Antigua and Barbuda

What to do in Antigua and Barbuda

Best of the Beaches

Beach hop and try all that Antigua's plentiful shoreline offers, starting with these favorites:.

Carlisle Bay

Located on the southern coast, this beach accentuated by a large coconut grove and 2 long, sugar-white beaches. Standing high on the bluff, you get a striking view of the sea.

Long Bay

Found on the eastern coast, this beach has coral reefs in water so shallow you can actually walk out to them!.

Five Islands Peninsula

This peninsula on the northwest coast is actually made up of 4 secluded crescent beaches, including one where you can sunbathe in nature's own, and has very good snorkeling.

Galley Bay

On the northwest coast is popular with surfers during the winter months, when the surf roars to life.

Coco Point

In Barbuda, this sparsely-visited stretch of pink and white sand shores is perfect for loners. Scuba divers, especially, love this reef-and-wreck-encircled spot.

English Harbour

On the south coast just below Falmouth, this is the most famous of Antigua's attractions. It's popular highlight, Nelson's Dockyard, is a thriving merchant village built upon the restored site of Admiral Horatio Nelson's garrisoned station. The nautical community has made it the setting of the world-famous Sailing Week Regatta. The Admiral's House Museum displays model ships, English navy memorabilia, and Admiral Nelson's personal telescope and tea caddy.

The Cathedral of St John the Divine

Set atop a hill like a shepherd protecting its flock, the cathedral has a cool, lofty interior clad in pitch pine to defend against the sort of hurricane and earthquake damage that destroyed the original stone church on this site. Imposing memorial plaques with prosaic inscriptions and coats-of-arms are interesting to browse. In the centuries-old graveyard there are statues of St John the Divine and St John the Baptist taken from one of Napoleon's war ships.

Scuba Diving and Snorkeling

Both Antigua and Barbuda are almost completely surrounded by thriving coral reefs, walls, and shipwrecks. Shelves provide excellent conditions for fantastic shallow diving and snorkeling. There is little or no current in most places, the water temperature averages about 80°F, and underwater visibility ranges from 50 to 140 feet. One of Antigua's best-known offshore snorkeling sites, Cades Reef, partially occupies a designated underwater park. The wreck of the Andes, a three-masted merchant ship that sank in 1905, now rests in less than 30 feet of water in (ironically) Deep Bay. Barbuda's reefs contain an enormous number of wrecks.

The Museum of Antigua and Barbuda

This old-fashioned institution satisfies the most modern expectations of information overload. The 18th-century neo-classic courthouse contains a wealth of details about the island's history and geology. Archaeological exhibits include relics from the earliest settlers, the Stone Age Chiboney people, as well as displays of Arawak shamanry.

Shirley Heights

The vast 18th-century military complex is a great place to start your visit to Nelson's Dockyard National Park. It was built on strategic high ground, overlooking the horizon all the way to French Guadeloupe. This vantage point offered the British all the warning necessary if the French tried to attack (they never did). The impressive officer's quarters are now open to the sky, housing only a wild cactus garden. A restaurant hosts festive BBQs during the day and romantic dining at night.

Betty's Hope

This was the first sugar plantation on Antigua and eventually became the hub of the sugar industry. Built in 1650, this site outside the village of Pares has twin windmills you can tour and sugar era exhibits.

Megaliths of Greencastle Hill

You'll have to make a strenuous climb to be rewarded with the mysterious grandeur of these rocks. Some scholars believe these eerie slabs in the south-central part of the island, were erected by ancient inhabitants as part of their sun-moon worship, but others believe they are simply bizarre geological formations.

Bird Sanctuary

This wide mangrove lagoon lures bird-lovers to its refuge for over 170 bird species, including the frigate birds with remarkable 8-foot wingspans! There is a historic ruin here as well, the Martello Tower, which is thought to have been a lighthouse built by the Spaniards before the English occupation.

Duty-Free Shopping

Several stores sell designer brands at prices that may not be rock-bottom, but are low enough to be officially tempting. Heritage Quay, adjacent to the cruise ship pier, and nearby Redcliffe Quay, a complex restored from an old slave compound, are the 2 best spots for shop-a-holics, with an open-air marketplace between them full of souvenirs and island tchotchkes.