The Crane bills itself at the Caribbean’s first resort hotel, opened in 1887, but don’t come expecting a tiny, twee lodging. This property now sprawls across a clifftop at the island’s east end, with ten hotel buildings, numerous swimming pools, and a village of shops and five restaurants, including seafood & Caribbean fare at L’Azure, Japanese and Thai at Zen, and Italian at D’Onofrio’s. The two best buildings for rooms are the Cliff Cot (Building 5), right at the cliff’s edge for nice sea breezes (which also help with mosquitoes), and the smaller but charming rooms of hardwood floors and high ceilings in the original coral-stone Historic Hotel (Building 1, Marine Villa), which has its own small pool and is right by the glass elevator down to wide, sandy Crane Beach, consistently ranked among the top in the Caribbean. Most rooms are rather spacious, done in white and dark wood with poster beds and full kitchens—more like studios and mini-apartments than hotel rooms. Least intriguing: The Residence in the Park, an arc of newish buildings near the main gate without sea views (though the higher-end rooms here come with private plunge pools).