Trinidad and Tobago travel guide: what to see and when to go

The capital moves to steelpan and soca, peaking during carnival, two days before Ash Wednesday (February or March depending on the year), preceded by weeks of build-up fetes. Outside that window, allow two to three days for Queen's Park Savannah, the Magnificent Seven mansions and the Charlotte Street market. Book accommodation months ahead if your trip lands on carnival, since rooms in the city sell out fast and prices rise sharply for the whole festival period.

Less than an hour from the capital, the Northern Range holds most of Trinidad's biodiversity: the Caroni mangrove swamp, where thousands of scarlet ibis fly home to roost each evening, and the Asa Wright Nature Centre, a former cocoa estate turned reserve known for its hummingbirds from first light. A night on site is worth it to enjoy the trails before the day-trip crowds.

The beaches of Matura and especially Grande Riviere host, between March and August, one of the world's highest densities of leatherback turtle nesting, overseen by local conservation programmes. The drive from Port of Spain takes about two and a half hours; night walks are booked on site in small groups, usually between 8pm and midnight. Outside that season, the coast is still worth the trip for its wild beaches and the hike to the Rio Seco waterfalls, far from the crowds found on busier Caribbean islands.

Less visited, southern Trinidad is worth the detour for the La Brea Pitch Lake, the world's largest natural asphalt deposit, worked for over a century and still active. San Fernando, the country's second city about two hours from the capital, makes a practical base: half a day usually covers the guided tour of the lake and a quick look at the waterfront before heading back north or on to Piarco airport.

A twenty-five-minute flight from Trinidad, Tobago shifts gears entirely: Pigeon Point and its photographed jetty, snorkelling at Buccoo Reef and the Nylon Pool near Crown Point, then the wilder north-eastern tip around Speyside and Charlotteville for diving and the Main Ridge Forest Reserve, the oldest protected forest reserve in the western hemisphere. Three to five days cover the island at an easy pace, with a noticeably quieter feel than the busier beaches of the Bahamas.