Trip Report: Antigua and Barbuda
Visited in May 2022
This trip report is part of a five-part series. This is the third part and for a better understanding it is worth starting with the first article and going through the articles in chronological order.
A 15-minute flight with British Airways brought me from St. Kitts to Antigua. British Airways flies daily from London to Antigua and Barbuda, and twice a week there is a short connecting flight from Antigua to St. Kitts and Nevis and back. The 15-minute flight cost $180, which was, however, the cheapest of all flights within the Caribbean islands.
Still, I was kind of glad to fly with BA. Airlines in the Caribbean don’t have the reputation of being the most reliable and are notorious for their many delays and flight cancellations. A European airline gave a little more security. In retrospect, though, I can confirm that not a single one of my Caribbean flights had a delay….
I must admit that Antigua and Barbuda was the country I was most looking forward to visiting out of all the Lesser Antilles countries. Yet my anticipation was basically not particularly well-founded. I had seen pictures of the country, the beaches and the sea a long, long time ago when I was about 20 years old. At that time I had the impression that I could never afford such a destination. However, whenever I thought of the Caribbean, this country always came to mind.
So, what kind of country is Antigua and Barbuda? The name leads to the conclusion that it is a country consisting of two islands. Which is incorrect. There is a third island, Redonda, a non-inhabited rock that used to be a kingdom. Besides, there are some other tiny islands in the territory of Antigua and Barbuda. However, travelers coming to Antigua and Barbuda inevitably spend their time in Antigua, as it is home to the country’s only airport. From there, however, one can also visit Barbuda by ferry.
Also worth mentioning is the pronunciation of the country. Antigua is not pronounced like the city in Guatamala (“Anti-gwah”) but “Anti-gah”. The country has the East Caribbean Dollar as their currency, which is also the currency of St. Kitts and Nevis, so we could use our remaining banknotes here as well. As a tourist, by the way, you can only get by in all these countries with USD, which is accepted everywhere as a means of payment.
In my trip report to St. Kitts and Nevis I wrote that I always have a certain idea about a new country before I travel there. In many cases this idea corresponds to reality. With St. Kitts it was different. There I somehow had a rather undeveloped country in my mind, but it turned out to be the exact opposite. With Antigua and Barbuda it was the other way around. Here I expected a highly developed, picture-perfect luxury island. The reality, however, looked different.
During the drive from the airport to our hotel, Antigua seemed anything but beautiful or luxurious as I had imagined. The houses and the streets seemed pretty basic. Perhaps this is what the area between the airport and the capital looks like, I thought. At this point I didn’t know that the whole interior of the island would look like this.
The area where our hotel was located was not particularly nice either. We were in the middle of a residential neighborhood that was about a 20-minute walk from the capital city of St. John’s. The area seemed a bit dodgy somehow. But to avoid paying over $200 for our hotel every night, we chose a rather simple hotel in Antigua and Barbuda that was still rated three stars and had its own car rental company.
We had two and a half days in Antigua and Barbuda. First, I had the idea of spending one day in Antigua and one in Barbuda. However, after a little research, I felt that Barbuda would not be worth the high cost of the ferry. Another option would have been Montserrat. An island with an active volcano that you can also reach by ferry.
If there was not the pandemic. Because the ferry to this island is still not operating. Flights would have been possible for $170. However, we would have still needed an antigen test. The flights, the antigen test, the tour of Montserrat, and other taxes would have brought the cost of the day trip to over $400, which we did not want to pay. As a result, we spent the first day driving once around the island and checking out the sights. The circumnavigation of the island takes about four hours, partly because the potholes on the roads prevent us from driving too fast.
My impressions of the arrival were confirmed that day by the way. The interior of the island is not really worth mentioning. However, the beauty of Antigua is on the coast. There are some attractions spread around the island. For example, the Pillars of Hercules, the viewpoint Shirley Heights or the Devil’s Bridge National Park. And one day is actually enough to see all of them.
The real highlight of the island, however, are the beaches. Supposedly there are 365 beaches on Antigua – one for every day of the year. Whether this is true or not is a moot point, but we visited some of these beaches and they were all beautiful. Especially compared to the beaches of St. Kitts, Antigua definitely offers more. Anyway, I quickly got the impression that Antigua and Barbuda is a country that should be visited mainly for the beaches or water activities.
The good thing is also that it has different beaches for every taste. There are small, rather deserted beaches that you don’t have to share with anyone, as well as larger, more touristy beaches where you rent a jet ski and find plenty of restaurants and bars. For example, the beach at Dickenson Bay, where we made our second day in the country a beach day, belongs to this category.
Other than that, we visited the capital, St. John’s. Not a nice city, to be honest. The city looks pretty run down and doesn’t really offer anything worth seeing. With some of its small street markets, this city reminded me more of West Africa than the Caribbean. The city is apparently not too safe either, however, we did not encounter any problems.
The three days in Antigua and Barbuda were rather slow. One day sightseeing, one day at the beach plus another half day where we just killed some time waiting for our departure. Will I ever visit Antigua and Barbuda again? Honestly, I don’t think so. Anyone who reads my blog occasionally will have noticed that beaches do not hold the greatest fascination for me.
However, Antigua and Barbuda is a country that should be visited for that reason, and that reason alone. The island is a fantastic beach destination, but otherwise offers rather little. If I had the choice to travel again to either St. Kitts and Nevis or Antigua and Barbuda, my choice would still be Antigua and Barbuda.
In general, it must also be said that I made a crucial mistake by not booking a hotel directly by the ocean. This investment would have been definitely worth it, so that we would not have had to spend the night in a rather unattractive area. So my tip for travelers who want to go to Antigua and Barbuda would be clear: book some fine resort on the beach and enjoy the sun and the water.
To Antigua and Barbuda’s credit, the country was not quite as expensive as, for example, St. Kitts and Nevis or Barbados, where we went next. This is not to say that Antigua and Barbuda is a cheap country. All of these Caribbean islands are expensive. Still, I felt that Antigua was at least a little bit cheaper than the rest.
We left the island then towards Barbados. In contrast to Antigua and Barbuda, my expectations for Barbados were rather low, so we only planned a bit more than 24 hours there. In hindsight, I would have preferred to do it the other way around, spending one day more in Barbados and one day less in Antigua and Barbuda. You will find the reason for this if you read my Barbados trip report.
