The Caribbean islands seem to have been designed for people who never need to sleep. Spending all day in the sun and all night in the bars seems a weary existence, but you'd be hard pressed to find a night where the majority of travelers went to bed before 3 am. Caribbean casinos are all over, waiting patiently for you to try your luck. All in all, the region seems to derive its nightlife from three main sources: gambling, drinking and dancing. Often times these are done in combination with each other, resulting in the sort of atmosphere that your mother once warned you about.
To be fair, there are plenty of places to go if you want to avoid what a Caribbean nightlife vacation has to offer, but there all kinds of things to do after the sun goes down if you wish to seek them out. If you are looking for a hot Caribbean night club, you can find one in just about every major city in the region, but a few islands stick out as particularly heady places to party. The many different styles of dance are on display in the Caribbean night clubs, and all involve a lot of hip movement and active feet. Don't worry - after a few drinks, you certainly won't be expected to keep up. By that time, the ins and outs of learning calypso seem secondary. Things take to the streets during the weeks that make up Carnival – most every island has a celebration of their own, but Trinidad's is world-renowned.
The main spots to drink and dance the night away are found on where you'd expect them: Aruba caters to the young, hip crowd, with a laundry list of places to make the scene. Caribbean night clubs don't get much more raucous than those in the main tourist areas of Jamaica, and most every night you can find somewhere playing reggae music until long after the sun comes up. You'd think the locals would get tired of Bob Marley everywhere, but there seems to be little indication that this is the case. Puerto Rico is often overlooked as a prime night spot, but dropping prices have begun to lure many of the spring breakers that normally would've continued further south to Aruba. The Dominican Republic is beginning to stake its claim as a fun place to party, with rollicking clubs staying open until 6 am in Santo Domingo. Cuba comes alive after midnight – and here is where many stateside travelers really cut loose. It's hard to tell whether this is due to the inherently “naughty” stigma attached to Cuban travel or from the waves of relief felt after finally cutting through all the red tape necessary to arrive in Havana. Probably both.
Another main selling point to a vacation is the many fine casinos in the Caribbean. Though gambling is illegal on more than a few more islands, many of the world's most impressive casinos can be found on these tiny islands. Aruba is definitely the most famous for its Caribbean casinos, though they are only slightly better than most found on the Dutch islands. Still, the west coast of the island is chock full of architectural wonders that just so happen to accept wagers inside. St. Maarten has laid out a glittering array of them to compete for the tourist dollar with St. Martin. The Great Bay and Sonesta Maho Beach are wonderful examples of all the glitz and excitement of Vegas found in the casinos in the Caribbean. The Dominican casino of Atlantis is possibly the most upscale of all. Jamaica has some of the better casinos in the Caribbean, with the added bonus that they are often less packed than many others found on neighboring islands, since it's widely accepted that if you are going to bother gambling, you'd be wise to hit one of the Dutch islands. Guadeloupe, Antigua, Curacao, Puerto Rico and Martinique also have places to gamble away your time, but they are rarely of the same quality as other Caribbean casinos.
