The Cove, Eleuthera

Eleuthera itself had something of a heyday as a destination around the middle of the last century, and while there were sensible reasons for its decline, the fundamental appeal of the place hasn’t changed. We’re pleased, then, to see it on the upswing again — who could say no to a hundred-mile-long, two-mile-wide, gently snaking Bahamian island, the merest pencil-stroke of a northern Caribbean paradise, especially now that hotels like The Cove are putting some serious effort into attracting a new generation of travelers.

A generation, that is, raised on the stylish, all-white minimalist boutique hotel, a generation for whom the floral-print bedspread is the interior-design equivalent of a message scrawled across the mirror reading “get out now!” The Cove, you’ll be perhaps not entirely surprised to learn, has ditched its floral prints, and probably a great deal of wicker besides, in the course of a large-scale renovation which leaves the property looking contemporary as can be — white walls, modern furniture, rain showers, fifty-inch flat-screens and all the rest.

Add to this all the charms of life on the idyllic inner arc of northern Eleuthera, and you’ve got quite an enticing proposition.