This week’s dream: Little Cayman

Mention the Cayman Islands and most people think of offshore banking, says Francesca Syz in Conde Nast Traveller. That's understandable: legislation in the 1960s encouraging duty-free trade has made this tiny Caribbean outpost the world's fifth-largest banking centre, and it's wealthier than any of its neighbours as a result. But the islands' other virtues are of greater interest to the casual visitor: perfect white beaches, pretty settlements of "traditional, pastel-coloured" houses and astonishing marine life: the diving here is world-class.

Sir Francis Drake named the three islands after the caiman (a crocodile) when he arrived in 1586, and they've been a British territory since the 17th century. Most of the islands' 48,000 inhabitants live in Georgetown, on Grand Cayman, and many visitors do not venture beyond the "high-rise resorts, condominiums and duty-free malls" that flank its Seven Mile Beach - which is good news for those who want to explore the island’s "magical" hinterland of mangrove and orchid forests, or visit either of its less brash little sisters: Cayman Brac, which is unspoilt and rustic, and Little Cayman.

In the interests of the resident iguanas, which tend to bask in the middle of the road, there's a 25mph speed limit on Little Cayman; even so, it only takes an hour to drive around the island. Most of its 150 human inhabitants live in covetable beach huts on the southwest tip: beyond, you'll find a forested wilderness, the air heavy with butterflies, the roadside scattered with lilies. The coast is lined with just a few "very small" resorts, the oldest of which is the Southern Cross Club, where guests while away their days diving, fishing or lying in hammocks outside beachfront cottages.

Barefoot Traveller (020 8741 4319) offers six nights full-board at The Southern Cross Club on Little Cayman from £1,945pp, including flights and transfers. ·