Trinidad
Port of Spain is the capital and the heart of Carnival, with the Queen's Park Savannah, the Botanic Gardens, Woodbrook's nightlife and some of the best street food in the Caribbean. Over the mountains, the North Coast runs from Maracas Bay to Blanchisseuse and on to Grande Riviere, with rainforest, waterfalls, birding lodges and nesting leatherback turtles.
South of the capital, central and south Trinidad is where the Indo Trinidadian heritage of the country is strongest: the scarlet ibis of the Caroni Swamp, the Temple in the Sea, the giant Hanuman statue at Carapichaima, the markets of Chaguanas, the city of San Fernando and the strange Pitch Lake at La Brea.
Tobago
Southwest Tobago is where most visitors stay, around Crown Point, Store Bay, Pigeon Point, Buccoo and Mount Irvine, close to the airport and the reef. Northeast Tobago is wilder and quieter, with the Main Ridge rainforest, Castara and Englishman's Bay, and the diving villages of Speyside and Charlotteville.
How to combine them
A good first trip spends four or five nights in or near Port of Spain, with day trips to the North Coast and Caroni, then five nights on Tobago split between the southwest and the northeast. Use the free trip planner to shape it, and our places to visit list to fill each day.