A beach for every day in Antigua. Start with the boat.
Which catamaran anchors long enough to swim. What Stingray City costs once the transfer is in. Whether Barbuda is worth a whole day of a short trip. Reviews of every tour you can book in Antigua and Barbuda.
The four days a week in Antigua is built around.
What each one costs, how long it takes and what the people who booked it came back saying.
01The whole coastlineAdventure Antigua – The Xtreme CircumnavigationThe full circuit by powerboat, Atlantic side included. The one day that shows you the shape of the island.
02The sandbarStingray City Antigua for all the ages – ROUND TRIP INCLUDEDWaist-deep water on the north-east flats, an hour with the rays, hotel pickup folded into the price.
03Under the surfaceTurtle Beach Power Snorkeling AdventurePower snorkelling off Turtle Beach, where the grass beds mean you are looking at turtles, not hoping.
04The jerk tableNicole’s Table – All about JerkA hillside kitchen, a drum of jerk and a long lunch. Book it for the day the forecast turns.
Six starting points in Antigua, and the crossing to Barbuda.
A cruise pier and a market town, a Georgian dockyard in a hurricane hole, a sandbar the rays own, the west-coast sand, a gun battery that turns into a party, and a sister island most visitors never reach.
Antigua reads better from a hull than a hire car.
Three kinds of day afloat, what it costs to board each one and how much of it you spend in the water.
The most popular days out in Antigua and Barbuda.
Every tour review on the site →The tours more travellers take than anything else on the island, and what earns each one the slot.
1
Adventure Antigua – The Xtreme Circumnavigation
Join Adventure Antigua for a fast-paced 5.5 to 6-hour trip around Antigua. You will swim with stingrays, snorkel at the Pillars of Hercules, see Nelson’s Dockyard from the water, eat lunch on Green Island, and relax at Rendezvous Bay. Crews may include Captain David, Tyrese, Brendan, Lesley, Mark, or Kimba.
From · $221
Read our review →
2
Turtle Beach Power Snorkeling Adventure
from $132
3
Scenic Full Day Tour of Antigua
from $142
4
Snorkel – Lobster Lunch Cruise to Bird Island and Paradise Reef
from $185
5
Adventure Antigua – Eli’s Original Eco Tour
from $142
6
Antigua Round Island Tour
from $93
7
Antigua VIP Tours – Private Platinum Tour
from $170
8
Private Snorkeling and Sightseeing Tour of Antigua
from $125
Nelson’s Dockyard is still a working harbour.
Georgian sail lofts and pillars from the 1700s, charter yachts loading for the week between them, and a ridge of gun batteries above. The heritage days string the dockyard together with Shirley Heights and the forts on the way north.
What a day out in Antigua actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by what it costs. The island is not cheap, but the gap between a shared boat and a private one is wider than most people expect.
Airport runs, the shared ride up to Shirley Heights and a straight drop at the sand.
Stingray City, the reef trips, the island circuits and most of the cooking classes.
- 1Turtle Beach Power Snorkeling Adventurefrom $132
- 2Scenic Full Day Tour of Antiguafrom $142
- 3Adventure Antigua – Eli’s Original Eco Tourfrom $142
Private boats, the Barbuda crossing and full days under sail with lunch aboard.
Three things that only happen in Antigua.
Warm water and old forts turn up all over the Caribbean. A sandbar the rays commute to, a Georgian dockyard still full of working boats, and a gun battery that becomes a barbecue do not.
Stingray City
The boat runs out to a waist-deep sandbar off the north-east coast, where southern rays worked out generations ago that visitors arrive carrying squid. You stand on sand in water warm enough to lose track of time while a guide lifts one under your hands. It takes a morning, and most operators fold the round-trip transfer into the price, which is the number actually worth comparing.
- 1Stingray City Antigua for all the ages – ROUND TRIP INCLUDED★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 196 reviews
- 26-Hours Tour East Coast of Antigua: Stingray City, Lunch & Beach★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 109 reviews
- 3Stingray City experience, Devils Bridge and Long Bay Beach★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 59 reviews
Nelson’s Dockyard
English Harbour is the only Georgian naval dockyard anywhere still doing the job it was built for. Sail lofts, capstans and pillars from the 1700s stand around an inlet where charter crews load for the week, and Horatio Nelson spent three miserable years wishing he were somewhere else. The hurricane hole that kept the fleet safe is the same reason the big boats still winter here.
- 1Cultural and Historical Home Tour in The Antiguan Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 56 reviews
- 2Horseback Riding Bareback Swim, &Fort James Beach★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 41 reviews
- 3Antigua Historical Sites Island Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 41 reviews
Shirley Heights
The old gun battery on the ridge turns into a barbecue with a steel band, then a brass band, and half the island drives up for it. Below you the two harbours go gold and then dark, with the mast lights coming on one at a time. Get there early enough for a place on the wall, and let somebody else drive the hill road afterwards.
- 1Sunset party at Shirley Heights – SHARE round trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 71 reviews
- 2Taxi to Shirley heights lookout Sunday social package★★★★★★★★★★ 3.5 · 18 reviews
- 3Shirley Heights Sunset Party Taxi (Other packages are available)★★★★★★★★★★ 3.0 · 11 reviews
Four Antigua bookings that will not wait.
Most of this island can be arranged over breakfast. These four run on boat timetables, small kitchens and a hill road that fills up once a week.
- 01Historic Island Tour(Historic Barbuda tour also available))The crossing eats most of a day and the boats are small. Nothing about Barbuda is a same-morning decision.
- 02Sunset party at Shirley Heights – SHARE round tripThe lookout party is an evening fixture, not a daily one, and the shared transfer seats go before the gate does.
- 03Nicole’s Table – All about JerkOne table and a small class. The date you want is the thing to ask for first, not the price.
- 04Adventure Antigua – The Xtreme CircumnavigationThe full-circuit boats leave once in the morning and come back at dusk. Miss the dock and the day is gone.
On a cruise morning, drive away from St John’s.
Two or three ships tie up at Heritage Quay and the nearest sand fills by ten. The east coast, the mangroves and the Barbuda crossing barely notice. Put those on the busy days and keep Dickenson Bay for a quiet morning.
Antigua cooks with rum, then pours the rest.
A jerk drum on a hillside above the water, a masterclass at Galleon Beach where you blend and cork your own bottle, and a food walk through the St John’s market streets.
By place — Antigua and Barbuda
St John’s, the flats, the dockyard, Barbuda: a week in order.
The newest Antigua tour reviews.
More new reviews →
ANTIGUA FROM TOP TO BOTTOM: Stingray City, Beach, lunch & more…
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Famous Red Phone Booth Beach (Dickenson Bay) and Fort Bay Beach
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St. John’s City Private Tour including Fort James
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Antigua Eco Island Tour (City, Country, Beach, & Heritage Sites)
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Private Round Trip Transfer From Antigua Airport to St. James’s Club & Villas
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