Wallblake Airport (AXA): Approximate driving time is 15 minutes and distance is 8 miles.

Getting there: Taxis are the only way to get from the airport ($16–25 up to 2 passengers.) Rental cars are available online (more than $36) but are picked up at the hotel, rather than the airport.

Getting around: The hotel rents bicycles ($5–15 a day) and can arrange scooters ($16–25 a day.) These are popular ways to get around because the island is flat. Guests can taxi to The Valley for $16–25. Ferries leave from the ferry terminal at Blowing Point for the 20-minute ride to Marigot on St. Martin ($10 per person plus tax.)

All-white high-ceiling rooms feature the resort's yellow-and-blue accent motif, tropical-wood trim, white tile floors with area rugs, tropical-color drapes and matching bed skirts, and serigraphs of original oil paintings of Mediterranean seaside villages. (Both originals and serigraphs are for sale.) Rattan headboards and furniture contribute tropical notes. Overstuffed sofa beds provide lounging comfort, walk-in closets convenience. Lined with sand-colored marble, bathrooms include twin-sink vanities, thick bathsheets, and Rusk toiletries.

Santorini - The resort's main restaurant provides indoor and outdoor seating overlooking the pool and the Caribbean Sea beyond. Rattan chairs, white linens, and ceiling fans create a relaxed ambience. (Men are asked to wear collared shirts and long pants or dress shorts at dinner.) All guests have the option of a complimentary Continental breakfast served each morning on Santorini's terrace or in their rooms and can purchase other items from an à la carte menu featuring West Indian choices such as salt fish with ackee and chicken hash in addition to American breakfast selections. Lunch offers vegetables and salads from the resort's hydroponic greenhouse.

Monday night's Italian menu features choices such as lobster lasagna and truffled risotto primavera. On Tuesday nights there's a Caribbean barbecue buffet. Spanish night on Thursdays features tapas like wild boar and duck sausages, peppered shrimp, and goose rillettes and a main-course paella with lobster, chorizo, and lamb chops. Saturday nights feature French cuisine, with tasting-menu items such as smoked-duck salad with foie gras terrine, steamed Dover sole with shallot-wine butter, ribeye steak with truffle sauce, three-cheese terrine, and black currant-mascarpone parfait.

Café Mediterraneo - Lined with plants and flowers in large blue pots, this spot under a white canopy next to the pool serves lunches featuring brick-oven pizza, salads such as tandoori chicken and nicoise, vegetarian choices from the hydroponic greenhouse, pastas, Mediterranean-style stir-fry dishes, sandwiches such as grilled veal and grilled lamb, and beef and turkey burgers.

Azure Beach Bar - Flanked by terraced waterfalls, the bar serves tropical drinks under a broad white umbrella.

Lobby Bar - Located next to the lobby's long, narrow fountain pool, this spot remains open late at night.

Amenity highlights: The lobby frames a postcard vista. Looming in the foreground is a large swimming pool featuring an infinity edge surrounded by a terra-cotta tile sundeck, white umbrellas, and blue wrought-iron lounge chairs with butter-yellow cushions. Next comes a series of reflecting pools terraced down a gently sloping lawn and punctuated at the end by a broad white umbrella shading a beach bar. Beyond are the turquoise Caribbean Sea and the mountains of neighboring Saint Maarten/St. Martin. The beach is a two-mile stretch of sand fine as sugar and nearly as white rimming Rendezvous Bay. Lounge chairs and white umbrellas await sunbathers.

Insider tip: Because plantings are laid out in a "ribbon" system winding through the resort's 20 acres, strolling is rewarded by encounters with dramatic and fragrant lanes and passages.

Twice weekly, the kitchen provides complimentary cooking demonstrations. One day weekly, a cooking class is offered, with participants preparing their own lunch (fee). In winter season and on holidays, the resort offers supervised children's activities in addition to a year-round playground. Two computers in the lobby provide complimentary Internet access.

The recreational activities listed below are available near the hotel; fees may apply.