Jennybg

Hello everyone,

I need some advice from those of you that have experience with Anguilla and St. John. My husband and I (along with another couple friend) had a wonderful vacation last year in St. John. We rented a villa on the hillside and loved the experience. We took day/night boat trips to the BVIs, had great dinners at the local restaurants/bars on St. John and absolutely LOVED the gorgeous beaches of St. John!!

Now comes my delimna. We want to go back to the Carribean again this summer but we'd possibly like to try out another island. Its just that I'm almost scared to take the chance since we loved St. John so much last year!

I'm wondering your thoughts about Anguilla. From what I have read so far, it seems that the beaches are beautiful and that we might enjoy it as well. The villa prices seem to be higher than those on St. John-any recommendations in this area will help as well.

Or, if you think another island would be more suitable for us, please dont hestitate to recommend other ideas.

Thanks for your help!!

Anguillagirl

If you like nice beaches and good local food you just can't go wrong with Anguilla. It is by far the most beautiful caribbean island I have EVER been to. There are wonderful restaurants you can go to as well. I highly recommend it.

Jimmie

I think a lot of people, including me, do in this situation is go to Virgin Gorda next. as you will see in some of the other recent posts, the island has a lot of fans. It is definitely quieter, with fewer good restaurants, but there are still some places to go at night, and there a *lot* of beautiful beaches to explore. It's a lot like St. Joh, but some of the VG beaches have cool granite boulders, like at the Baths. Check out villas at Mahoe Bay, Guavaberry/Spring Bay, and Nail Bay.
It's an alternative to Anguilla.

I haven't been to Anguilla, but it also has many fans and is known for its stunning beaches and great restaurants. It's relatively flat, so I don't think you will find many hillside villas there.

blamona

I love them both, and been numerous times to both. I do feel they are completely different from each other though.

St. John is hilly, scenic, beaches are in coves. Great sailing and snorkeling.

Anguilla is flat and dry, with some of the best beaches in the world. The turquoise water sparkles, and the restaurants are the finest in the Caribbean. Overall, it's a very upscale island and one of the most expensive in the Caribbean.

Again, I love them both, equally but differently.

Jennybg

Ok, thanks so much for the insight so far.

I'm not sure if Anguilla would be best for us. Although I do like "the finer things in life", my husband and I are not really big fans of "luxury" on the islands! We went to St Barts for our honeymoon and stayed at La Guanahani. And although it was really nice, we kind of felt like there was a "snoody" feeling in the air there. We like places like islands that have quaint little bars to hang out at (soggy dollar bar, foxy's) and laid back restaurants. We also like the really get the feeling of what it's like to be a local on the island.

Comments, thoughts, suggestions?? Thanks!

Tuxedocat

What about Tortola or Virgin Gorda? Sort of St. Johnish but not.

adlmllr

Jennybg,

You can find exactly what you're looking for on Anguilla, and on St. Bart's, if you know where to look. We've been to both islands, several times, and have rented private villas.

In the off-season in Anguilla, you'll have beautiful beaches practically to yourselves and there are fabulous, casual beach bars and BBQ places to enjoy: Palm Grove Bar and Grill, Johnno's, Gwen's Reggae Bar as well as finer dining. People are friendly and it's easy to get around.

We went to St. John last April and loved it, but found the prices to be pretty much on a par with Anguilla. We rented a beautiful hillside villa in Coral Bay, but the 30 minute drive to many of our favorite beaches and to Cruz Bay restaurants at night go to be tiresome (and harrowing!)The scenery is more lush, true, but we didn't find the snorkeling to be any better and missed the miles of beaches for walking.

penny

Jenny Anguilla is very laid back.
It is different from St. John, I agree with Blamona they are both wonderful islands. I loved St. John--stayed at Caneel, dined in
Cruz Bay. Love the snorkeling,
loved the beaches but I enjoy
Anguilla more.

Anguilla has stunning beaches with
soft powdery sand. What it has over
St. John is you have lots of seaside
dining and its easier to get around. Its really a very casual
island. Sure there are some very expensive hotels, but you should check out villa rentals at mycarribbean.com/ Also hotels Ku, Carimar and Frangipani.

Also there is nothing wrong going back to an island you love--

Jennybg

thanks guys! ok, so what part of Anguilla would you guys recommend we look into for a villa? What area would we probably end up going to for dinner/drinks?

Also, if we did pick a hotel to stay in (which we probably won't), which out of the ones mentioned above do you think would fit us? We would probably want a small hotel but cleanliness would be a top priority as well.

thanks!

TPAYT

I have been to all of the islands mentioned above, so I feel I'm qualified to comment. Although our likes and dislikes may vary, they are all wonderful for different reasons.

We loved renting a villa on St. John, and the beaches were gorgeous, but we didn't like being on a hill and not on the beach. We spent alot of time in the jeep. Loved the lushness of the island , and the restaurants. Also loved Caneel Bay, and the beaches there. We were there a few times and will go back some day, but there were other islands to find.

