Visiting the Caribbean Island of Antigua

Famed for its Beaches and Cricket Players, a Great Place to Relax

Aug 23, 2008

With reputedly a beach for every day of the year, Antigua is one of the Caribbean's most popular holiday destinations.

Situated in the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean, Antigua is not yet quite as well known among tourists as Barbados and Jamaica, but is rapidly becoming so, and is visited by thousands of people every year. So what does a holiday in Antigua have to offer?

For the traveller who loves the beach, Antigua is hard to beat. It is debatable whether it really has the 365 beaches that the locals boast of, but there are certainly enough for even the most dedicated sea and sand worshipper. Some of the superb patches of sand worth visiting are Long Bay, Dickenson Bay, Half Moon Bay and Rendezvous Beach – but there are many others which are equally attractive. Dozens of hotels and restaurants of all standards and to suit all pockets have sprung up along the coastline, many of them actually on the beach. But if it’s solitude which one seeks, that too is not hard to find. There are also a number of outfits running boat and catamaran cruises, and scuba diving and snorkelling trips to the island’s fabulous coral reefs.

For those who can drag themselves away from the beach there are a number of interesting things to see. Nelson’s Dockyard, once a busy Georgian dockyard, is now a living museum. Long Street in the town of St John’s has some colourful old buildings, and is a good place to wander around and watch the world go by. St John’s also has restaurants where the traveller san sample great West Indian food.

The island’s tropical climate makes it a year-round holiday destination. As for most of the Caribbean, the weather is at its best during the high season, from mid-December to mid-April, when the rainfall is low and the heat is tempered by cooling trade winds. But as one might expect, prices and crowds are at their peak during this season. September and October can be hot and humid, and are also the hurricane season. November can be a month to achieve the best of both worlds – less crowds but comfortable weather.

There are plenty of flights to the island from the USA and Canada. Most British visitors visit the island on some sort of package tour which includes a direct flight. From most other countries, it is necessary to take a flight to one of the main US gateway airports and pick up onward connections from there. Generally the least expensive and most straightforward routes are via Miami. However, with the island growing ever more popular, things are changing and direct flights are becoming more common. Many people also visit the island by sea as part of a Caribbean cruise.

Whenever one goes, and wherever one stays, a relaxing and enjoyable holiday on Antigua is virtually guaranteed!

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