Antigua has a beach for every day of the year. Choosing the boat is the hard part.
Which boat really circles the island, what the stingray sandbar costs, and whether Shirley Heights earns a Sunday evening.
A boat round the island, a turtle reef, the dockyard, and Sunday on the hill.
Four days that carry a first week on Antigua, what each costs and what the people who booked them say.
01The whole islandAdventure Antigua – The Xtreme CircumnavigationOne long day at sea around the entire coast, with the swimming stops the shorter cruises skip.
02The reef morningTurtle Beach Power Snorkeling AdventureGreen turtles feed in the shallows off Turtle Beach, and a tow scooter covers more reef than fins do.
03The land dayScenic Full Day Tour of AntiguaBetty’s Hope, the dockyard and Devil’s Bridge in one loop, for anyone who wants the island explained.
04Sunday eveningSunset party at Shirley Heights – SHARE round tripSteel pan at the top of the hill above English Harbour, then reggae until late. Bring cash for the barbecue.
Reef, sandbar, mangrove or a full lap of the coast.
Four different days afloat, four different prices. The reef trips run mornings, the island laps take the whole day, and the stingray sandbar fits either side of lunch.
★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · Turtle Beach Power Snorkeling Adventure
Reef and turtlesShallow water, turtles at Turtle Beach and Paradise Reef.
The stingray sandbarWaist-deep water off the north-east coast, rays that come to you.
Boat daysRound-island laps, catamarans and lunch stops on Bird Island.
Mangrove paddlesQuiet channels through the mangroves, then a swim off the reef.
All 9 days on the water →
The days out that more Antigua travellers book than any other.
Every tour we have reviewed on Antigua →One boat trip has a bigger following than anything else on the island. Here is that one, and the seven behind it.
1
Adventure Antigua – The Xtreme Circumnavigation
Ride around Antigua with Adventure Antigua, stopping at Stingray City, Green Island, Nelson’s Dockyard, the Pillars of Hercules, and Rendezvous Bay. Expect a fast, bumpy powerboat ride, beach lunch, rum punch, snorkeling gear, and lively guiding from crew members such as Brendan, Lesley, Mark, Kimba, and Tyrese.
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
The island tour that explains the sugar ruins, and the tracks above them.
Behind the beaches there is a rainforest ridge, a Georgian dockyard and two hundred ruined mills. Guided island loops cover the lot in a day; buggies, bikes and boots cover the parts the coach road misses.
Two harbours, one reef shelf, and a lot of sand in between.
Antigua is small enough to cross in an hour, so the day is decided by what kind of day you want. Start with one of these six.
St John’s: the harbour town, and the coast ten minutes past it.
Everything around St John’s →
Everything docks here, which is why the best plan is usually to leave. The beaches on the north-west arm, the sandbar on the far side of the island and the dockyard road south all start from the same few streets.
A beach, fifteen minutes from the pier
Dickenson, Fort James and Runaway sit in a row on the north-west arm, close enough that a half day covers two of them with a swim and lunch at each.
Standing in the sea with the rays
A boat out to the sandbar, a guide who has fed these southern rays for years, and enough shallow water that nobody has to be a swimmer to do it.
Nelson’s Dockyard and the forts above it
The only working Georgian naval yard left anywhere, with Shirley Heights on the ridge above and a lookout over both harbours at the top.
What a day out on Antigua actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. The cheap end is not the dull end here: the sandbar, the hill and the dockyard all sit in it.
Beach transfers, the Shirley Heights run, dockyard entry and the short reef hops.
The standards: stingray sandbar, island loops, cooking classes and half-day catamarans.
- 1Turtle Beach Power Snorkeling Adventurefrom $132
- 2Scenic Full Day Tour of Antiguafrom $142
- 3Adventure Antigua – Eli’s Original Eco Tourfrom $142
Full-day circumnavigations, private guides and the boats that carry a dozen people, not sixty.
Three things that only happen on Antigua.
Sand and rum exist all over the Caribbean. A Georgian naval yard still tying up boats, a hilltop party that runs on steel pan, and a sandbar where the rays arrive on their own do not.
Nelson’s Dockyard
Nelson was a young captain here and hated the posting. The yard he worked out of is still standing at English Harbour, restored capstans, sail loft and all, and yachts still tie up along the same quay. It is the only Georgian dockyard anywhere that never stopped being a dockyard, which is why UNESCO listed the whole harbour.
- 1Historic City, Fort and Beach E-Bike Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 58 reviews
- 2Cultural and Historical Home Tour in The Antiguan Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 56 reviews
- 3E-Bike Tour of Antigua Forts and Beaches★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 50 reviews
Shirley Heights
The old lookout on the ridge above English Harbour turns into a party at the end of the week: steel pan first, a barbecue going under the trees, then a band until well after dark. The view down over English and Falmouth harbours is the reason to arrive early, before the light goes and the road up fills with minibuses.
- 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
Stingray City
A shallow bank sits inside the reef off the north-east coast, and southern stingrays have been coming to it for years. The water is chest deep at most, the boat moors on the sand, and the rays come around your legs on their own. No swimming ability required, which is why families book it over everything else.
- 1Stingray City Antigua for all the ages – ROUND TRIP INCLUDED★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 196 reviews
- 2Stingray City Experience with Round-Trip Transfer★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 58 reviews
- 3Stingray City★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 48 reviews
Four Antigua bookings that run on somebody else’s calendar.
Most of this island can be sorted out over breakfast. These four cannot: they run on fixed evenings, small boats and kitchens with a handful of seats.
- 01Sunset party at Shirley Heights – SHARE round tripThe hilltop party runs on set evenings, not nightly, and the transport up the hill is booked by the seat.
- 02Adventure Antigua – The Xtreme CircumnavigationOne boat, one lap of the island, and a passenger list that closes when the deck is full.
- 03Nicole’s Table – All about JerkA home kitchen with a handful of stations. When the class is full it is full, and it does not run every day.
- 04Stingray City Antigua for all the ages – ROUND TRIP INCLUDEDThe sandbar boats fill on the mornings the cruise ships are in port. The later runs are the quiet ones.
Four thousand people land at the pier some mornings. Go the other way.
On a two or three ship day St John’s, the sandbar and the beaches nearest town all fill by ten. The island is big enough to avoid it: book the kitchen, the distillery or the ridge walks, and let the pier empty out again by five.
- 1Nicole’s Table – All about Jerkfrom $145
- 2TRIPLE ACTIVITY TOUR, Bike Kayak Hike, ANTIGUAfrom $130
- 3Trek Tours Hiking Experience in Antiguafrom $90
Jerk over coals, rum off the still, and a lunch that takes the afternoon.
Black pineapple, saltfish and ducana, and rum that has been made on this island since the sugar came. Book the class that ends as lunch, and the distillery tasting for a day the beach is too bright.
See the full list →
By place — the island and the town
Beach, sandbar, dockyard, hill: the week almost everybody ends up doing.
Shirley HeightsThe newest Antigua tour reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Under the Sea snorkeling(Stingray/Kayak/ Power Snorkel available)
Read our review →
St. John’s, Antigua Kayak, Snorkeling, & Beach Bird Island
Read our review →
3-Hours Eye-Opening Stingray City Antigua – Transfer R/T included
Read our review →
Taxi to Shirley heights lookout Sunday social package
Read our review →