If your idea of paradise is an action-packed, all-inclusive, compulsory-fun-times Club Med resort, then read no further.

However, if you're looking for a chilled-out and perfectly secluded barefoot retreat with powdery white-sand and crystal-clear water then maybe, just maybe, Tamarind is for you.

My wife and I spent weeks searching the internet for a quiet, mellow Caribbean vacation spot. Eventually, we found Canouan Island. Now, there are two accomodation options here -Raffles and Tamarind. We visited Raffles for a couple of hours and, while certain aspects of it are quite lush, it is also quite large (you need your golf buggy to get around) and, for us, kinda soulless. Not our cup of tea.

Tamarind, however, was just the ticket and we loved our eight days there. The beach is gorgeous, the food delicious, the service just the right combination of relaxed and attentive (a special shout out to my man Floyd on the beach!)

Tamarind is small but perfectly formed. The rooms are lovely (we were lucky enough to be upgraded to an upstairs suite). The beach is superb, the drinks are strong and the food is great (the owners are italian, so the seafood is complemented by pasta and pizza. One bummer -we were there outside lobster season).

What else?

We didn't bother with the meal plan (you'd only find it valuable if you eat three meals a day including a three course dinner).

Definitely go sailing down to the Tobago Cays -we went out on Jambalaya, a gorgeous 75-foot wooden schooner and snorkelled the reef, plus the turtles off one of the beaches.

Enjoy!

We have just returned from a week at the Tamarind Beach and wished we could have stayed for a month. The hotel is on one of the prettiest beaches I have ever seen with powdery white sand and turquose sea that never seems to have any seaweed or rocks to hurt your feet..one of my pet peeves!
There are three 2-story buildings that have a Britttish colonial feel, done in dark wood and shutters. We had a suite on the second floor with airy high ceilings and a lovely porch with comfortable chaises, chairs and table. And the decore was lovely in the rooms with cane furniture that fit the mood. Also , they had fabulous pillows on the bed and I am very picky about that!
The hotel is Italian-managed and the food was just great. They always have fresh fish that's beautifully prepared but also have a half a dozen pasta dishes every day as well as fantastic pizza! They also were happy to prepare anything special we asked for. The service was just perfect. Everyone has a smile and can't do enough for you but without being intrusive.
It's very quiet with nothing much to do (although they have kayaks, windsurf boards and the usual if you are into that) which was exactly what we wanted...swim, read, drink , relax.....heaven!

To celebrate our anniversary, we wanted a very quiet, restful spot to spend our week and we certainly chose well. The beginning of our journey was rocky to say the least missing the connection to San Juan to make the only flight of the day to Canouan (we were traveling on Friday, AA doesn't fly in again until Sunday). We called the hotel who investigated for us and told us to get to Barbados and then we could fly from there on Saturday morning rather than losing 2 whole days. FYI, everyone on the island said it's much easier and more reliable to fly to Barbados from the US then take Liat into Canouan as there are frequent delays/missed connections in San Juan. We were extremely impressed with Oscar at the hotel as he made several phone calls to us while he was researching our options for arriving asap! Once we finally made it to the hotel, we were greeted with a very warm welcome, fruit punches and a room upgrade! We had booked a standard room but were given a suite which was one of the highlights of the week! Another couple on the beach had also been upgraded, it seems that if there's a suite available when you arrive, they upgrade which I find very nice as so few hotels do this anymore. The suite was absolutely beautiful with huge tub, lovely bed, one and a half baths and huge patio which was literally 3 steps down to the sand! The room was always nice and cool (sometimes even cold) with A/C in both the bedroom and living room. After seeing one of the standard rooms, also nice but very small compared to ours with only a corner shower and no tub, we'd definitely pay the extra for a suite next time.
The beach was nice with plenty of lounges and thatch umbrellas but we were a bit disappointed at the amount of sea grass washing in. We know it's just a fact of nature, but we hadn't seen any mention of it and didn't expect it. The beach staff shoveled it up every morning and commented that in the winter they have to do this several times a day. There's not too much in the sea when you go out for a swim, it just seems to wash up in massive clumps. The beach staff were so kind and very helpful, bringing fresh towels and fresh coconuts with a straw for an afternoon treat!
We found reviews of the meal plan to be a bit mixed so on arrival we asked about the details and limitations and found there are none! For breakfast, lunch and dinner you can order anything you like whether it's just a sandwich or 3 appetizers, soup, salad, entree and dessert (never did that, just an example!)!! If you're on budget for meals, you can eat and spend less than the meal plan, but if you want to really have great food the whole time, we would suggest the meal plan. Of course the most delicious menu items were the most expensive (the BEST lobster salad ever for lunch $32.00, considered an appetizer), grilled lobster for lunch or dinner $41.00, most appetizers $18, etc. This definitely made the plan worth it to us.
Both restaurants were nice, but we chose the Palapa all but one night. The food there was more more "Caribbean" and if there's anything you want to alter on the menu, they gladly do it, even sometimes suggest changes (adding lobster to the nightly risotto, delicious). Of all the places we've been in the Caribbean, this is definitely the best, most consistently good food we've ever found. We never had a single complaint or disappointment with the food or the wonderful servers. And the reviews are correct, several of the islands wealthy dine here, even the Raffles manager. I can't imagine better food anywhere in the Caribbean.
We chartered a boat one day to take us to the Tobago Cays and Mayreau which was really nice, we went privately on the Quest rather than the party-boat style catamaran with the group trips. The day was beautiful and the Cays were incredible, definitely recommend this. We also took the island tour and really enjoyed it, too, went through the Raffles and while the beach did look a bit prettier than ours, not really worth it to us to have to take a golf cart from our room to the beach. On next visit, we might, however, stay most of the week at Tamarind and maybe 2 nights at the Raffles just for the luxury part.
Overall, we loved the Tamarind, can't complain about anything! Would definitely return!

Canouan is a nice little island with some beautiful beaches. The hotel is OK if you stay day or two, as most guests arriving on yachts do.

However, staying 5 days there was slightly boring, especially because of the lack of facilities and activities around (be sure to do power boat trip around nearby islands!), never changing restaurant menu and other overpriced things. For instance, the hotel charges US$5 per 15 minutes to use Internet on their 10 years old PC, seems ridiculous as I can't recall a 4 star* hotel which wouldn't offer internet for free and via WiFi. For comparison, on Union Island it is EC$5 per 30 minutes (5 times cheaper).

They have complimentary transfer to airport (5minutes) and this isn't surprise as there are no other means to get to the hotel, but they want to charge US$20+ for a 5 minute ride to another beach and then come half an hour later to collect you. On the hotel beach it gets boring very quickly as it's not the nicest beach and full of yachts. They couldn't provide a complimentary water in minibar as better hotels do and it is much cheaper to buy water in a small local store nearby (you can't drink from tap).

On a positive note, the staff (local people) are very nice and helpful. It is a shame overall experience is spoiled by the bad management.