Boasting locations for Pirates of the Caribbean and several Bond films, the Caribbean is a must for fims buffs. Janine Kelso reports
Movie-makers flock to the Caribbean islands to make the most of their diverse and lush landscapes.
Here we provide you with a guide to reliving the flicks that have featured this tropical paradise.
Bahamas
Bond film Casino Royale sees Daniel Craig playing poker in the One&Only Ocean Club, on Paradise Island.
The hotel’s lobby was transformed for the poker-playing scenes and some staff had walk-on parts.
St Vincent and the Grenadines
This archipelago of 32 tiny tropical islands and cays provided the setting for many scenes in Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy.
From the private island resort of Palm Island it’s possible to sail around the Grenadines aboard a 60ft schooner, as seen in the film.
Visitors to Young Island can take a boat around the coast of St Vincent to see where Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) made his entrance in the first of the three films. Book trips to Young Island with Caribtours (020 7751 0660).
Many scenes were also shot in Dominica, including much of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.
The Dominican Republic
As Americans are restricted from visiting Cuba, many movies that are supposed to be set there are filmed in the neighbouring Spanish Caribbean island of the Dominican Republic.
The Cuban scenes from The Godfather: Part II were filmed here in 1974 – as was Andy Garcia’s 2005 flick, The Lost City, which was based in Havana.
Jamaica
Film directors have been drawn to Jamaica since the early 1900s, attracted by its beaches, gardens, waterfalls, tropical rainforest and mountains.
The island provided the backdrop for Bond films Live and Let Die and Dr No. Author Ian Fleming, who wrote the Bond novels, penned many of them in Goldeneye, his beach house in Jamaica.
In Live and Let Die, Green Grotto near Runaway Bay provides the location for the evil Kananga’s underground lair, while Montego Bay provided the setting for the dramatic bus chase.
Visitors can check out the original bobsled featured in Cool Runnings, the true story of the first Jamaican bobsled team trying to make it to the Winter Olympics, at the Jamaican Bobsled Cafe.
Martinique
The French island of Martinique was chosen as the seductive hideaway that billionaire Thomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan) flies off to with alluring female investigator Catherine Banning (Rene Russo) in hit film The Thomas Crown Affair.
Love scenes were shot at a beautiful Creole house in Vauclin in the south of the island, while the historic city of Saint-Pierre, nestled beneath the Mount Pelee volcano, was the setting for other parts of the film.
Sample product
Jetset Holidays offers seven nights’ all-inclusive at Breezes Montego Bay, Jamaica, for £1,459 per person in January and February 2009, including flights and transfers (0870 555 747).
Jetlife offers seven nights at Fort Young Dominica for £915 per person, departing September 8 to December 8, including flights and transfers (0871 902 7877).
