Caribbean and Atlantic territories: how to tell them apart

5 places · Updated 4 November 2026

These five islands are spread across a huge area, from Curaçao just off the coast of South America to Bermuda far out in the North Atlantic. Each has close links with a much bigger country, and that's the key to recognising them: Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands look American, Martinique looks French, Curaçao looks Dutch, and Bermuda has a British feel.

Check the driving side first. Traffic keeps to the right in Puerto Rico, Curaçao and Martinique, but to the left in the US Virgin Islands and Bermuda. The US Virgin Islands are an odd case: most cars there are American, with the steering wheel on the left, yet they still drive on the left.

Next, read the signs. Spanish on American-style signs means Puerto Rico. English on American-style signs, with traffic on the left, means the US Virgin Islands. French signs identical to those in mainland France mean Martinique. Dutch and Papiamentu mean Curaçao. English signs, very low speed limits in kilometres per hour and gleaming white roofs mean Bermuda.

The landscape helps too. Curaçao is dry, with cactus and thorny scrub. Bermuda is subtropical rather than tropical, with low hills, cedar trees and pinkish beaches. Puerto Rico, Martinique and the US Virgin Islands are green and hilly, and Puerto Rico and Martinique rise to real mountains, with rainforest on their wettest slopes.

At a glance

🇵🇷 Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is the smallest and most easterly of the Greater Antilles, the big islands of the Caribbean. Spanish words on American-style signs, speed limits in miles per hour with distances in kilometres, US chain stores and green mountains behind the coast are its clearest clues.

Language and signs

Spanish is the main language, and English is official too. Road signs combine US designs with Spanish words: the red eight-sided stop sign says "PARE", and you'll also see "Salida" (exit), "Despacio" (slow), "Peaje" (toll) and "Calle" (street). Shop signs often mix both languages.

Roads

Traffic drives on the right. Markings follow the US pattern, with yellow centre lines and white edge lines, and warning signs are yellow diamonds. Big toll motorways are called "autopistas". Distances are in kilometres, but speed limits are in miles per hour.

Landscape and towns

A mountain range, the Cordillera Central, runs along the middle of the island, with forested slopes and coffee farms. In the north-west, the land breaks into rounded limestone hills called mogotes, like giant green haystacks. El Yunque, in the east, is a true tropical rainforest. The south coast lies in the mountains' rain shadow, so it's drier, with scrub and cactus in the south-west.

Houses are mostly concrete, often with flat roofs, painted in bright colours and fronted by decorative metal grilles on windows and porches. Many towns are built around a central plaza with a church. Old San Juan has pastel colonial buildings with balconies and streets of blue-grey cobblestones. Big shopping malls and highways surround the cities.

Easily confused with

• Dominican Republic: The Dominican Republic also has Spanish signs and similar hills, but its speed limits are in kilometres per hour, motorbikes fill its streets and US chain stores are much rarer.
• United States: The mainland US has the same yellow centre lines, signs and chain stores, but the signs are in English and distances are in miles.

Did you know? Tiny frogs called coquís live all over Puerto Rico. At night their loud two-note call, "ko-KEE", fills the air.

🇻🇮 U.S. Virgin Islands

The US Virgin Islands lie just east of Puerto Rico. There are three main islands: Saint Thomas and Saint John, which are small, steep and green, and Saint Croix, which is bigger, gentler and further south. American-style signs in English, with traffic on the left, make a rare combination.

Language and signs

English is the official language, and many people on Saint Croix also speak Spanish. Because the islands were once Danish, many street names are Danish too: in Charlotte Amalie, the capital, "Gade" means street, as in Dronningens Gade.

Roads

Traffic drives on the left, but most cars are American, with the steering wheel on the left, and road signs follow US designs, with speeds in miles per hour. Signs reminding drivers to keep left are common. On Saint Thomas and Saint John the roads are steep, narrow and full of hairpins; Saint Croix has longer, straighter roads.

Landscape and towns

Saint Thomas and Saint John are steep hills dropping straight into bays of clear blue water, with green forest and patches of dry scrub. More than half of Saint John is a national park. Saint Croix has rolling green hills in the west, dry, cactus-covered land in the east and old stone sugar mill towers in the fields.

Charlotte Amalie climbs the hills around a busy harbour, with old Danish warehouses, red roofs and steep stairways in place of some streets. Christiansted and Frederiksted on Saint Croix have colonial buildings painted yellow, pink and white, with covered arcades over the pavements.

Easily confused with

• Puerto Rico: Puerto Rico has the same American-style signs but drives on the right and uses Spanish. If the stop sign says "PARE", you're in Puerto Rico.
• Antigua and Barbuda: Antigua and other nearby islands also drive on the left with English signs, but many cars there have the steering wheel on the right. American details like blue US mailboxes point to the Virgin Islands.

Did you know? The United States bought these islands from Denmark in 1917, which is why so many streets and towns still have Danish names.

🇨🇼 Curaçao

Curaçao lies in the southern Caribbean, about 65 kilometres off the coast of Venezuela. It's dry and sunny, with cactus, thorny scrub and low hills, and its capital, Willemstad, is famous for rows of brightly painted buildings with Dutch-style gables along the harbour. Dutch and Papiamentu on signs, and traffic on the right, confirm it.

Language and signs

Papiamentu, a Creole language that mixes Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and African languages, is spoken most, alongside Dutch, English and Spanish. Signs and street names are in Dutch or Papiamentu. Look for Dutch "weg" (road) and "straat" (street), and Papiamentu "kaya" (street) and "bon bini" (welcome).

