Hi,
My fiance and I are getting married and are coming to Antigua mid Aug for our honeymoon. we were wondering if anyone knew what our chances would be of only booking and confirming a hotel for the fist week, and waiting until we get there to book the the second week/hotel. The type of place we would be looking for would be a walk out onto the beach kinda thing, all inclusive, but reasonable. Any help or advice/experiances would be appriciated.

I'd think you'd have a very good chance of just booking something for the first week and then finding great "walk-up" prices for accommodations the second week. It's pretty slow around the island in August, so that gives you a bit of bargaining room, as long as you're prepared to walk away and try more than one place if you don't get a good rate the first time.

I've not stayed there since it became an AI, but for what you're looking for, check out Hawksbill Beach Resort, which has now become a Rex, I think. The property has 4 lovely beaches, and on beach #1 there are small free standing cottages right on the sand and facing the water that might suit you. Negotiate with the resort to get a good rate, but this hotel overall is what I would call the moderate range for AIs on the island.

Grand Pineapple also has some rooms right on the sand, but because of the way they're situated, they're actually perpendicular to the water and you wouldn't have the same wonderful water views. There are also some rooms set back from the beach a bit that have a short walk to the sand. There is also a wing of rooms there that perch over the water directly but have a brief walk to the sand. None of these rooms would have a long walk to the beach by any means. This resort is also in a moderate price range for AIs on the island.

I hear good things about Cocos, but I don't know a thing about them personally. I don't know the situation of the rooms vis a vis the beach.

Galley Bay has some magnificent beach front cottages, but these are quite expensive.

Telling us your idea of "reasonable" would be helpful. Because even the less expensive resorts would put a premium on any beachfront or waterfront rooms.

Antigua is one of my favorite places to visit, as I got married there at the Long Bay Hotel a few years ago. I don't think that it would suit what you're looking for since it doesn't offer any beachfront rooms, but I would suggest keeping it in mind for a daytrip for lunch, snorkeling, and taking in Devil's Bridge, which is a short drive away.

Thanks for the info . We could do a week at gallley bay .We like the idea of starting off somewhere small and not all inclusive . Somewhere around English Harbour . Then rent a car for this period and end the honeymoon at Galley Bay .

If you want somewhere small then you could look at The Catamaran Hotel in Falmouth Harbour, owned by local family sincd 1968. Very friendly people and they do a great welcome barbecue on Tuesdays

Fireguy, I don't know the hotels in that area at all, but devonian wrote up a very nice trip report about his stay at Catamaran that you can find by doing a search here. I think your plan is a good one!