antigua vs anguilla...
 

we're planning our honeymoon for may and we have to decide on an island to combine with a trip to st martin (dutch side).

a travel agent i spoke to said it would be easy to go from newark airport to antigua and then on to st martin. but, i've been hearing amazing things about anguilla and i know it's close to st martin. what should we do? because we will be spending the last week of our honeymoon in st martin that has some nightlife and activity, i really want to just relax on the sand, maybe do some snorkling for the first time. who has better beaches? where to stay?

sorry so many questions...overwhelmed with all the options. thanks : )
danielle

Antigua has ten times as many beaches as Anguilla (literally) but none which are as nice as Anguilla's best beaches.
Antigua's big downsides are: there's a fair amount of crime, it's not an especially pretty island, and it's relatively impoverished.
Anguilla is also a rather ugly island in its interior, but the beaches are exceptional, there's almost no crime, the people are friendly, the food is top notch, the choice of resorts is much better than on Antigua, and you'd be a short ferry ride from St. Martin.

If you want dreamy, secluded beaches then definitely go with Anguilla. It's a short, cheap ferry ride from Marigot on the French side of St. Martin (you can see anguilla from downtown Marigot), and of course St. Maarten/St. Martin's dining, shopping and nightlife rivals that of any island in the Caribbean.

If you definitely want a place that will feel more "away from it all", then you should choose Anguilla over Antigua for all of the reasons other posters have mentioned. Anguilla's beaches are hard to beat and it's an island that's easy to get around. however, i do feel that Antigua's snorkeling edges out Anguilla's. If that's not a priority, choose Anguilla and enjoy!

Then again, if you're already going to be spending a week in St. Maarten, then you could easily spend a few days on Anguilla anyway. Have you considered choosing another island away from St. Maarten/Anguilla to spend a few days?

Or maybe you'd like to do St. Barths for a couple of days, then Anguilla and then St. Maarten... They're all in easy range of each other, and landing on the St. Barths airstrip is an experience you won't forget!

I've been to both islands and Anguilla is my hands down favorite! Don't listen to your travel agent. Most of them are dumb and hardly ever travel.

Its very easy to go to Anguila from St. Martin. Continential has a flight out of Newark that flys direct to St. Martin, it also goes directly on to Antigua-we get off-then go to Anguilla,
get back on in St. Martin and then on to Antigua. The flight is non stop back home---from Antigua to Newark. It runs daily during the high season, and then Sat, Sunday and Wednesday. Its flight 871 and your agent should know this! Its very easy on this flight to do St. Martin (Anguilla) then Antigua.

Is the food in Anguilla outrageously priced like $30+ per entree everwhere? I am not a cheap scape----going to my third trip to Cayman-----been many other places------but we are also taking children if we go to Anguilla. Is that advisable----enough for children to do--snorkel etc.

The menus and prices for several of the popular restaurants are available online.
The fish and meat at the better restaurants is $30-45 per entree.
There are many good restaurants with entrees between $10-25.

I agree with everybody who posted! For a perfect holiday choose Anguilla. It's a gem in the Caribbean Sea. You won't find this peace and quiet anywhere else.

And to you I too recommend a great hotel, Dave: http://www.anguillagreathouse.com/

You have a great holiday now,
Tabitha

hi guys - i'm in the process of planning our honeymoon too and am having a dilemma re how much travelling we can be bothered doing. we're looking for a week of chillout (and was thinking anguilla) and a week or so of city break (new york) we'd be flying glasgow to new york, then down to st maartan, across to anguilla, back to new york then home, with about 5-7 days each stop. what do you think - honeymoon madness or very achievable?!!

jools, very achievable, but you're better off starting a new thread than pulling up one that's 7 years old.

Anguilla hands down over Antigua. There is no question. The beaches in Anguilla are way amazing. I agree, don't listen to the travel agent. You won't be disappointed.

OMG Antigua is not very pretty, has much crime and is impoverished??? OMG - this is not at all the impression I had and we are booked to go in January and what a horrible review!! Could it really be this bad?

We've stayed on both islands. We stayed at Antigua Village Resort in '98 and '99 (admittedly quite a long time ago, but this thread is pretty old, itself), and we loved it. I forget the name of the beach, but it is on the same as Sandals, and it was lovely. Never saw any sign of crime, and enjoyed venturing out at night to different restaurants. While I have to admit I prefer Anguilla, I would not hesitate to return to Antigua.

After once in Antigua the only reason we returned was to catch a ship that sailed out of there. IMO, Anguilla is a better choice.