Anguilla vs St. John
 

Hello fellow travellers,<BR><BR>Hope that you can help! We are planning our honeymoon, and have narrowed our choices down to Anguilla or St. John.<BR><BR>We are looking for a laid back trip, not concerned about casinos/glitz/non-stop entertainment. Would rather enjoy a beautiful beach (and each other). Like to snorkle, hang on the beach, imbibe in frozen libations. Don't like wearing jackets to dine out!!!<BR><BR>Looking for opinions, advice. Anyone out there been to both of these islands? Would you recommend one over the other??<BR><BR>We'd prefer to stay in a private vacation home...but this is not a necessity nor will it be the issue that makes us decide.<BR><BR>Would appreciate any/all comments!

Go To St JoHn!

Have been to both. St. John is nice with a lot of vegetation, hills and small pretty beaches.Very lush...<BR><BR>Anguilla tends to be more desert-like, not totally, but more so than St. John. HOWEVER...they have some of the most beautiful beaches in the world.<BR><BR>Both are laid back, no glitz, little shopping,and have frozen libations!<BR><BR>I personally think the snorkeling is better in St. John (oops, or is that ON St. John...)Trunk Bay is over done these days and has been damaged by overuse, but there are other bays there that are fantastic.<BR><BR>The two trips we took to Anguilla, the snorkeling teneded to be mediocre compared to the other islands we have snorkeled, but the beaches more than made up for it.<BR><BR>You can take a ferry from St. J to St. Thomas for a day or from Anguilla to St. Martin.<BR><BR>Tough decision...good luck!

Tough choice! I've been to each island twice and they're two of my favorites. <BR><BR>St. John is mountainous, just a few hotels, but with rental villas that are among the best and most numerous in the Carribean. If you can spring for a nice villa with a pool, a great view, and total privacy, that would make for a great honeymoon.<BR><BR>Anguilla is flat, with lots of excellent hotels, and not much in the way of private villas for rent. But you can easily drive to a deserted beach that will blow you away. There are probably a dozen beaches on Anguilla that are arguably better than the best beach on St. John, if you take crowds into account. Even beaches that have one or more hotels are often long enough that you can escape to privacy if you just keep walking. Not so on St. John. <BR><BR>Snorkling is better in St. John, but Anguilla is ok. Get a rental car either place.

hey... went to st. john in jan with my husband for a vaca. we wanted exactly what you described: mellow, great beaches, snorkeling, food and rum punch. we didn't want tourists, overcrowding or cruise ships. we loved st. john. cruz bay is a funky little town with cool bars and TERRIFIC restaurants. we stayed at Caneel bay and it was great....7 beaches, none crowded and all beautiful. we swam with turtles, squid, manta rays and beautiful fish. can't beat it...

oops...forgot to mention that my husband NEVER wore a jacket out at night and we ate at the best restaurants in cruz bay. you might check www.wimco.com or www.wheretostay.com to see some options for private villas on either island.

Having been to both, I'd say that Anguillal is less "built up" than St. John, which sounds like a plus. Anguilla's beaches are nicer, but the snorkeling on St. John is better. You see fewer tourists on Anguilla than St. John. The restaurants on Anguilla are better, but there isn't anything wrong with the restaurants on St. John--it's just that the ones on Anguilla are exceptionally good. You won't need jackets in either place.<BR><BR>If cost is a factor at all, Anguilla is incredibly expensive, so maybe that alone would help you with your decision.

gab is accurate, I can only add that Anguilla has none of the island beauty of St. John. Anguilla is very similar to the Cayman experience with its flatness, prices, beaches and restaurants, but without Cayman's world class marine life.

Gab - thanks for the reply. I decided to go for the "run of the house' rate and cross my fingers on what type of upgrade we get. My tavel agent (I don't know is she is a "virtuoso" or not) felt that we would at least get a luxury room. In any case, we're booked for May. Another question for you - do you know if the ferry's from St. MMarten run frequently, and how much they cost? We are trying o tdecide whether to fly directly into SM, stay a night there and then the ferry the next AM or take a 6am flight to San Juan and take a connection. Since we're only going for 4 nights we don't want to waste too much time traveling. Any thoughts?

