar lands mid-January to late March, all considerably more distinctive than another day on a Punta Cana lounger.

The Dominican peso (DOP) trades around 58-59 to the US dollar this July, a genuine strengthening from a January 2026 high near 64; tourism prices still run in dollars regardless. Six days is Santo Domingo, Isla Saona, a full Samana day, and a first push into the north coast’s 27 Charcos canyoning circuit near Puerto Plata, a genuinely different country than the one a Punta Cana-only trip shows. Dry season (December-April) is the easiest weather window; hurricane season (June-November) and east-coast sargassum matter less up here than on the Punta Cana side.

Two days is Trinidad only, honestly. The ferry to Tobago runs 3 to 4 hours each way and the flight adds airport time on both ends, so a fair island split needs more time than this. Trinidad and Tobago runs on the TT dollar (TTD, roughly TT$6.8 to US$1), not the Eastern Caribbean dollar used next door, and this short trip sticks to Port of Spain and a Maracas Bay day trip over the Saddle Road.

Three days still stays on Trinidad, and that’s the honest call: the ferry to Tobago runs 3 to 4 hours and the flight adds transfer time on both ends, so a real island split wants more runway than a long weekend gives. This plan nests the 2-day route inside it and adds a third day built around Trinidad’s least beach-shaped attraction, a sunset flight of scarlet ibis over a mangrove swamp.

A full week is the first plan on this list where neither island feels shortchanged: three Trinidad days, a crossing day, then three Tobago days that finally reach past the reef into the rainforest and a beach with no entrance fee. This nests the 6-day route and adds a Day 7 finish. Prices run in TT dollars (TTD, roughly TT$6.8 to US$1), best in the dry season, January to May, or around Carnival (16-17 February 2026) if volume is the point.

Four days is the shortest trip that fairly earns a taste of both islands, and it’s still lopsided: three Trinidad days for doubles, Maracas, and the Caroni ibis, then a Day 4 crossing that lands you in Tobago with an afternoon, not a reef tour. This nests the 3-day plan and adds the hop across. Prices run in TT dollars (TTD, roughly TT$6.8 to US$1), best in the dry season, January to May.

Five days is where Tobago stops being a rushed afternoon and starts being an actual second leg of the trip. This plan nests the 4-day route (three Trinidad days, then the crossing) and adds a full Day 5 built around the reef most visitors fly here for. Prices run in TT dollars (TTD, roughly TT$6.8 to US$1), and the dry season, January to May, is the reliable weather window. Book these before you go

Six days lets Tobago stretch past the beach and into the hills. This plan nests the 5-day route (three Trinidad days, the crossing, a full Buccoo Reef day) and adds a Day 6 built around the oldest legally protected forest reserve in the Western Hemisphere. Prices run in TT dollars (TTD, roughly TT$6.8 to US$1), and renting a car for this one day genuinely earns its cost. Book these before you go