Caribbean > Antigua and Barbuda > Antigua > Antigua > Articles > Antigua: Hotels and Restaurants to Know Before You Go

* With none of the shanty towns, muggings, casual or organised theft, hard staring & bad attitude which disfigure tourism in, say, Jamaica Antigua is, by contrast, one of the friendliest islands in The Caribbean. It’s more 1954 than 2004. West Indians here are quick to laugh, grin hugely & say hello; they’re cricket crazy, from improvised games springing up all over the place to St.John’s Recreation Ground staging the Test match feats of their secular gods Andy Roberts, Viv Richards, Ritchie Richardson & Curtley Ambrose; they go to church on Sundays, as every settlement has its competing Protestant sect, offering the ladies of the parish a fashion contest in floral frocks, shiny handbags & Queen Mother hats. They inhabit an island of lived-in charm, endearingly scruffy at times, cosily majestic at others. No wonder so many Brits & Italians choose to live there.

*Antigua was discovered in 1493 although Columbus didn’t stop there, preferring to name it from a distance after the Spanish church of ‘Santa Maria de Antigua’. From 1632-1981 it was a British colony, enriched by the development/ exploitation of sugar cane, depending on which end of the farm you worked at.

*63,500 people live in an island roughly 10 mls.x 10 mls., 4 hrs. ahead of UK time & 8 hours flying time away. No jabs, no visas required but the departure tax of 20$US (or its equivalent) must be paid in cash.

*December to June is the best time to go, avoiding the autumn’s rainy season and the possibility of summer hurricanes. You’ll get the best hotel deals January-June & November-December 19th. Around December 19th- January 3rd room rates rocket by 30-50%.

*Prices are in $’s – but make very sure you know which $’s are being quoted to you. It takes 2.7 East Caribbean $’s to make 1US$; 4 EC to £1.

*Electricity can be 110V. or 220V., but there’s only one TV channel(US dominated). You might need satellite facilities as the night-life, if you don’t go out to casinos or restaurants, is sparse and usually comes down to hotel in-house entertainment of the steel band, limbo-dancing, fire-eating variety.

*Hiring a car or scooter is the cheapest and most entertaining way to see Antigua on your own. You don’t need to pay for ‘safari excursions’ and you don’t need to pay ruinous taxi prices, whereby a 10 mile round trip from hotel to restaurant & back again will cost you around 50US$ - as against a standard rental price of 45US$ to have your own car all day long. Tedious little rules apply such as being over 25 to rent a scooter, paying 20US$ for a local driving licence & 10US$ a day for obligatory but largely useless insurance. There may be no police around but there are plenty of ‘sleeping policemen’ in the form of speed bumps; there may be no cameras but potholes, drains, wandering wildlife & a lack of signposts will all conspire to slow you down anyway. Be sure to book ahead at peak tourist times e.g. Xmas & New Year and, of course, take your driving licence even if they do, like the English, drive on the left.

*Sporting Antigua is cricket, sailing, most water sports, minimal golf & the appearance now of The Wedding Industry. Jet skis are something of a rarity on the 365 beaches Antigua claims for itself as is quality cricket action for which, unless there’s a big match at St.John’s, you’ll have to go to The Stanford Ground beside the airport where bar & restaurant show old Test Match movies and as often as not there’s an actual game in progress. Yachties will aready know about the world-famous week-long Antigua Regatta Races in May, taking advantage of the strong trade winds which incidentally prompted more windmills to be built here than in any other Caribbean island. They crushed the juice out of the sugar cane stalks.

