Antigua - beautiful Caribbean island worth a visit

The Beach at The Verandah Resort and Spa, Antigua

I know I'm spoilt. Edinburgh, South of France... and now Antigua. But honestly it's not always like this and they have all been short breaks (honest). Antigua is our main family holiday. Having both the girls at university for the vast majority of the year it is nice for us all to just hang out for a week. Amazingly they are both happy to do this and happy to come away outside of the school holiday season (oh the joy of being free from the tyranny of the school term) when it's much cheaper. Of course they aren't stupid and have realised that we can afford to go to far more exotic locations once the prices have tumbled. Hence Antigua in September.

We stayed at The Verandah Resort and Spa on the East Coast of the island. This all-inclusive resort is spread out around a couple of pretty bays with sandy beaches and the rooms are in self-contained units. We didn't pay extra for a sea-view but if we had I can see that it would be amazing! The whole development is set within the national park so the planting (think huge palm trees, banana and coconut trees and amazing flowers) is exceptional, even for the Caribbean. The two beaches are safe and the water is calm and only waist deep so perfect for families with very young children.

It is an all-inclusive resort - again it was surprising to find that this included all brand drinks (so gin and tonic was made with Bombay Sapphire rather than a cheap local alternative). Food was mainly buffet and pretty good and the steak in particular was exceptional.

The rooms weren't as luxurious as many we have had for a similar standard of property but they were large, clean and comfortable. The beds are quite firm - though I immediately ordered a mattress topper which sorted out that problem for us all!

All in all this hotel is great value for money and a tip to the wise don't book through a company like Virgin but take a look at Let's Go To. We booked through them and everything worked like clockwork plus we saved around £800 for the 4 of us across the whole package when compared with Virgin - and we still had Virgin flights (more on that in another post).

Anyway enough rambling and here are some of our lovely shots....

View from the resort

The pool at The Verandah

Half Moon Cove, Antigua

Long Bay, Antigua

English Harbour, Antigua

Devil's Bridge

At the bar!