I really hate renting a car on vacation b/c it's the one time i don't want to worry about drinking and driving. I want to be able to go out to dinner and relax. Friends who have been to anguilla say renting a car is a must. Is this true? are taxis off the charts? TIA

I always rent a car. It provides more flexibility to explore the island, see diffnrent beaches, try different places for lunch and dinner etc. Round trip in a cab for dinner is almost as much as the daily car rental rate. Driving is very easy on Anguilla even though it is on the left.

Taxis will get expensive - one long or two short round trips a day between your hotel and any other place on th island will cost you a lot more than a rental car. Also, taxis are not all that abundant so wherever you go you'll have to either have the driver come back to pick you up at a pre-arranged time (and hope he/she doesn't forget) or you'll have to call for another taxi and wait until it arrives.

Really, get a rental car and have one person in your party be the designated driver each day. You'll be able to come and go as you please and you'll be able to go almost anywhere on the island.

Every time I see this question posted, almost everyone recommends renting the car. We never do. Personal preference I guess, but we don't want to be bothered. I don't want the responsibility of driving, learning a new location, learning a new car, etc. I drive enough during the week at home.

We went to Anguilla for a week last year and never rented a car. Granted, we pretty much stayed on the beach all day and only used transportation at night for restaurants. The fares were pretty reasonable. I would say that roundtrip to most centrally located restaurants cost about $30....upside $40. I didn't think the cost was bad, nor did I think the taxis were hard to come by. It's a service industry and they aim to please (and hopefully get your repeat business during your stay).

Now if you wanted to explore the island, go to a different beach every day, and go out to dinner, etc., then by all means, a car would make more financial sense. It just depends on what you want to do.

We've been to Anguilla several times. We usually rent a car for 2 days to check out the different beaches and explore the island. The other nights we take cabs to the restaurants and never had a problem getting a cab. The drivers are very nice, give you their card to call them when you are ready to return or they just come back. Have a great time.

DO NOT USE JUNIE'S CAR RENTAL. We just got home from Anguilla and received a charge for $500. That's in addition to the original $200+ charge we received for renting a car for the week.
We called Junie right away and he made up some excuse about a damage to the car. We said that the car was never damaged and he finally agreed to credit us the $500. This guy is so shady; he probably does this to other tourists thinking that he can get away with it (at least sometimes).
We checked the bank and he still hasnt credited us. In addition, we've been charged numerous bank fees for overdraft. This is getting to be a nightmare. So just wanted to warn everyone else.