*Antiguan sightseeing has plenty to get off the beach for, even on a sunny day. Try to take in the following:

The capital, St.John’s, for its Public Market, Anglican Cathedral, Cricket Ground & the sight of a cruise liner absolutely filling the skyline for miles around.
Fig Leaf Drive, prettily and primitively winding its way through a rain forest.
Betty’s Hope, the only working sugar mill in The Caribbean with ruins & a museum which might make Brits, other than the Codrington family who owned & ran it for centuries, feel a bit sheepish, if not vicariously guilty. Nelson’s Dockyard, Horatio’s late C18th home in hurricane-proof English Harbour was a conveniently idyllic spot from which to emerge and rough up the Dutch or the French. Today it’s the sole surviving Georgian naval dockyard in the world with the inevitable restaurants, bars & boutiquey shops alongside the museum pieces.
Shirley Heights overlooks English Harbour and is the place to be on Sundays at 4pm for the BBQ, sunset, live reggae band loudly going through the Caribbean Anthems(‘No Woman,No Cry etc.), all ear-washed down with naval quantities of rum and associated cocktails.
Harmony Hall Estate, set winningly over Nonsuch Bay is a six acre C19th Estate with the most original bar on the island ( a converted sugar mill); the finest restaurant by a long way; and the only shop in Antigua to incite genuine temptations, being largely unrelated to those staples of West Indian island shopping: jewellery, clothing & rum. Since 1987 The Galley Box has been selecting the most unusual & affordable artefacts from the top artists in The Caribbean. Despite appearing last on the list, Harmony Hall Estate provides, in my view, the top tourist experience in Antigua. Swim & shop either side of a long lunch to enjoy it at its best (See ‘Restaurants’ for a full review).

HOTELS

Apart from seasonal price variations (mentioned above), location and whether to be ‘all-inclusive’ or ‘B&B’ are the two other major decisions. As for location, there’s little to commend staying in or around St. John’s; or, for that matter, opting for an off-shore island. Avoid too the Jolly Harbour Development, being the pinnacle of naff artifice. Look rather to the South & The West for the most attractive coastal scenery and proximity to the sights.

Lodging yourself on an ‘all-inclusive’ or ‘B&B’ basis very much depends on what sort of holiday you like. ‘All-inclusive’ means eating in the same restaurants & drinking in the same bars all the time but never having to carry any money with you as you embark on a mission to eat, drink & watersport your money’s worth to the max; being surrounded by families. ‘B&B’ means you don’t eat & drink so much and see far less of the hotel beach, preferring whole or half-days away in the car to sample the other 360+ beaches, major attractions and the best restaurants. Not surprisingly the island’s shop-keepers, taxi drivers & restaurateurs mutter short words about ‘all-inclusive’ deals as they tend to lose out more or less completely on the business of this clientele. Neighbouring Anguila, precisely in a bid to protect its local economy, has banned them. Here, anyway, are some hotels to consider.

CURTAIN BLUFF (SW)

Since opening up 44 years ago as the first 5 star hotel on the island, Curtain Bluff has achieved both a high return rate & a list of long-standing regulars. But it is run by Howard Hulford, an Anglo-American, on a whim of iron you ought to know about. If you want a TV, radio or clock in your room, don’t come here; there aren’t any. Ceiling fans & ocean breezes do the work of air conditioning. Similarly, if for any reason, you have an allergy to upmarket American families in full-on leisure mode, this isn’t the place for you. Otherwise, it’s got the lot. Especially good food; a 25,000 bottle wine cellar; bedrooms with oversized sofas, beds & bathroom bits separated by only a sliding glass door from the sand & the sea. Even though it averages 788US$ DB per night all-inc., deals can be done through intermediaries like Travel Intelligence. Curtain Bluff, caveats noted, does actually represent good value for money in the pricey world of Caribbean up-market ‘all-inclusives’.

GALLEY BAY(W)

Double rooms on the beach at this 5 star hotel have satellite TV & air-conditioning yet cost fractionally less at 777US$ DB per night all-inc. Again, in theory. Galley Bay’s food is perfectly capable rather than outstanding, whilst the rooms in their rustic wood-and-thatch construction lit with Gauguin-bright fabrics seem as organically natural to the Caribbean as the lolloping tropical gardens which encase the place. A stay here would be more tranquil than Curtain Bluff – but possibly not as charming. Galley Bay has a bit of a solitary character to it. The beachfront, for example, is three quarters of a mile of dense, in-your-face, swelling sea along a flat, featureless bay. Curtain Bluff’s main beach doesn’t feel like open sea. There are shallow bits, a few rocks, different colours & you can see the sea-bed set, as it is, in an altogether more intimate bay. Go here if peace & quiet is paramount for you.

