We're a family of 6 adults trying to decide between Anguilla or Antigua for a family vacation in March. Which would you recommend? Any hotel recommendations? Thanks so much!

These islands are quite different from one another. Why these 2?
Anguilla has better/quieter beaches, almost no crime, much better high end resorts, much better food.
Antigua offers much more to do, but has moderate crime and significant poverty factors.
Both islands are relatively unattractive.

Between the two I would opt for ANGUILLA!!! It's a beautiful and unspoiled island!!! The UK is still its mother country too. The people are very friendly and helpful. You will also enjoy Anguilla's industries. They trade lots of things. http://www.anguilla-vacation.com/ is a nice website for Anguilla. The best hotel I can recommend you is http://www.anguillagreathouse.com/

If you would like to know anything else (maybe about timeshare resorts or so) you may e-mail me at [email protected]

Good luck with planning your March 2004 holiday!

Tabitha

Anguilla is many things, but beautiful is not one of them!
Of course the beaches are beautiful, but the island itself is homely at best.
The best hotel/resorts on the island are Cap Juluca, CuisinArt and Malliouhana without question.
Also worthy of mention are CoveCastles, Frangipani, Sonesta Beach Resort, and Rendezvous Bay Hotel.
The mainstream resorts will offer more to do, of course.

Oh I had no idea both islands were unattractive. Ok after speaking with the family what about St. Johns or the BVI - Virgin Gorda? Which would you pick and which hotels would you recommend? Thanks so much!

I would definitely, definitely choose Anguilla!!! Although the interior isn't "beautiful", the beaches are the most amazing you will find -- 33 of them and most are deserted. The resorts are incredible and all are landscaped beautifully whether you go high-end like Cap Jaluca or Mallouihana or mid-range like La Sirena or Frangipani. The food is truly amazing whether you are eatting bbq from Smitty's or a elaborate meal at Altermers. The people are the most friendly and wonderful -- they make you feel right at home as soon as you set foot on the island. I've never felt safer on a vacation -- even vacationing in my home state. After visiting Anguilla, you'll never want to go anywhere else. After returning from our first trip to Anguilla 3 weeks ago, we promptly booked another trip for next May. My suggestion is to look into some of the more reasonably priced villas -- look at villas.ai and check out serenty villas, bayberry & china berry villas among others. You'll be very happy here.

Hi ISLANDBEACHANGEL, are the people (tourists) snooty there-----real fancy dress up at most of the gourmet places. We live at the beach and love gourmet dress up (pants etc) but shorts and flip flops are our MO> We are heavily considering Mali since we have 2 children.

Thanks.

Hi - I didn't find the tourists to be snooty at all -- in fact, we met some really great people everywhere we went. I've heard on other boards that Cap can be a little stuffy but I didn't see it when we had cocktails and dinner there. We had sunset cocktails at Malli and noticed a number of families there -- again, no snottiness we could see. I would suggest looking at the 2 bedroom suite at the Frangipani since you have kids tho -- the hotel is v. pretty and right on the beach. The suites also have full kitchens which makes breakfast & lunch easy with kids. Malli is on a cliff so there is a short walk down to the beach. Regarding dress, it is a very casual island -- I spent most of the time in shorts & bathing suit during the day and at night wore cotton pants/skirts and a "nice" t-shirt. My husband wore nice shorts and golf shirts to dinner. Only time we really dressed up was for our anniversary dinner at Altamer (wonderful!). You'll love it there! Also -- I've heard Junior is fantastic with kids and his glass bottom boat ride & snorkling trips are big hits with kids. I think he's on Shoal Bay East. Hope this helps!