Boutique hotels
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Cotton House
- Style
- Coral stone colonial
- Setting
- The champagne set’s private island
Mustique Overview
Mustique
- Coastline
- Chic castaway shores
- Coast Life
- Paparazzi-free paradise
Mustique is a 1,400-acre private island, managed by the Mustique Company (in turn belonging to a conglomerate of island home-owners). To arrive here is to step into a perfect world, where the beaches and ocean are whiter/more turquoise than a dream, road signs are hand-painted, and even the grass is cut with exceptional care.
The big deal about Mustique is its sense of space and exclusive isolation; even when there’s full occupancy, the beautiful beaches are virtually deserted. There are just two guesthouses and 65 private villas. Long famous as a hang-out for a fast aristo/rock set – Princess Margaret, Mick Jagger, Noel Gallagher – it’s a slow-paced, laid-back island: a place to chill out, play some tennis, go horse-riding, snorkel, rent a yacht or muck about in a speedboat.
Marvellously Mustique
It’s got to be the luxury butlered picnic – a speedboat out to the Tobago Cays, then Krug and caviar for two on a perfect day (they’re all perfect). All this can be arranged by the Cotton House.
Local knowledge
- Taxis
- No such thing. Cotton House staff will greet you on arrival and the hotel can organise a chauffeur service for you to go anywhere you desire.
- Tipping culture
- Discretionary, but a minimum of 10 per cent is expected.
- Siesta and fiesta
- Early to bed and early to rise. People generally eat at around 8pm, and nightlife is based on private parties so there’s no rule of thumb.
- Packing tips
- Casual couture if you want to fit in with your fellow jet-setters, jodhpurs if you fancy trekking around the island on horseback, MBT trainers for the custom-made jogging/walking circuit with a view. And your iPod for the in-room speakers at the Cotton House.
- Recommended reads
- Mustique by Roger Vaughan’ Princess Margaret: a Life Unravelled by Tim Heald; Island of Dreams: 99 Poems from Mustique by Felix Dennis; Spear’s Wealth Management Survey.
- Cuisine
- Fresh fish and seafood caught daily. The food at both Firefly and the Cotton House is terrific: from Caribbean dishes to French food and wine, with almost anything you fancy magicked up on request.
- Currency
- The local currency is the East Caribbean Dollar, but the US Dollar is widely used.
- Time zone
- Atlantic Standard Time zone, so GMT -4 hours.
- Dialling codes
- The international dialling code is +1 784.
- Do go/don't go
- The Cotton House closes in September and October. It can be great to go towards the end of the season (May to August) when the rooms are more reasonably priced and you have the island almost to yourself. The weather is still fantastic.
Don't go home without...
Letting loose your inner ker-azy Sloane with a dance at Basil’s Bar.