Sue, Grand Cayman may be flat like Anguilla but it is far more beautiful and pristine than that scruffy little nothing of an island could ever hope to be!!!

Also, when we were in Anguilla there wasn't a KFC, Wendy's, Pizza Hut, or Mickey D's on every corner like in GC.<BR><BR>Also beauty to one is not necessarily beauty to another. I prefer stark vistas to traffic clogged streets. Secluded beaches to ones with tons of people....

I bet at that time of year you'd likely get an upgrade. The week before your trip, ask your travel agent to contact the hotel and to remind them of her request. That's what mine did.<BR>The ferries run quite frequently, though I don't remember the schedule offhand. Why don't you contact Cap and ask them about the schedule. I'm sure they'll be happy to accommodate you. I didn't take the ferry myself, but I recall reading that the rate was something around $10 each way.<BR><BR>My husband and I came to the conclusion during our stay that the ferry from St. Martin probably wouldn't save all that much time versus flying directly to Anguilla via San Juan. But the main reason we decided against the ferry was because of the potential for a rough ride. But if you can brave that, maybe the ferry would save you a half hour or so, depending on your connections. I believe in our case, we left NYC on a 7 am flight, had about an hour in the SJ airport, got into Anguilla just after 2 pm and arrived at the hotel around 2:30. It didn't take us very long to clear customs, and the cab ride was about 15 minutes from the airport.

gab,<BR><BR>you only had 1hr b/t flights connecting in San Juan?<BR>How did you make it?<BR>Did you have all carry-on or did you check you luggage?<BR>Did you luggage reach you in Anguilla?

gab,<BR><BR>you only had 1hr b/t flights connecting in San Juan?<BR>How did you make it?<BR>Did you have all carry-on or did you check you luggage?<BR>Did your luggage reach you in Anguilla?

An hour is plenty of time. Go directly to Eagle gate and don't dally. Luggage is checked through so no problem. Coming back clear immigration and customs in San Juan so you need more time.

An hour was more than enough time. The airport is small, and they don't let you board the plane to Anguilla till about 15 minutes before the flight.<BR>Bring a snack with you if you don't get a meal on your flight. The offerings in San Juan were meager at best.<BR>Another tip: get a seat at the back of the Anguilla plane. You enter and exit from the rear, and being in the back means you'll exit and get to customs sooner.<BR>Also, you're better checking any sizable luggage at your origin point. On my flight, anyone who had the sort of standard size carry-on had to gate-check it before boarding the Anguilla flight. Then, when they arrived, they had to wait by the plane to reclaim the gate-checked luggage before proceeding to customs, which meant that lots of people got in front of them. Our luggage, meanwhile, was brought to us after clearing immigration. We breezed through immigration and customs and got to Cap in no time.

so carry on luggage was not allowed on the Anguilla plane no matter what the size?<BR>I bought a small carry on 24" by 15" by 9" so I could carry it with me. If I have to check it, I mind as well get a bigger luggage, right?<BR><BR>My seats have already been assigned to row 5 is this far enough to the back or should I change my seats?

Note to "CaribFan": Perhaps there are fast food places on Grand Cayman, but at least the streets are well-paved, clean, tidy and neat -- unlike your beloved Anguilla, et al.!!!

If I wanted tidy, well paved streets I could stay home. If I want to experience other cultures I venture out.<BR><BR>Regarding the checked c/o luggage, we have found that when flying from island to island on puddle jumpers there usually isn't enough room to put c/o bags in the cabin so they want to store them below. Just be sure to stand there and watch that they get yours off.

Disagree with "Carib Fan" who is obviously not a fan of GC. There are no Mickey Ds in GC and there are only two fastfood chain stores along the entire length of Seven Mile Beach. Her post is full of misinformation.