Where to Stay

There's no doubt that Antigua offers a great range of accommodations: every type, price and style giving travelers plenty of choices. From the top-of-the-line in elegance to comfortable business-class accommodations, there are rooms for everyone visiting this island.

With a new hotel in St. John's, the City View Hotel and Restaurant and the newly renovated Heritage Hotel, Antigua has many rooms and services for the business traveler.

At the other end of the spectrum is the Curtain Bluff Hotel on the west coast of the island. The elegant rooms surrounded by glorious gardens are accompanied by equally wonderfully food and an award-winning wine cellar with 25,000 bottles. Another very upscale property is the St. James Club, isolated and offering all-inclusive packages with a long list of activities from tennis to croquet. St. James Club has just designated an entire villa section to time-share.

Around the English Harbour area, there are many interesting places to stay. In Nelson's Dockyard find the Admiral's Inn, built in the 18th Century as a warehouse. There are individual rooms and two-bedroom loft apartments. Not far away is the Copper & Lumber Store Hotel, an elegant old world Georgian building furnished with antiques. The Inn at English Harbour is another upscale property on the waterfront with a hillside restaurant perfect for watching sunsets. For a more casual holiday, try the Galleon Beach Hotel, which encompasses a series of small cabins lining a beach on English Harbour. Galleon also operates time-shares for a series of small island homes on the hills above the cabins.

The Catamaran Hotel is a kick-back waterfront hotel with some rooms offering kitchenettes. It lacks some amenities, but the price, location and ambience are just about right. Book your rooms well in advance here, however. It's central to the Cat Club Marina, often loaded with yachts and charter fishing vessels.

There are many hotels along the island's western coast in the area of Dickenson Bay. One of them is Sandals Antigua Resort and Spa, offering a variety of organized activities for couples only. There are also the Dickenson Bay Cottages, housekeeping units on a hill above the bay. Siboney Beach Club is in the same neighborhood, run by the same man (Tony Johnson) since the late 1950s. The Rex Halcyon Cove Beach Resort is also in this area, catering to groups.

Still on the west coast is the Royal Antiguan Resort, a high-rise by Antigua standards (nine stories) with a spacious casino filled with slot machines. With nearly 300 rooms, the mass-marketed hotel is full service with three restaurants, four bars and a host of activities.

If you like boats, a good choice is the Jolly Harbour Beach Resort Marina and Golf Club, where you'll be surrounded by yachts (some very large). This sprawling complex also has a golf course, shops and grocery store. It is a more American seacoast development than Caribbean.

Out on Five Islands peninsula is the Hawksbill Beach Hotel with its signature offshore rock formation that looks like a hawk's head. The isolated hotel, surrounded by vacant ground and gardens, has lovely rooms built in a West Indian style. There's an old windmill on the property that now serves as the gift shop.

In the same area is the recently remodeled Galley Bay, which was doubled in size and turned into an all-inclusive resort. The decor reflects the South Pacific, Haiti and the West Indies. The landscape is totally tropical with a beautiful beach and gardens to match.

At the far end of the island is the Allegro Resort Pineapple Beach, boasting special activities for kids and a small casino.

Jumby Bay, one of those memorable Caribbean experiences occupies its own private island. Exclusive prices match the clientele and the owners, who include "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" host Robin Leach and writer Ken Follett. Don't book here if you have to ask the price.

Another resort in the same vein is the K Club, located on the neighboring island of Barbuda. The K stands for the Italian designer Krizia, who created this exotic resort. Again, don't ask the price.