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The Cayman Islands are situated in the Caribbean, 290km (180 miles) northwest of Jamaica, and comprise Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac.

Caymans beaches are renowned to be among the best in the world, in particular Seven Mile Beach on Grand Cayman. The abundance of fish, marine life and spectacular coral reefs, which can be found in the surrounding waters, makes the Cayman Islands an ideal destination for diving enthusiasts.

Grand Cayman is the main tourist destination and its capital, George Town, is today one of the leading commercial centres in the Caribbean region. The gingerbread-style buildings lining George Towns harbour front are prime examples of traditional Caymanian architecture.

Cayman Brac, northeast of Grand Cayman, is a much smaller island, about 19km (12 miles) long and about 1.6km (1 mile) wide. The area is riddled with caves and dozens of wrecks for divers to explore. It provided the basis for Robert Louis Stevensons famous novel Treasure Island. 11km (7 miles) southeast of Cayman Brac, the tiny island of Little Cayman is best known as a sanctuary for wild birds and iguanas. It is also known as the worlds best location for bonefishing.

The food and restaurants in the Cayman Islands are excellent, in particular the variety of local fish specialities.

The Cayman Turtle Farm, one of Grand Caymans tourist attractions, undertakes strict conservation measures. The Cayman Turtle Farm at North West Point is a matter of national pride. The farm has saved a beautiful species from extinction, releasing thousands of carefully-reared turtles back to the wild since 1980 and so replenishing the area's stocks. They haven't quite got back to the levels they were when Columbus first saw them, when the islands were so covered in turtles that he thought they were rocks!

The farm is the only one of its kind in the world. It is devoted to the turtles' breeding - eggs are taken from the turtles and carefully hatched under controlled conditions in order to ensure their survival.

There are also plenty of adult turtles to admire and inspect in the special holding tanks where they are kept. They can be anything from a few inches across to hundreds of pounds in weight.

Visitors get photo opportunities with the turtles and two shops to purchase mementos from. However, the farm is above all a dedicated conservation centre and tourists are asked to respect that.

The turtles suffered a setback when their home was blitzed by the ferocious hurricane Michelle in 2001 - and it was only possible to release 30 turtles back into the wild the following year. Fortunately the farm did not suffer significant damage when Hurricane Ivan hit the islands in September 2004.

The Cayman Islands have a fairly limited number of nightclubs, which sometimes feature international acts

Pedro St James Castle

The Cayman Islands' flagship tourist attraction of recent years, the Pedro St James Castle in Savannah is a restored and reconstructed 19th-century plantation house. Touted as the birthplace of democracy on account of a meeting that took place there between residents in 1831 where the operation of local laws was discussed, it is the main focus of historic interest on the islands.

The house's history is complicated and somewhat mysterious, partly because one of its 20th-century owners, Tom Bubell, was at pains to fabricate a pirate history for it, faking a date and castellations to pretend it was once a castle. The truth is a little more mundane - the first stone foundations date back to only the 18th century, with a fully-recorded premises not in working order until the early 19th.

Nevertheless, with careful reconstruction, a very lifelike plantation house of the 1820s-1840s has been built, with original features and materials. On the ground floor is a jail, kitchen and storerooms, with the smart dining room, court room and verandah on the first, and living quarters at the top.

The visitors' centre is perhaps the highlight of a visit to St James', a full five buildings of exhibits, information and purchase opportunities. Most interesting is the multimedia video presentation that guides you through 200 years of Cayman Island history in 20 minutes.