A slick, cool new player for Grenada

Fred Mawer tunes into the very different vibe of a Caribbean resort aimed at a younger generation

You’ll certainly keep fit if you do a few lengths of the lap pool each day at Silversands Grenada. Stretching 330ft (100m) end to end, it is the longest in the Caribbean, or so the hotel claims – and who keeps a record of such things?

Lined with palms and a row of cabanas shading beige-coloured daybeds, the swimming pool is also a contender for the sleekest in the region, and the same can be said for the newly opened hotel as a whole.

The arrival of Silversands is the most newsworthy hotels event on Grenada for many years. At the southern tip of the string of

Windward Islands, not far from the coast of South America, the so-called Spice Island is a low-key and largely below-the-radar holiday destination (at least outside yachting circles), without the glitz and glamour and celebrity-pulling power of rivals such as Barbados and St Barts.

Silversands may start to change that. Grenada’s first contemporarystyled luxury hotel is set on gorgeous Grand Anse beach, the island’s finest strand, whose soft sand is in fact more white than silver. It has cost

US$125 million (£98 million) to build, with the investment coming from Egyptian billionaire businessman Naguib Sawiris.

AW2, a Paris-based architecture and interiors firm with a reputation for creating striking hotels in various parts of the world, is responsible for the clean and minimalist design. Forget the bright, tropical colours used to jazz up many a Caribbean property; at Silversands it’s all about neutral tones and natural materials: think creamy limestone terraces, light walnut wood floors, dark South American bulletwood vertical slatting on walls, and grey granite paths lined with black pebbles. Furniture in public areas and bedrooms, such as curvaceous and strappy chairs by Barcelonan company Kettal, is also eye-catching.

Eclectic, original pieces of art, bought specially for the hotel by Mr Sawiris, inject individuality and colour: outside the lobby entrance stand two giant wicker statues, bowing slightly as if formally greeting guests, and upright canoes painted with images of exotically dressed women, fishermen and cartoon cats. Bedrooms, in three-storey blocks, continue the muted essay in wood, limestone, cream and white, and are enjoyably hi-tech. From my bedside control panel I could not only dim the lights but also draw the window blinds and gauzy curtains around the bed, and in the bathroom my rainforest shower operated perfectly at the press of a button. Staff – who I found generally to be a bit over-eager, but it was nice to be called “Mr Fred” at every turn – check you in inside your room, and provide a comprehensive explanation of how everything works.

Bedrooms are obstructed from the beach by Silversands’ vast, four-bedroom beachfront villas – a flaw in the property’s layout, in my opinion. However, you do get a view out to sea over the villa roofs from rooms on higher floors, including through some bathrooms’ floor-toceiling windows. If you want to be right by the sands, it will set you back around US$9,600 a night in one of the five beachfront villas, which are high-spec affairs with their own infinity pools. Or you could buy one if you’ve got US$12 million to spare. Mr Sawiris will be your neighbour when he’s on the island.

A key element of Silversands is that, unlike many luxury hotels in the Caribbean, it isn’t hidden away from prying eyes, at least on its seafront side. The hotel lies at the far northern end of 1.5-mile (2.4km) Grand Anse beach. It’s a five-minute stroll to an area in front of a craft market where large numbers of cruise-ship passengers congregate, and visitors and locals do wander along the beach in front of Silversands to have a gawp at the extraordinary-looking apparition. None of which is necessarily a problem, but if you’re spending very big bucks on renting a beachfront villa, then you should know its outdoor space is not exactly private. Somewhat cheaper villas are

Forget bright, tropical colours, at Silversands it’s all neutral tones