The beaches in the Caribbean are well known. The white sands or the crystal clear aquamarine sea are probably one of the main reasons people choose the Caribbean. The beaches in Antigua are no different. So many to choose from. The locals say there is one for every day of the year. For us, however, hiking in Antigua was more enjoyable.
Antigua is a very easy island to get around. Road access is fairly straightforward to navigate, depending on your location. The only concern is the time it will take to get to where you want to go. We opted to hire a car, which allowed us to travel around the island on our own time. This is where hiking became an evening habit we had missed for so long. One of the reasons for this was that our next island was going to be Dominica, and it is famous for its natural trails into the rainforest, and we wanted to make sure we could enjoy it as much as possible,
We were here for 17 days. We flew in on an early flight from St Kitts, which took 30 min. read our story about St Kitts & Nevis here. Antigua airport has many direct flights from major airports worldwide, so getting here is straightforward.
First impressions, Antigua is more built up than some of the other islands we have visited so far, that’s not to say it is a concrete jungle, far from it, but i suppose with the population more than double, St Kitts and Nevis or St Martin /Sint Maarten, it felt busier than the other islands so far on our adventures. With that being said, there are parts of the island that is quiet and peaceful where you can enjoy the natural parts of the island by listening to the birds or the crashing waves.
If that is not your thing, there are plenty of bars, restaurants and shopping opportunities. However, some places are closed until the tourist season returns around November.
St Johns – Heritage Quay
St Johns is the busiest area of Antigua. It is not only the Capitol but also where the cruise ships dock. We visited in the off-season, and so far, on our adventures, we managed to enjoy traffic-free driving, however, getting in and out of St Johns brought us back to sitting in traffic and staring at the back of the car in front of us. However, we were thankful that it was, in fact, off-season, and the influx of taxis and coaches taking cruise passengers on excursions would have magnified what we experienced tenfold.
Shopping
Our visit to Heritage Quay, with its many different bars, restaurants and duty-free shopping, was another reminder of visiting an island dependent on cruise passengers in the off-season, most bars and shops were closed, and the open ones seemed to outnumber us in staff members.
Beaches in Antigua
There are plenty of beaches in Antigua, so many in fact that you would be hard-pressed to visit most of them. However, this does provide you with plenty of options no matter where you are on the island. As for us, we like the quieter beaches. Being off-season means that there are even more beaches to choose from, but nearby facilities are not always open.
Sargassum on Caribbean beaches.
Unfortunately, Sargassum, a brown seaweed found on almost every Caribbean island, especially during hurricane season when the winds push it towards land, is also found in Antigua. However, as with most islands, beaches on the west side of the isle fare much better as the winds push the seaweed from the Atlantic and get washed up on east-facing beaches.
Pigeon Beach
Our first villa was above Pigeon beach, a beautiful sandy beach with a snorkelling trail off the coast. It houses ample parking, a seating area and plenty of space even when busy. A cafe at the end also hosts live music on Sunday. Here is a link to its website, Catherine Cafe.
We found this beach quite quiet even when it’s so close to the harbour.
It’s also the starting place for the Middle Trail hike mentioned below.
Darkwood Beach
A small drive from Falmouth Harbour and on the west coast of Antigua, we arrive at Darkwood Beach. Having passed a fair few beaches to reach this one, we find a big stretch of pristine sand and a beach bar nearby. You can see the islands of Monserrat and Nevis in good weather.
This beach has it all: the water is crystal clear, the beach bar offers tasty food and good value drinks and most beaches lack toilet facilities. Although there were a few more beaches closer to where we were staying, we ventured here a few times due to its beauty and facilities.
Turners Beach
Another notable beach in Antigua for us was Turners beach, a restaurant that sits proudly on the beachfront and is situated just south of Darkwood Beach. We didn’t spend much time here but appreciated its beauty.
Falmouth Harbour / English Harbour
We stayed in a beautiful villa looking over Falmouth harbour, several boats were moored up, but it was still quite quiet. Antigua Sailing Week occurs at the end of April/ May, and we can only imagine how busy it can get here when boats from around the world come to take part or just enjoy the festivities. The restaurants were open. Cloggy’s, for example, sits on the Antigua Yacht Club Marina, steak night is on Sunday night, and it also has a live Jazz band. Nelson’s dockyard, a UNESCO world heritage site, sits around the corner in the English harbour, and even in quiet times, there is still a lot of history to see here.
Shirley Heights
A visit to Shirley heights is a must for several reasons, firstly is a peaceful place to visit, either see the old monuments, take a walk along the or even just take a seat and look out at the beautiful landscape overlooking English Harbour. On Thursday and Sunday evenings, it hosts a steel band and BBQ night, a place to enjoy the sounds of steel drums, drink, and eat food while watching the sunset. Sundays can become quite busy as tourist buses and locals all come to enjoy the evening. However, police and staff members are helping with parking and tickets, and it’s very well run.
If you want to enjoy a quieter experience and are interested in hiking in Antigua, this is a great place to start, bearing in mind that there are no shops or facilities open in the day, so bring water and snacks if you wish to spend a lot of time here.
Hiking in Antigua
There are plenty of hiking trails to enjoy. Some offer inland hikes with great views. Others offer coastal walks with even better views. This can be done on your own or via a guide. We didn’t do anything too serious. All the trails we tried were very quiet. Where we were staying meant we could get into a habit of going for an evening hike, which we enjoyed. Hiking in Antigua felt safe, got the blood pumping in parts, and the views were always a welcome sight. Some evenings were easier than others. We were sure it had nothing to do with the previous night’s wine consumption. Here are a few that we took on.
Middle Ground Trail
A bonus for us being so close to Pigeon beach was that it was also the starting point for the Middle Ground Trail, a one-mile, reasonably easy walking trail that takes you up to Fort Cuyler and across to One Gun battery, which overlooks English Harbour. It is a marked trail with some small climbs, with beautiful views, especially at sunset.
We enjoyed this hike a lot. Firstly, it was an easy route and provided some great views. Second, it got the heart pumping in a few places, which helped burn off some of the wine we consumed (We are no medical experts, but that logic was good enough for us.), and what helped was that we were staying close by.
Middle Ground information sign at the middle of the trail.
A collection of other trails offered different experiences.
Where did we stay?
We stayed in 3 locations while exploring Antigua. Firstly overlooks Falmouth harbour and Pigeon beach, Next a bit more inland but still in Falmouth and lastly, Five Island Villages to the north of the island. Each with there own differences.
Falmouth Harbour/English Harbour had a typical marina-type feel to it. It was the first place on our travels that had a lot of English accents. If you enjoy sailing, this is probably the place you would like to be, but you don’t have to be into sailing to enjoy this part of Antigua.
Also if you are into hiking in Antigua, the south and southwest of the island offer many options. Any google search will through up suggestions.
We also stayed in Five Island village for a few days. It’s a much quieter part of the island. Apart from the occasional party catamaran that passes by with its music blaring or the occasional helicopter that flies overhead doing a tour of the island provided by Calvin Air it is a tranquil part of the island.
For all of our adventures in the Caribbean islands, with all the beaches we have seen, and all the different landscapes, hiking in Antigua left its mark on us. The ease of locating a trail, the feeling of safety, and the views that came with it all made us enjoy our time here.
Our next adventure is Dominica, where hiking and nature are supposedly taken up a few notches. We are looking forward to it, which is one of the reasons we tried to put a few miles on our legs in preparation for some more strenuous trails to be enjoyed.