--- title: "Antigua and Barbuda travel guide: two islands, the dockyard and when to go | Wimup" description: "Antigua and Barbuda on Wimup: how the two islands split a trip, what the Georgian dockyard at English Harbour really is, the Barbuda crossing, the hurricane months to plan around, and the food worth ordering." url: https://wimup.com/country/antigua-and-barbuda type: Country guide updated: 2026-10-05 publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com) --- # Antigua and Barbuda, two islands that travel nothing alike One country, **two islands**, and almost no overlap between them. Antigua is a ring of bays with a **Georgian naval dockyard** on the south coast. Barbuda is a low limestone shelf an hour away by boat, with a **lagoon full of frigatebirds** and very little else. ## Quick answer Land at **V.C. Bird International** and pick a coast. The **north** has the capital and the Dickenson Bay resorts. The **south** is why many people come: **English Harbour** and **Falmouth Harbour**, the working Georgian dockyard and the view from Shirley Heights. The **west** around Jolly Harbour suits families. The **east** is windward, with Devil’s Bridge and the kitesurfing. **Barbuda** is its own leg, 62 kilometres north and still rebuilding after Hurricane Irma in 2017. A week covers Antigua and a day on Barbuda. ## Quick facts - **Best months:** Dec · Apr · May - **Ideal length:** 7–10 days - **Budget per day:** $130–320 - **Language:** English - **Getting around:** Rental car, taxis & minibuses - **1** City guide - **93,772** People - **1981** Independence - **6** Parishes Antigua is small enough to drive around in a morning and shaped so that nowhere feels like anywhere else, which is why the itinerary is decided by coast rather than by town. The northwest is the busy half: St. John's holds the cruise berths, the market and the cathedral, the resorts run north from it along Dickenson Bay and Runaway Bay, and V.C. Bird International Airport sits a few minutes inland at Osbourn. The south is the historic half, and the reason a lot of people come. English Harbour and Falmouth Harbour are two deep hurricane holes side by side, and the Antigua Naval Dockyard in the first of them is the only Georgian dockyard anywhere still working as a dockyard. UNESCO inscribed it in 2016 along with the fortifications on the ridges above, which is where Shirley Heights looks down on both harbours at once. The west coast around Jolly Harbour is the flat, sheltered, family end, with the calmest water and the longest run of beach. The east coast is the windward one: Half Moon Bay, Long Bay and the wave-cut arch at Devil's Bridge, quieter and rougher, and where the surf and the kitesurfing are. Inland is mostly former sugar country, and Betty's Hope, an estate whose twin windmill towers still stand near Pares, is the honest version of that history rather than the brochure one. Barbuda is the other trip entirely. It is 62 kilometres north, reached by ferry or a fifteen-minute flight, and it is flat, dry and almost empty: one village, Codrington, on a lagoon that holds the largest frigatebird colony outside the Galápagos, and a long pink-tinted beach on the Atlantic side that people come for a day and remember for years. Hurricane Irma flattened the island in September 2017 and the whole population was evacuated to Antigua; rebuilding has been slow and contested, so go with realistic expectations about what is open. Redonda, the third island, is an uninhabited volcanic rock 55 kilometres southwest, now a seabird reserve nobody lands on casually. A week does Antigua properly with a day on Barbuda. Ten days lets Barbuda be a stay rather than an excursion. ## 1 Antigua and Barbuda city guide 1. [St. John's](https://wimup.com/city/st-johns-antigua.md): North America · 10 picks ## Know before you go - **Population:** 93,772 - **Area:** 442 km² - **Density:** 212.2 / km² - **Capital:** St. John's - **Major cities:** St. John's, All Saints, Liberta, Potters Village, Codrington - **Tourism board:** Official site - **Currency:** East Caribbean dollar (XCD) The EC dollar has been pegged at EC$2.70 to the US dollar since 1976. US dollars are taken almost everywhere, with change in EC, so confirm the currency of any price. Minibuses and Barbuda take cash. - **Language:** English, with Antiguan Creole alongside it English is official and no phrasebook is needed. Antiguan Creole, with its own grammar, is spoken at home, on the bus and among friends, and is rarely addressed to visitors. - **Calling code:** +1 268 - **Power:** 230V, sockets type A and B The sockets are North American flat-pin, but the supply is 230V. Dual-voltage chargers are fine. A single-voltage US appliance needs a converter as well as a plug adapter. - **Emergency:** 911 for police, fire and ambulance 999 also works. Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre outside St. John’s is the main hospital. Barbuda has only a clinic, so an emergency there means a transfer to Antigua. Insure for medical evacuation. - **Visa:** Visa-free for most Western passports, up to six months Americans, Canadians, EU and Commonwealth citizens enter visa-free, normally for six months, British citizens for 90 days. Bring six months' passport validity and an onward ticket. - **Getting around:** Rental car, taxis and minibuses Driving is on the left, and every visiting driver needs a temporary local permit from a rental agency or police station. Taxis use zone fares, so agree the price and currency first. - **Tipping:** 10% service charge is usually already on the bill Most restaurants add 10% automatically, in which case nothing further is expected. Where it is not added, 10 to 15% is normal. Taxi drivers are usually tipped around 10% of the fare. - **Time