One of my favorite guidebook brands is Frommer's. Well-known for their concise information about a place, they share all aspects of a place that a visitor would need - information for all budgets, on accommodations, places to see, restaurants, and more.

Today I'd like to share Frommer's Caribbean 2010 - just in time for Spring Break! A very thick guidebook, Frommer's Caribbean 2010 covers all of the Caribbean Islands. Written by Christina Paulette Colon, Alexis Lipsitz Flippin, John Marino, Darwin Porter, and Danforth Prince, it's a treasure.

When you first open the book, you're presented with a Map (well, on both inside covers) and an explosion of color. The color? Gorgeous pictures of great places to stay, festivals, beaches, and more. The appetite is whetted, to be sure.

The chapters are quite detailed, and cover the Best of the Caribbean, Planning your trip, and then the islands:

Anguila
Antigua & Barbuda
Aruba
Barbados
Bonaire
British Virgin Islands
Cayman Islands
Curacao
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Grenada
Guadeloupe
Jamaica
Martinique
Puerto Rico
Saba
St Barthelemy
St Eustatius
St Kitts & Nevis
St Lucia
St Maarten/St Martin
St Vincent and the Grenadines
Trinidad and Tobago
Turks & Caicos
US Virgin Islands

For each one, there are listed (in depth!): essentials, fast facts, details on towns, exploring, sports and activities, shopping, places to stay/renting a condo, beaches, where to dine, exploring, after dark, diving, and more.

When reading about one of my favorite destinations, Bonaire, I discovered that it is also a "bird-watcher's haven, where flamingos nearly outnumber the sparse human population. There are about 200 different species of birds - not only the flamingo, but also the big-billed pelican, parrots, snipes, terns, parakeets, herons, and hummingbirds."

Things not to miss in Bonaire include:
Diving (yes!)
Bonaire Marine Park (also great for snorkeling)
Washington Slagbaii National Park (a wildlife preserve that was once a plantation)

and the street signs - themed by town (musical instruments, women's names, gemstones, fish, etc.) - very cool!

Heading to another wonderful island, we learn about Dominica as the wildest island in the Caribbean. Dominica was "green long before anyone heard of eco-tourism."  Did you know Dominica achieved independence in 1978 and is the central Caribbean's only natural World Heritage Site? The book tells me that the beaches aren't very spectacular, but the diving is. Chalk this one up to a future trip, for sure. We LOVE Diving. But this - "Nature lovers who visit Dominica experience a wild, rugged Caribbean seatting, as well as the rural life that has largely disappeared on the more developed islands. Donimica is, after all, one of the poorest and least developed islands in the Caribbean...and probably the only one that Columbus would still recognize," - makes me want to head there as soon as possible. We've interviewed Billy Lawrence for the Dive Festival on Dominica, and I can't wait to go.

As with any Frommer's Guidebook, I've learned about the culture, economy, banking, rental cars, places to stay, places to see, great restaurants, and things to do - at all price levels.    

I highly recommend this book - whether you're heading to the Caribbean right now, or need a bit of late winter dreaming to get you planning for next February.