Your Own Private Paradise

by Ian Keown

You know the fantasy. We all do. Lying on a poolside chaise at your private Caribbean villa - butler to fetch drinks, maid to freshen soggy tennis gear, cook to prepare a tropical feast that evening. But it doesn't have to be a fantasy, especially in summer. From mid-April to late fall, when prices drop up to 50 percent, renting that Caribbean villa with all the trimmings may cost you less than a room at a resort. Here is one of the grandest villa, Silent Waters available at special summer rates (most excluding food, drinks, and tips).

Silent Waters , Jamaica

One of the newest and most palatial digs in Jamaica - five separate villa suites,
a 900-square-foot main pavilion - this place sprawls across a hillside estate a few miles from Montego Bay. Fly in by helicopter and land on the property's private helipad. Pick one of the massage tables and invite some of your friends to join you. Sip daiquiris in the 22-seat open-air bar, and sit down to dinner at a 15-foot slab of Brazilian granite. Silent Waters is a great for reunions.

(Villas by Linda Smith; 301-229-4300; www.jamaicavillas.com ; $ 10,000 per week for up to six)

Silent Waters