The Rites Of Spring

While the Caribbean rebuilds, rethink your next warm getaway.

- Klara Glowczewska

Most of us are schizophrenic about travel. We pine for the tried and true—a place we know so well we can practically get from bed to beach blindfolded—yet we thrill to the siren call of disorientation and discovery. More often than not, timehonored Caribbean or Hawaiian spring vacations satisfy the yearning for familiar pleasures and the nonnegotiable necessities of sun and warm surf. Less so this spring. The Caribbean islands most devastated by Hurricane Irma—including Anguilla, St. Bart’s, St. Martin, and Puerto Rico— won’t be fully operational until winter 2018. There’s Hawaii, of course (its bookings have soared), but as you await the reopening of, among other hotels, the Belmond’s redo of Anguilla’s Cap Juluca, why not play the field? The places below check offthe sun-and-swim box, and some come with additional benefits: dancing horses, uninhabited islets, desert sleepovers. But be forewarned: Visiting them might very well become your new routine.

MOROCCO

In late February, and through March and April, there is still snow on the peaks of the Atlas Mountains around the pink city of Marrakech. Nonetheless, the days are already hot and the tourist hordes have yet to arrive. The Royal Mansour is an oasis of voluptuous serenity any time of year, a place where a “room” is always a three-story private riad with a rooftop terrace. It’s owned by King Mohammed VI and decorated by Morocco’s finest artisans (what the king wants, the king gets), and located within a short walk of the city’s old medina. Now it also has a vast new pool in the garden and casual outdoor dining (swimsuit and cover-up are fine).