Popular Channel 4 A Place in The Sun presenter, Scarlette Douglas, has arguably the best job in the world.
Filming for the show takes her across the globe to some truly exotic locations, and her friendly, engaging style has not gone unnoticed. She has been nominated in the Best TV Presenter category in this autumn’s International Achievement Recognition Awards (IARA), taking place in London on Saturday 2 September.
With such a great perspective, we had to ask Scarlette, what are her top 10 holiday destinations. Read her countdown to number 1.
10 Gran Canaria
I visited last year and Gran Canaria is wonderful. There’s an area called Maspalomas Meloneras which has huge sand dunes, camel rides, amazing restaurants, you’ve also got the beautiful sea and just a lot to do around there. It’s very relaxing, lovely people, lovely food.
9 Tobago
A lot of these are in the Caribbean because my parents are from Jamaica. We flew into Trinidad, and we got a water ferry/taxi to Tobago which has a huge rainforest, the majority of Tobago is actually a rainforest. You’ve got some incredible properties there, they’re all huge, they’re all different and they’re all unique. Again, the food there is incredible. And it’s just beautiful, so much wildlife, so much bird watching to do out there, it was great, I loved it. I’d never been before until the show so that was good.
8 Antigua
Antigua has a beautiful marina. You can see there is a lot of money, with people going to invest and buy property there. In fact, there’s something called the “Residency” (it’s actually Citizenship) by Investment Program. So, if you purchase a property, of the minimum amount to get a residency there, you get a passport that allows you to travel to so many other countries in the world. Therefore, if you have residency in Antigua, you can see all the different nationalities that come over and kind of set up base there or have holiday homes there, because a lot of money goes into that country. It’s a beautiful island.
7 Lanzarote
I think it’s my favourite out of all the Canary Islands. Such amazing scenery, you’ve got the mountains, you’ve got the sea. Because it’s a volcanic island, there’s lots of black volcanic sand around, black soil, loads of Aloe Vera here, that’s the best plant, because it is such a dry island. But it’s just beautiful, good food, nice people, great mix of nationalities here as well.
6 Granada
So, we’re back in the Caribbean. It’s very similar to Jamaica. We found some really incredible properties on that island for our house hunters, two sisters. They too have a beautiful marina. What you see in the Caribbean, you won’t find in the UK where everything looks the same. In Granada everything is so different, you can see the style, someone has really thought about it, someone’s really made it their own. And just looking at properties over there, is an inspiration I think, it’s really nice.
5 Mallorca
It’s quite expensive in Mallorca, but it is beautiful. It’s a small island, but they have lots of water sports, and great food. It’s a great location, you’re not too far from anything and you can get a ferry over to Ibiza or to mainland Spain.
4 Nevis
If I’d never been to the Caribbean before, that’s exactly what I’d imagine it to be like. It’s completely unspoiled, a small island. St. Kitts and Nevis are joined. St. Kitts is more the party side and then Nevis is a lot quieter, a lot more relaxed, kind of where people decide to go when they retire. Small island, everyone knows everyone on the island. You’ve got monkeys running free in the trees, monkeys are my favourite animal. It’s wild, it’s free, it’s clean, it just looks like such a healthy island. Everything is so green, everything is colourful, the people are fantastic, they’re warm, they welcome you as if you’re part of their family.
3 Ibiza
I put that quite high up in my list because that was where I first filmed a show and it was such a great experience. The thing about Ibiza is that many people think of it as a clubbing venue with very loud music, but the whole island is not like that at all. It’s actually really serene. Again, you have great views, great landscapes, you have yoga retreats, spa retreats, so many places you can just go over there and relax and chill out and not listen to the crazy music that’s probably happening down in San Antonio. Yeah Ibiza is definitely up there, I really like it, though it is quite expensive.
2 Barbados
When I was filming there a couple of years ago my mum and dad came over. They got to do lots of touristy things while I was out working hard, but loved it. We stayed near St. Lawrence Gap, which is a big road, it’s an area actually and it’s a big road where there’s restaurants, bars, little shops, but there are so many cool things to do in Barbados. And my dad’s mum, my grandma, her ex-husband used to live there, so I went there when I was a lot younger so I didn’t get to explore it as much as I did this time, but you can do catamaran trips. I got to swim with turtles and snorkelled. I also enjoyed taking mum and dad out on a boat. It was just great. Simon Cowell’s got a huge villa/mansion, Rihanna’s got one there too. It’s stunning, great food too.
1 Aruba
Now Aruba is a very small island, it’s just off of Venezuela so it’s in the Caribbean and it was the best place I’ve ever been to and I’ve been to a lot of places! My mum came over with me again while I was filming there. It’s a Dutch colony so you can see quite a lot of that influence there. But it’s kind of like a mini Miami, very Americanised, you’ve got a Wendy’s, you’ve got a Dunkin’ Donuts, kind of the generic fast-food chains that you’d usually find, but when you get away from those areas, you’ve got incredible white beaches, turquoise sea, blue skies, fantastic restaurants, that are not even expensive at all but so good. If you’re having fresh food, it’s literally coming from the sea that’s 100 metres from you. But not only do you have all of that, you’ve got the palm trees and all the greenery. The further inland you go you begin to see that it is a deserted island, with loads of cacti, it’s a bit like the wild, wild west. It’s a bit strange to see. You can go quad biking around. It was just fantastic, great food, great people, just brilliant.
