Experience Anguilla

Overview

The laid-back luxury British Caribbean Island of Anguilla is a small island that calms minds and lifts visitors' spirits with its breathtaking beauty. Anguilla is a small island that measures just 16 miles long, and 3 miles wide, surrounded by several spectacular offshore islets and cays. This tropical paradise is filled with sun-kissed shores and soothing stretches of soft white sand such as Rendezvous Bay. A tranquil bespoke and authentic holiday escape for beach and nature lovers alike, offering land and water activities. There’s world-class golf and spas, endless watersports, a vibrant art scene, and plenty of calypso music to aid in a relaxing getaway. 

Anguilla is free of cruise ships and casinos making it a secret little hideaway from its neighboring cousin islands. It boasts perfect weather, warm and welcoming people, flavorful cuisine, breathtaking shores, beachfront accommodations, and a whole lot of luxury in the Lesser Antilles. The Valley is the main town and bustling center of the island known for its easygoing atmosphere, great restaurants, busy bars, and charming shops.

Things to see and do

Spending time in or out on the mesmerizing waters around Anguilla is one of the best ways to spend your day. The island is renowned for some of the best diving and snorkeling in the Caribbean with intentionally sunken ships that become vibrant artificial coral reefs dotted around the shores. There's plenty to see underwater, Anguilla boasts some of the clearest waters in the Caribbean where abundant marine life including barracudas, nurse sharks, stingrays, turtles, eels, and tropical fish are plentiful. There are seven marine parks surrounding Anguilla, Stoney Bay Marine Park is one of them where the 18th-century Spanish galleon has been since 1772, an award-winning underwater park.

Go Sailing around the spectacular waters, enjoy eco-tours and island hopping tours to visit places like Little Bay, where snorkeling can be done right off the beaches.

Visit the Heritage Museum Collection, a great attraction where visitors can learn about the history of the island. The fascinating museum features artifacts including Arawak Indian tools, slave shackles, and other items that date back to the 19th century. Mr. Colville Petty founded the museum and discovered most of the items on display in the museum himself, he was awarded an OBE from Queen Elizabeth II.

Check out the quaint historic town of Olde Valley the capital of Anguilla, it is also the commercial, political, and geographic heart of the island. Home to the best history museum, and Anguilla’s salt ponds. It also has several opportunities for excellent fishing and diving trips with multiple tour operators found around the harbor. Visit the Anguilla National Trust featuring exhibits on the natural and cultural history of the island, and take an Anguilla Heritage Tour or nature hike.

Check out the Wall Blake House, a plantation home on the Heritage Trail built in 1787. Warden’s Place is a former cotton and sugar plantation that now houses the Koal Keel Restaurant with the 200-year-old rock oven still in place. The Old factory was the location where Anguilla’s cotton was ginned for many years, the ginning machinery is still intact and on display here.

Go Island hopping! Six spectacular nearby idyllic islands belong to Anguilla: Scrub Island, Sombrero, Dog Island, Sandy Island, Prickly Pear, and Anguillita. Many tour companies offer “Anguilla by Sea” tours, which take you to one or more of these islands for a day of swimming, snorkeling, and fantastic food.

Scrub Island is the largest of the offshore cays, and it is devoid of development, your perfect private island. Activities here include Wildlife observation, over 34 species of birds that have been recorded, snorkeling with turtles, fish, and stingrays, and swimming in emerald glowing lagoons. The trip to Scrub Island takes approximately 20 minutes from Island Harbour.

Sombrero Island has an interesting history as it was a major source of guano mining in the nineteenth century. In 1856 the Americans claimed the island from the British, and in a short period of time quarried over 100,000 tons of phosphate as fertilizer for the exhausted lands of the southern states. Today Sombrero has been designated an important bird area by BirdLife International because of its breeding seabirds, and the surrounding waters are feeding areas for Hawksbill turtles.

BirdLife International has also identified Dog Island as an important bird area, as it is home to large populations of nesting seabirds, mainly sooty terns, over 100,000 pairs, along with nine other species. A large colony of magnificent Frigate Birds nests on the eastern end of the island, along with flocks of Masked and Brown Boobies. It is also an interesting dive location, for experienced divers because of strong currents.

