Antigua and Barbuda

Just north of St John’s, Antigua’s northwest coast holds two well- manicured tourist areas: quiet
Runaway Bay and more-developed Dickenson Bay. Both offer lovely beaches, shelving gently down into turquoise waters – visit Runaway for relaxed swimming, and Dickenson for fun watersports.

The underdeveloped Atlantic coast is Antigua at its most wild and natural state: deserted
islands, abandoned sugar plantations and a lengthy stretch of rough, but incredibly scenic, coastline are all big draws for those willing to explore off the beaten track.

Tucked into an inlet on the northwest coast, St John’s most likely won’t be why you come to Antigua, but to miss out on the city’s great restaurants, entertaining commercial quays and vibrant daily life would be a shame. Be sure also to check out the cathedral, the cricket ground and the national  museum.

For many visitors, Antigua’s leading attraction is its  tropical climate: hot and sunny all year round. The weather is at its best from mid- December to mid-April, with rainfall low and the heat tempered by cooling trade winds. Things can get noticeably hotter during the summer and, particularly in September and October, the humidity can become oppressive. September is also the most threatening month of the annual hurricane season, which runs officially from June 1 to October 31.

Little known just a generation ago, tiny Antigua has established itself as one of the Caribbean’s more popular destinations.The island is dotted with superb stretches of white sand, many of which – despite the upswing in tourism and development that has given birth to dozens of excellent restaurants and hotels, and a handful of all-inclusives – remain relatively
uncrowded. If you’re looking for a place to crash out on a beach for a week or two, you’ll find this laid- back, welcoming place hard to beat.
The best of the beaches can be found at Dickenson Bay in the northwest, Half Moon Bay in the east and Rendezvous Bay in the south. Of these, only Dickenson Bay (along with its neighbour, Runaway Bay) are part of a major tourist strip; the others – as well as several more just
like them – are much less built up than similarly idyllic spots in the Caribbean.The waters off
the north coast are also a prime spot for spray- soaked watersports, with excellent scuba diving and snorkelling opportunities in the fabulous offshore reefs.
Before Europeans began colonizing the West Indies,Antigua was populated by Arawak-speaking
Amerindians. Sighted by Columbus in 1493, the island was left to its own devices until the early six- teenth century, wh  British settlers arrived, bringing with them African slaves to clear the
native vegetation and plant sugarcane. For centuries, the island was little more than a giant sugar factory,producing sugar and rumto send home to an increasingly sweet-toothed
mother country.Around Antigua, the tall brick chimneys of a hundred deserted and decaying
sugar mills, as well as the ruins of military forts and signal stations, bear witness to that long colonial era.These relics make for worthy and atmospheric diversions if you can drag yourself away from your patch of sand.The superbly restored naval dockyard and the crumbling forts
around English Harbour and Shirley Heights are as impressive as any historic site in the West Indies.There are lots of other little nuggets to explore too,
including the capital, St John’ s, with its colourful,lively quayside, and theodd old-fashioned settle-ment likeParham or OldRoad that progress seems to have bypassed.
And if you’rebprepared to do a bit of walking, you’ll find some superb hikes that will take you out to completely isolated parts of the island.As for nightlife, things are generally pretty quiet,
though a good crop of restau- rants – look out for those serving fresh West Indian cooking, especially seafood – do double duty as bars and  dance clubs.