Anguilla was one of our favorites. It's flat and dry, but oh those beaches. We loved www.sbvillas.ai as I've said in many posts. Our balcony was closer to the beach(right on it) than any other island. Check it out. And I agree with the restaurants, plenty of casual ones: Johnno's, Gwenn's, Uncle Ernie's, Zara's, etc.

There are some very high end properties on Anguilla. We visited them for a drink or lunch, but we were extremely satisfied with Shoal Bay Villas. A little older, yes, but really clean, friendly, and well run, with an outstanding location.

Also really enjoyed all of the BVI's and St. Bart's, but all of them are a little harder to get to.

Our new love is Grace Bay, Turks & Caicos and we are returning for the second time in March.

So many of us love the Caribbean and we like to share our opinions.

Travel on!

Jennybg

TPAYT- Thanks so much. Your comments are right in line with our thoughts. I too am interested in SBVillas. It seems clean- and that's all we are really concerned with. I saw that it had a pool too. I also like the fact that it is right on the beach. Yes, in St John, we too were on a hillside and yes, we too spent a lot of time in the jeep! Not to mention the time we spent packing the jeep up for our day's venture!

Is sbv close to many restaurants? Could we walk to any? are there any accessible beach restaurants/bars that we could stroll down into?

thanks...

beckytx

topping for my trip in May - love the affordable restaurant ideas - thanks!

adlmllr

Don't forget to add to locally owned and cheffed places to the list: Tasty's and Oliver's (is it still open?) Both have great food and service, and very nice ambience.

janiekins

I have been to St. John 2 times. The last time was in November, 2008. We had a great time.

This Friday we are going to Virgin Gorda - staying at Nail Bay. We are going to do a boat right over to Anegada (people love this island)one day.

You can also take free boat rides over to Prickly Pear Island - fun bar/restaurant called the Sandbox and Saba Rock which has a great bar/restaurant.

Everyone loves Virgin Gorda. Great beaches and fun restaurants.

I also like nice things but do not necessarily want to be around the "snootiness".

beachykeen

I spent my whole Virgin Gorda vacation wishing I had gone back to Anguilla instead. The hills of VG were beautiful, but the beaches on AXA were wider and longer. The Anguillian restaurants are of greater variety and much greater quality. Anguillians are lovely and proud of their home-I didn't actually meet any native VGers, and the people I did meet were not particularly nice. I'm glad I went to VG once, but I've been to Anguilla 9 times and am planning another trip there this spring

jenlw1201

I had also been to St. John before I went to Anguilla. I loved them both. The beach at Cap Juluca in Anguilla was just perfect, so private and uncrowded. Absolutely beautiful! We explored a few others, but loved that one most. The restaurants are amazing. You can take a ferry over to St Marten for a day for a more "St Thomas" feel or if you want to shop at all. There is more to do in St. John having the BVI so close. It's more scenic there, Anguilla is flat and dry. I think you'll have a different experience, but will still love it. I'd recommend staying at Cap Juluca. The beach there is just as, if not more beautiful than any on St. John and you practically have it all to yourself.

TPAYT

On the beach near Shoal Bay Villas there are a few bar/restaurants quite close.

Right next door is "Ku"(small hotel, bar, restaurant).

Uncle Ernie's is after that(casual, open until about 6:30, great ribs, sandwiches, etc.)

I think there was one more in that direction also.

Going the other way from SBV, about a 10 min. walk down the beach was "Gwen's" beach bar and casual restaurant. (Great food, drinks, snorkeling, hammocks, volleyball, etc.) I think that closed at 6:30 also.

Right behind Gwen's inland was "Zara's" dinner restaurant. Not too expensive and excellent. We walked there several times down the beach. Walking back on the beach at night with all the stars was beautiful. It's a remote stretch of beach, but we felt safe at all times, even at night.

We had a car for 5 days(rented from Uncle Ernie)and went to "Johnno's" one day(a REAL beach bar). We liked it so much we returned one night for the live music.

We also rented floats from Uncle Ernie for the 10 days we were there and took them up to our room at night.

With the car we explored the island and tried out some other restaurants, and visited the high end properties for a drink or lunch to see what we were missing.

We weren't missing anything,SBV was just perfect for us.

There's a huge grocery store, and a gourmet take out place in the same location. You will need a car or a cab for that.

We enjoyed all of the restaurants we ate at, but being on our wonderful balcony was the best view we had.

Tip:after Easter the prices come down alot.

sharona

"There's a huge grocery store"

?? Really? We haven't been to Anguilla in 3 or 4 years but are thinking about a visit this spring. Is there a big new grocery store on the island?

buckminster

We've stayed at St John, Tortola and Virgin Gordon once each, about 12 years ago. We're going back to St John in two weeks. We rented a house the last time but this time are staying at Gallow's Point so we can walk into town for dinners. The driving is a drawback on St John, but we do like the lushness.

Never been to Anguilla, the terms dry and flat always scared me off, but maybe we'll give it a try one of these years. Are there many trees by the beaches? I like to sit in the shade after strolling or swimming and I worry if drier islands are more desert-like?

TPAYT

The grocery store I remember was a good size by Caribbean standards---not US standards. I think it was called "Albert's", and there was a gourmet take out place called "Fat Cat Gourmet" nearby.

Correct me if I'm wrong.