The easy-going, snoozy little community of TREASURE BEACH has become the main tourist centre on the south coast, particularly popular with a hip bohemian crowd. It has a good range of accommodation options, including a delightfully eclectic collection of villas and beach cottages to rent. There are also some great places to eat and a couple of diverting attractions, while the bays here boast some pretty beaches . The Santa Cruz Mountains rise up from the sea just east of Treasure Beach and run northwest, providing a scenic backdrop for the village and protecting the area from rainclouds coming from the north. As a result, Treasure Beach has one of the driest climates on the island, with a scrubby, desert-like landscape. This is farming country nonetheless, and you'll see plantations scattered around the area.

Treasure Beach itself is made up of a string of loosely connected fishing settlements. The chances are that you'll stay on the long sandy sweep of Frenchman's Bay , where tourism has displaced fishing as the main industry, or smaller Calabash Bay , where brightly coloured fishing boats are pulled up on the beach below the newly constructed hotels and guesthouses. To the east, Great Bay remains a fishing village with just a couple of guesthouses and some lovely beaches, while west of Frenchman's Bay the road runs past Billy's Bay , home to several of the classiest villas in Treasure Beach, some shacks and a lot of goats.