THE ROYAL ANTIGUAN(W)

Billing itself as ‘ a 3 star hotel in a 5 star setting’ means you must have a Bayview Room, not a Standard Room, to appreciate what is undoubtedly The Royal Antiguan’s best asset – along with a final bill at the comparativelycheap 343US$ DB per night all-inc. Going up in 1987 as the first ( and mercifully still the only) high-rise hotel in Antigua, it’s a stark 8 storey block the Soviets would have been proud of – even unto upstairs where the bare cream & pale green corridors resemble a hospital. This a 254 room package tour people factory where notice boards, lists of regulations & wine served in plastic glasses suggest crowd control measures have been thought out ahead of time and bolted into place. The food is considerably better than you’d expect apart from the Beach Restaurant and the service careers about from the genial brilliance of catering manager Ian Bishop down to the unsmiling god-awful. The bar has a sad, airport lobby feel to it and the in-house entertainment after dinner is not, shall we say, for the discerning. If only this hotel offered B&B it would constitute an acceptable base at inexpensive value. As it is, ‘all-inclusive’ here is to be unrelentingly herded. You’ll probably want to get out at times & eat elsewhere. But then at this price you can afford to.

CARLISLE BAY(S)

Expect only suites to be available with lots of gauze & muslin, greys & creams, fresh orchids, Indonesian hardwood furniture & wide-screen TVs. Live music, beach barbeques & motorised water sports are banned as is that other Caribbean institution, the manager’s weekly cocktail party. Suite 1065US$ B&B per night.

THE INN AT ENGLISH HARBOUR(S)

This hotel might not be your first choice, particularly if any mentioned above have already hit the spot for you. But, here I confess, it is mine. Justifiably included in ‘The Charming Hotels of The World’, The Inn has, for over 30 years, spread itself discreetly down a wooded headland to the sands of Freeman’s Bay. Being a small private dock as well as a cosy crescent-shaped beach means , the bay is always dotted with sleeping sailboats, lending both a sense of secretiveness & serenity to the mood of The Inn. Whether dining on the beach or overlooking it all from the library-lounge-Stone-Bar restaurant, it’s a setting you won’t tire of. Somehow extra-comforting for an Englishman too – aware that Horatio Nelson kept his spectacular watch for us round the corner in the next bay, Nelson’s Dockyard, to which the hotel has a free water taxi. Aside from the beach, there’s the usual tennis; and, unusually, 5-a-side football pitches & board games in the library. The rooms are large wooden cottages in an elegant white & mahogany two-tone, all with ceiling fans, verandahs & satellite TV. Such is the relaxing pleasure of The Inn at English Harbour, it seems to induce an easy affability in the other hotel guests making them far easier to get to know. BeachDB 364$ B&B per night.

RESTAURANTS

There are enough restaurants in Antigua, but not many top ones. Reader, these are they. Two Italian, two French & one Mega-Magpie Fusion Restaurant. Haute cuisine might not be a natural ally to the West Indian approach (spicing something up & setting fire to it for too long) but it does gleefully & thoughtfully re-interpret local West Indian produce. Reckon on 80US$ a head for a 3-course meal, wine & coffee, including 10% Service & 7% Govt.Tax, usually added on automatically. Remember the people eat earlier here, restaurants close sooner and even if smart casual is the dress, always book your table well in advance. For reasons of nationalism & advertising revenue, the island’s tourist publications tend to overpraise their restaurants, sometimes ludricously. What follows is at least independent.

Chez Pascal (Galley Bay Hill; tel 4623232), for example, is without a doubt the most over-hyped restaurant in Antigua. The write-up is simply fabulous. This star of endless international TV programmes, this venue de rigueur for myriad upmarket magazine editors, this shrine to the food of Paul Bocuse-trained Pascal Milliat, turns out to be an absolutely bog standard French brasserie, and not even a good one. The suspiciously long catch-all-the-European-cliches menu (Escalope Viennoise, Black Forest Cake etc.etc.) just means following the tired old formula: defrost & hit the flour. Watching the owner ‘working the dining room’ in his bespattered chef’s gear, playing tortured Gallic genius to the gallery, only adds insult to injury. Dine on a clear day for the seaviews from the terrace, only at lunchtime & not holding your culinary breath: then Chez Pascal is worth a visit.