Roads

Traffic drives on the right. Road signs are European in style, with round speed-limit signs in kilometres per hour. Main roads link Willemstad with both ends of the island, and the tall Queen Juliana Bridge carries traffic high over the harbour. Country roads are narrow and quiet, lined with cactus and scrub.

Landscape and towns

Curaçao is almost a desert: rain is scarce, so the land is covered in tall column-shaped cactus, thorny shrubs and small, tough trees. Divi-divi trees, bent by the steady trade winds, all lean the same way. The north coast is rugged, with waves crashing against limestone cliffs, while the south coast has calm bays and small beaches. Flamingos sometimes feed in the salt ponds.

Willemstad's waterfront buildings are painted bold yellow, red, blue and green, many with curved Dutch gables. Across the island stand old plantation houses called landhuizen, often painted yellow or ochre. Ordinary homes are low concrete houses in bright colours, sometimes behind fences made from rows of cactus.

Easily confused with

• Netherlands: Dutch signs might suggest the Netherlands, but the Netherlands is flat, green and wet, with brick houses and bike paths. Cactus, palm trees and bright painted walls mean Curaçao.
• Venezuela: Venezuela's coast nearby can be just as dry and cactus-filled, but signs there are in Spanish, and big mountains often rise behind the shore.

Did you know? Willemstad's Queen Emma Bridge floats on pontoons. When a ship needs to pass, the whole bridge swings open like a gate.

🇲🇶 Martinique

Martinique is a mountainous French island in the eastern Caribbean, between Dominica and Saint Lucia. Everything from road signs to pharmacies looks like mainland France, but with palm trees, banana fields and a towering volcano, Mont Pelée, in the north.

Language and signs

French is the official language, and many people also speak Martinican Creole. Signs use the same French words as in Europe, such as "rue" (street), "sortie" (exit) and "centre-ville" (town centre). Many town names begin with Le or La, such as Le Lamentin, Le Robert, Le Marin and La Trinité.

Roads

Traffic drives on the right. Road signs, markings and route numbers follow mainland France, with national roads marked N and smaller roads marked D. Around Fort-de-France the roads are busy dual carriageways; elsewhere they wind over hills and along the coast. The Route de la Trace climbs through the northern rainforest.

Landscape and towns

The north is the most mountainous part, with Mont Pelée rising to about 1,400 metres and steep slopes covered in rainforest, giant ferns and bamboo. Bananas and sugar cane grow on the lower slopes and plains. The south is lower and drier, with rolling hills, white sand beaches and mangroves.

Houses are mostly concrete, painted white or bright colours, with metal or tiled roofs; older Creole houses have wooden shutters and verandas. You'll see French details everywhere: green pharmacy crosses, bakeries, French supermarkets and yellow postboxes. Fort-de-France, the capital, is a busy city around a big bay.

Easily confused with

• France: Mainland France has identical signs, but palm trees, banana fields, rainforest and Creole names mean Martinique.
• Réunion: Réunion is another tropical French island with volcanic mountains, but its peaks are much higher and many of its towns begin with "Saint", while many Martinique towns begin with "Le" or "La".
• Saint Lucia: Saint Lucia, just to the south, has similar hills and French place names, but traffic there drives on the left and signs are in English.

Did you know? Martinique is often called the island of flowers. Its old name, Madinina, is usually translated that way.

🇧🇲 Bermuda

Bermuda is a small, hook-shaped group of islands far out in the North Atlantic, about 1,000 kilometres off the east coast of the United States. Traffic on the left, pastel houses with white stepped roofs and narrow, winding roads lined with hedges make it easy to recognise.

Language and signs

English is the official language. Road names sound British, with "Road", "Lane" and "Hill" common, and the parishes have names such as Paget, Pembroke, Warwick and Sandys. Many houses have their own names on signs by the gate.

Roads

Traffic drives on the left. The speed limit across all of Bermuda is just 35 kilometres per hour, and roads are narrow and twisting, often cut into limestone hillsides or edged with stone walls and thick hedges. Scooters are very common, and bus stops are marked by poles painted pink or blue.

Landscape and towns

Bermuda is low and hilly, with no point higher than about 80 metres. The ground is limestone, covered in lush gardens and woods of cedar, palmetto and casuarina trees, with hedges of bright hibiscus and oleander. The south coast has beaches of pinkish sand and rocky coves.

Houses are painted in soft pastels such as pink, yellow, blue and green, with white trim and stepped white roofs, traditionally made of limestone. The roofs are shaped to catch rainwater, which flows into tanks under the houses. Hamilton, the capital, has colourful shopfronts along its harbour.

Easily confused with

• Bahamas: The Bahamas also drives on the left with English signs and pastel houses, but it's flatter, with pine forests on some of its islands. White stepped roofs are a Bermuda speciality.
• U.S. Virgin Islands: The US Virgin Islands also drive on the left, but they use American road signs with speeds in miles per hour.

Did you know? Bermuda shorts are named after the islands. Some people wear them to the office with a jacket, tie and long knee socks. Bermuda's pink sand gets its colour from the crushed shells of tiny red sea creatures.

Quick round-up: Spanish "PARE" signs and speeds in miles per hour, think Puerto Rico. American signs but traffic on the left, think US Virgin Islands. Cactus, divi-divi trees and Dutch words, think Curaçao. French road numbers and a rainforest volcano, think Martinique. White stepped roofs and a 35 km/h limit, think Bermuda.

Further reading

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