Miami → Miami (10 nights)

Welcome to Miami and the sweep of South Beach - backdrop to every iconic Miami movie, and forefront of Latin American culture. Stroll through pastel-hued geometric buildings in the art deco district, to graffiti mural masterpieces at Wynwood Walls. Watch Latino life unfold in Little Havana - the heartbeat of this great city - where walk-up windows sell café cortadito, sweet sugarcane juice, hatuey beer and guava ice-cream. Watch passionate locals discuss politics, play dominoes and smoke cigars. Shimmy at a salsa class, shop designer boutiques and race marlin and sharks by speedboat. Then slow your pace to uncover rare and endangered species at the Everglades National Park outdoor oasis. You’ll find the Miami dream is real – and it’s not just Cuban heels that will give you a spring in your step.

Framed by misty Blue Mountains and the jewel-toned Caribbean, Port Antonio is the real Jamaica. History lingers in crumbling downtown mansions and labyrinthine backstreets perfumed by aromatic spices, while Hollywood glamour pours from powder-puff sands in Frenchman’s Cove and Errol Flynn Marina. Ride bamboo rafts down the Rio Grande and cool off in Reach Falls before the Blue Lagoon beckons.

Travel through time to one of the world’s finest man-made wonders, The Panama Canal. But Colon doesn’t just transport tankers or provide a short cut between two oceans; wander through Colonial and Neoclassical architecture in the old town, meet the native Embera Indians in the Chagres National Park and admire spectacular scenery as you gently sail the man-made Gatun Lake. Pass into forested San Lorenzo National Park for ecological bliss, a likely glimpse of sloths or toucans, and the fort that kept pirates at bay. And as you learn of the latest locks for maritime trade, wonder how many more million vessels will surge through these waterways.

Starfish-spotted shores and palm-thatched beaches fringe Bocas del Toro, paradisiacal archipelago on Panama’s untamed Caribbean coast. Lyrical creole and rainbow birds drift between the stilted shacks of Bocas Town, shabby-chic gateway to potent marine parks and elemental mangroves where slow sloths and energetic capuchins clamber overhead. Snorkel crystalline reefs where dolphins dance or hike wild rainforest isles in search of sea turtles on castaway beaches.

Welcome to your reprieve from the 21st century. Slip beyond the bounds of the city and step into a primordial paradise that is 100% committed to wildlife preservation. Board a narrow-gauge railway, monster truck, tree-top tram, or quiet kayak to delve deeply into a ecological bio-sphere of surreality: howler monkeys call out in Cahuita National park; stealth jaguars and pumas prowl throughout Tortuguero; gentle sea cows and turtles curiously raise their heads in palm-fringed rivers. Pura vida, the good life, continues with yoga on the beach, hiking wondrous in cacao farms or in the convivial kitchen on a Master Chef. Live well, vivir bien.

A little slice of Colombia in the heart of the Caribbean, with a sprinkling of indigenous culture, echoes of English Puritan settlement and a history of piracy: what’s not to love about stunning San Andrés? Emerald hillsides rise beyond the city, ringed by a patchwork of coconut plantations and vast mangrove swamps. Rocky promontories and sheltered cays that once provided a safe haven for privateer Sir Henry Morgan are now a playground for sun worshippers and skittish lizards. Divers find peerless barrier reefs festooned in coral beneath the warm waves of UNESCO’s Seaflower Biosphere Reserve, an underwater wonderland linking San Andrés to the paradisical beaches of little sister island Providencia.

Welcome to Miami and the sweep of South Beach - backdrop to every iconic Miami movie, and forefront of Latin American culture. Stroll through pastel-hued geometric buildings in the art deco district, to graffiti mural masterpieces at Wynwood Walls. Watch Latino life unfold in Little Havana - the heartbeat of this great city - where walk-up windows sell café cortadito, sweet sugarcane juice, hatuey beer and guava ice-cream. Watch passionate locals discuss politics, play dominoes and smoke cigars. Shimmy at a salsa class, shop designer boutiques and race marlin and sharks by speedboat. Then slow your pace to uncover rare and endangered species at the Everglades National Park outdoor oasis. You’ll find the Miami dream is real – and it’s not just Cuban heels that will give you a spring in your step.