Looking for a Caribbean cultural melting pot renowned for its Carnival and pulsating to the beat of steel drums, soca music, and calypso? Plus Trinidad is lined with relaxing beaches and rainforest waterfalls. Nature watching is colorfully kaleidoscopic, with over 450 bird, 600 butterfly, and 700 orchid species. Golf, hiking, mountain biking, surfing, kayaking, fishing, and boating are among the outdoor pastimes. Cool off with fresh cane juice and sea moss milkshakes. Vegetarian food is plentiful. Eat curries and explore India’s influence at Maha Sabha Indian Caribbean Museum and the Waterloo Temple over the sea.

Immersion into Trinidad’s pulsating urban life starts in its capital city, Port of Spain, a business, foreign embassy, and conference center. For families and business groups, a vacation rental home or villa in Port of Spain and its suburbs offers more space for the money than luxury hotels. Choosing a Trinidad vacation rental also leaves more money for shopping, eating out, and island tours. Relax in your vacation rental living room watching your home teams play on satellite TV. Or get immersed in live local sports: Port of Spain has stadiums devoted to cricket, soccer, and tennis.

Stroll and jog in Queen’s Park Savannah, near the Botanical Gardens, Emperor Valley Zoo, and Magnificent Seven buildings. The Savannah attracts truckloads of fresh coconuts, and doubles men sell coveted aloo pies. Walk around Independence Square and the Brian Lara Promenade. The Central Bank Money Museum in downtown’s financial district displays doubloons, gold bars, and Slave Savings Bank memorabilia. View Columbus Square’s 1836 Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Parliament meets in Woodford Square’s Red House.

King’s Wharf is where cruise ships and Tobago ferries dock. The Venezuela ferry docks at Williams Bay. Near the Chaguaramas Military History & Aerospace Museum is a marina with yachts, sailboats, dry docks, and boat hires. The South Quay’s Fort San Andreas, built by Spain in the 1700s, has a small Port of Spain history museum branch of the National Museum and Art Gallery of Trinidad and Tobago.

A money-saving vacation rental around San Fernando and its suburbs in the southern part of the island puts you in an area dominated by rice, sugarcane, industrial towns, and oil production. La Brea’s massive Pitch Lake, the world’s largest asphalt lake, gave Port of Spain the world’s first paved road and has helped pave roads from London to New York City. Trinity Hills Wildlife Sanctuary has ocelots and quite an array of birds. But Asa Wright Nature Centre and Caroni Bird Sanctuary to the north are better developed as bird-watching venues.