Le Bistro (Hodges Bay;tel 4623881/4612996), on the other hand, is only open for dinner but does actually deliver a dining experience worthy of its own hype. The interior of straw, lattice work, tiles, lanterns, candles & low ceilings is warmly welcoming, persistently serenaded by crickets outside & astutely run in a well-bred English sort of way by the owner’s wife, Phillipa. As the menu only changes twice a year, there is again the feeling of a tried formula being trotted out & not all Patrick Gauducheau’s combinations are as felicitous as he believes them to be, but overall this is definitely not a place to miss, somewhere you’ll want to be photographed in & with good wines to boot.

The Southern Cross (Antigua Yacht Marina, Falmouth Harbour; tel 4601797/4649374) is one of those restaurants that says ‘long lunch’ to you the moment you enter. Flavio Scala’s place is now in its 10th year of eliciting just that response – basically for getting right the three essentials: food, setting & service. A light-handed but top-notch Italian wand is waved over local vegetables & freshly caught fish, brought to you in a mood of casual confidence by people who seem to be friends or family not professional waiters, whilst you sit back & savour the scene over the harbour & its expensive boats from an armchair on a polished wood floor fringed with canvas awnings which, in turn, suggest that you are actually dining on one of the yachts you’re looking at/drooling over. Cast yourself adrift to Sambuca c.4 pm. is about the only other piece of advice I can give you.

Harmony Hall (Brown’s Bay; tel 4604120) is such a unique experience, so much more than a trip to eat, that it deserves & gets a place in my World Top Ten. Normally the first place returning tourists will recommend to their friends, it’s guaranteed to be full of local expats already in the know. Marilisa & Riccardo, the Southern Italians who re-birthed this C19th estate, are a seriously delightful couple whose generosity of spirit has obviously won them friends galore on the island, to judge from the high rate of hugs per hour. The food has all the bold, fresh clarity & simplicity Italians are renowned for & the portions are so well-sized two courses will suffice – if, that is, you are like most of us & tend to eat less in a hot climate. The real key to Harmony Hall is that visitors are made to feel like house guests: take a dip in the swimming pool or, better still, avail yourself of the free boat ride & back to swim on the deserted Green Island; shop at The Galley Box, the best display in Antigua before an aperitif in the converted sugar mill, the most original bar in Antigua; then, finally, take your seat out on the al fresco dining patio & soak up the Caribbean coast. Harmony Hall is a day out, absolutely must be booked in advance & preferably shouldn’t start with an almighty row between driver & navigator on the bumpy, deserted track needed to get there, but giving you every impression of being hopelessly lost. Choose a good weather day & you’ll never forget this enchanting haven.

Sheer (Cocobay Resort; tel 5622400) came down to earth in 2003, messianically convinced that it was not so much plugging a gap in the market, which it is, as creating a whole new market place due to its attainment of, er, perfection, which it isn’t. Hence the name ‘Sheer’, as in ‘unmitigated’, ‘absolutely’ & ‘completely’. Thus the apostolic admonition in their blurb: ‘To miss it is a sin’. Takes itself pretty seriously then. But if truth be told in unforked tongue, ‘Sheer’ perfection is a curate’s egg.

At night it is undeniably lovely: split-level Indonesian dining pavilions, surf-based and softly lit, ramble over the rocks. White linen, Austrian crystal & ‘concept china’ – ‘Sheer’ we go again – complete the picture. The food, alas, is over-ambitious. A young Scottish chef trying to fuse East Indian, Pan Asian & Latin American cuisines ends up with confusion. I couldn’t see how many of the dishes remotely fitted together but I suppose it’s fun trying to work it all out, a change from other restaurants on the island albeit a touch pricey & a bit snooty – but then nowhere else is going to offer you the likes of ‘BengaliSpiced Rabbit’. En bref, contentious, only 24 seats but worth a go.

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