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From hurtling along on a zip-wire in Belize to trundling along on a sugar train in Barbados or St. Kitts, just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Nowhere offers family resorts and hotels for all ages and pockets quite like the Caribbean. And with so many family-focused hotels and resorts offering a multitude of activities, the kids will never be bored.

Beaches Resorts’ three properties in Turks and Caicos and one in Jamaica offer everything from thrilling waterparks and XBOX® play lounges to supervised kids camps and teens’ nightclubs where sodas and non-alcoholic cocktails are on tap.

There’s also a nanny service for tots and aqua centres with PADI® certification for older kids. Sesame Street® fans can have fun with their favourite gang members. Choose from artist workshops and puppet making with Bert and Ernie and Explore Outer Space with Elmo and Friends.

Children love making friends on holiday, and at the new complimentary Namaste kids club at True Blue Bay, Grenada, they can play with visiting locals and staff members’ youngsters too. Activities include hair braiding, jewellery making, introduction to snorkelling or scuba diving, sailing lessons and kayaking.

Cooking, crab hunting and pilates will keep young ones amused at Elite Island Resorts’ Verandah Resort and Spa, and St James’s Club and Villas, in Antigua, and St James’s Club Morgan Bay in Saint Lucia. Teens and ‘tweens’ can learn how to dive or enjoy nonmotorised watersports that are included in the all-inclusive package. There’s an in-room babysitting service too.

In Saint Lucia, Cap Maison’s Family Time programme includes up to two children under 12 staying and eating free when dining with parents, teenager meal plans and three hours free babysitting.

A heap of fun awaits youngsters in the kids and teens clubs (complimentary for three years and above) at the Mandarin Oriental Canouan, in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where a mini kitchen, yoga, cricket and arts and crafts are guaranteed to keep all ages amused.

Youngsters can help release sea turtles into the ocean after rehabilitation at Atlantis Paradise Island in The Bahamas - and help the resort’s conservation efforts into the bargain. The programme costs $1,200pp. Kids wanting more fishy fun can seek out giant mantas, sleek sharks and tropical fish on a twilight snorkel with an underwater guide. Some of the proceeds go to the Atlantis Blue Project Foundation.

UNDERWATER ADVENTURES

Sea turtle hatching sites abound in the Caribbean particularly in Saint Martin, St. Kitts, Trinidad and Tobago and Antigua. If you’re lucky, you may see one lay its eggs.

Swimming with dolphins is a great day out in St. Maarten and The British Virgin Islands, where sailing is also popular with families. Or go horse-riding in Saint Martin and take a dip in the sea with your horse afterwards - it’s magical.

On the Cayman Islands, you can swim with huge stingrays at the appropriately named Stingray City, or hand feed them from the

private yachts and The Arch. Small groups  taking over the Quintessence Grand Mansion (up to 22 people) will find a beautiful beach for exchanging barefoot vows.

The all-inclusive Curtain Bluff, Antigua, provides intimate ceremonies and wedding parties on the beach.

Couples looking to make a splash may prefer to marry in an over-the-water wedding chapel at Sandals’ South Coast Jamaica or Grande Saint Lucian resorts.

Hotel wedding packages often include extras such as free overnights, a wedding cake or photographer when couples book a minimum number of nights. Before choosing your destination, check the legal requirements for getting married as some will require more paperwork or minimum residency periods.

Barbados requires no residency period before the big day. In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Jamaica and Grenada UK couples must stay 24 hours before applying for a marriage licence; in Dominica it’s two days, and on Saint Martin it’s 30 days. St. Eustatius, where popular venues include Fort Oranje, two weeks’ stay is required.

Rekindle romance with a dinner a deux on the beach with the sand between your toes. Intimate beach dinners are served at many hotels including the boutique East Winds in Saint Lucia and the all-inclusive Calabash Luxury Boutique Hotel, Grenada.

The Almond Tree Deck at East Winds is also perfect for an intimate dining or a wedding. The House by Elegant Hotels, Barbados, has appointed a Romance Concierge to create tailor-made experiences for anniversaries and honeymoons, such as fire-lit gourmet dinners, private sunset cruises with a chef and surprise dates with a love letter.

At the 36-room boutique Nisbet Plantation Beach Club, Nevis, hammocks swaying between palm trees on the beach and a hot tub are perfect for romantic days and nights. Sunset weddings are also popular.

Couples looking for an adult-only hotel will find a myriad of properties in the Caribbean. They include Jade Mountain Saint Lucia, Sandals Royal Caribbean, Secrets Wild Orchid and Iberostar Grand Hotel Rose Hall in Jamaica, Galley Bay Resort & Spa Antigua, and Breezes Bahamas.