Shopping

Shopping in Anguilla offers an eclectic experience with a variety of different shopping experiences in cute local boutiques, quaint fashion shops, beachfront shops, vibrant art galleries, and souvenir shops to pick up unique treasures during your stay. Visitors can pick up anything from couture items to artisanal, beach casual, and modern-day chic with lots of local handmade creations. Some popular studios to check out when visiting Anguilla include the Anguilla Arts and Crafts Center, the Devonish Art Gallery, the Cheddie Richardson Carving Studio, and the Stone Cellar Art Gallery. There is a wide range of quality products to choose from in Anguilla many made locally with the “Made in Anguilla” sticker and seal of approval. The range of products available on the island includes fine jewelry, designer beachwear, elegant resort wear, keepsakes, and gourmet foods and spirits. Other more unique items include clothing such as silky kurtas, bejeweled caftans, scads of fine and costume jewelry, and slinky bathing suits.

Beaches

There are 33 spectacular beaches gracing the sparking shores of Anguilla, these beaches are some of the main draws to the island each with its unique characteristics. The West End of the island is blessed with the Beaches of Meads Bay, Rendezvous Bay, Maundays Bay, Barnes Bay, Long Bay, and Cove Bay blanketed with soft white sand framed by beautiful clear azure waters. The East End of the island is growing with lots of development and catching up with the West End it is blessed with the magnificent shores of Shoal Bay East Beach with glitzy upscale properties such as the Zemi Beach House Resort and Spa, and Manoah Boutique Hotel that recently opened here. Beautiful bountiful beaches decorated the island with beaches on the north coast that face the Atlantic side with great waves for surfing.

Cuisine

Anguilla offers some of the premier dining options in the Caribbean. Diners can enjoy sophisticated alfresco dining in casual yet elegant open-air settings, as well as an eclectic mixture of bistros and beach bars dotted throughout the island. Some of the restaurants on the island are home to noteworthy native Anguillan chefs such as Dale Carty (Tasty’s and Dune Preserve) and Glendon Carty (Ripple’s and Cap Juluca) serving up mouth-watering dishes and effervescent cocktails. The Anguillan menus tend to include an abundance of freshly caught seafood like prawns, shrimp, crab, spiny lobster, conch, and fish including red snapper, yellowtail, tuna, marlin, grouper, and Mahi. Anguillan cuisine is heavily influenced by native Caribbean cultures as well as West African, Spanish, French, Italian, and English cuisine. A large amount of the island’s produce is imported due to the limited land suitable for agricultural production. Some things produced in Anguilla include tomatoes, peppers, limes, and other citrus fruits. The official national food of Anguilla is pigeon peas and rice.

Nightlife

Anguilla surprisingly offers a vibrant and exciting nightlife scene, once the sun sets on the horizon the island life and vibes come alive. There are plenty of options to choose from including relaxed venues with live music, lively bars, luxe lounges, happening beach bars, to thumping dance clubs where partygoers can let their hair down. Throughout the year the island hosts a variety of exciting beach and themed parties including full moon parties, BBQs, and cultural festivals featuring live music, DJs, fire dancers, and delicious local cuisine. 

Catching a glorious sunset is one of the top ways to start your evenings in Anguilla, there are many beautiful beaches to choose from on the island, and many are lined by casual bars. Sunset cruises are also a great way to capture the sun setting in a spectacular setting, there are classic sailing vessels known as 'sloops' that take passengers out for a unique cruise. The funky and authentic Bankie Banx’s Dune Preserve on Rendezvous Bay is rated the #1 beach bar in the world by CNN, and hosts The Bankie Banx’s Moonsplash Music Festival held on the sands at The Dune under a full moon. 

Anguilla boasts some of the best live music scenes in the Western Hemisphere and is noted for its thriving local talent and dynamic music scene. The island offers a variety of great venues like Dune Preserve, and Johnno’s where performers such as The Musical Brothers, British Dependency, Omalie 360, Omari Banks, and Bankie Banx perform. There are several lively beachside bars found in Shoal’s Bay, Johnno's Beach Stop, and the Pumphouse are two of the best clubs on the island found at Sandy Ground.