zone:** UTC-4 (Atlantic Standard Time), no daylight saving The offset does not move, so the country is four hours behind UTC all year. That puts it an hour ahead of New York in winter and level with it through the northern summer. - **Tap water:** Mostly desalinated, and treated as safe Antigua's supply is mostly desalinated seawater topped up from cisterns, and treated as drinkable. Many people drink filtered or bottled for taste. On Barbuda, ask where you stay. - **Hurricane season:** 1 June to 30 November The risk peaks in September and October, also the wettest weeks. Named storms reach the islands every few years. Book refundable in that window and read what your insurance covers. - **Independence:** 1 November 1981 Antigua and Barbuda left British rule as one state under Sir Vere Cornwall Bird. Independence Day opens a week of national events, so early November is lively and the capital busy. ## When to visit - **Jan** (peak): The driest, breeziest month, and the most expensive - **Feb** (peak): Peak winter season: reliable weather, full hotels, high rates - **Mar** (peak): Still dry and still busy, with the northern winter crowd at its largest - **Apr** (best): Dry, warm and the sailing month, with the regattas at Falmouth and English Harbour - **May** (best): The season ends and prices fall while the weather mostly holds - **Jun** (good): Hot, sunny and cheap, and the hurricane window opens on the 1st - **Jul** (good): Humid, with Carnival building through the second half of the month - **Aug** (good): Carnival, and the start of the riskiest stretch of the storm season - **Sep**: The least predictable month, wet and most exposed to storms. Some hotels close - **Oct**: On average the wettest month of the year, and still inside the storm window - **Nov** (good): Rain eases, the season closes on the 30th, and Independence Day is on the 1st - **Dec** (best): Dry weather returns and the winter season restarts around mid-month ## Fun fact The Antigua Naval Dockyard is the only continuously working Georgian dockyard left in the world. The Royal Navy built it in English Harbour, a hurricane hole. Nelson was based there from 1784 to 1787, the Navy left in 1889, and yachts still tie up at the same stone quays. UNESCO listed it in 2016. ## Stereotypes, sorted out - **Myth:** There are 365 beaches, one for every day of the year. **Reality:** Nobody has published the count or the method, and by any usable definition of swimmable sand the total is far lower. It is a slogan. The density is real. The island is 280 square kilometres, cut into so many bays that you can swim somewhere new every day of a fortnight within half an hour's drive. - **Myth:** Antigua is a resort island and nothing else. **Reality:** The resorts cluster on two coasts, but the island's international fame is a naval dockyard. English Harbour has worked since the eighteenth century and UNESCO inscribed it in 2016. Add Betty’s Hope, the cathedral and market in St. John’s and the Viv Richards ground, and a week never books a lounger. - **Myth:** Antigua and Barbuda travel as one place. **Reality:** They share a passport and little else. Antigua is hilly, developed and full of bays. Barbuda is flat limestone, one village and a lagoon, about ninety minutes away by ferry or less by light aircraft. Plan Barbuda as its own leg, not an excursion fitted around a hotel booking. - **Myth:** Barbuda has been closed since Hurricane Irma. **Reality:** Irma hit Barbuda in September 2017, everyone was evacuated and the lagoon's sandbar broke in two places. It never closed. People moved back, ferries and flights run, and the frigatebirds recovered from roughly 300 to more than 5,000. Rebuilding is uneven, so confirm your bed directly. - Beachwear stays at the beach. Cover up for St. John’s, a shop, a bus or a restaurant, and dress properly for church. It is taken as basic manners. - Greet before you ask. A good morning or good afternoon comes before the question, in a shop, at a taxi stand and on the phone, and skipping it reads as rude in a way it does not at home. - Every beach in Antigua is public to the high-water mark, including the ones a resort has built up to. Access is a right, not a favour, and it is worth knowing before someone tells you otherwise. - Taxis are unmetered and run on government-set zone fares. Agree the price and the currency before the door closes, because a quote in EC dollars and a quote in US dollars are very different numbers. - Sunday still shapes the week. Church runs long, a lot of business closes, and the Shirley Heights sunset gathering is the one place the whole island seems to be at once. - Photograph people only after asking. Codrington in particular has been photographed a great deal since 2017, most of it without permission, and it is remembered. ## Famous Antiguan faces - **Sir Vivian Richards**: Born in St. John’s in 1952. West Indies captain and a Wisden Cricketer of the Century. - **Jamaica Kincaid**: Writer born in St. John’s in 1949. A Small Place is the sharpest book on tourism here. - **Sir Curtly Ambrose**: Fast bowler from Swetes whose spells set the benchmark for hostile accuracy. - **Sir Andy Roberts**: The first Antiguan Test cricketer, who opened the bowling for the 1970s West Indies. - **Sir Richie Richardson**: Took the West Indies captaincy from Viv Richards in 1991 and led 24 Tests to 1995. - **Daniel Bailey**: Sprinter, born in 1986, and the country’s standard-bearer in the 100 metres. - **King Short Shirt**: Sir MacLean Emanuel, the most decorated calypsonian, with fifteen national monarch titles. - **King Obstinate**: Sir Paul Richards, Short Shirt’s calypso rival, at the witty, needling end of the form. - **Burning Flames**: Formed in St. John’s in 1984, the band that took Antiguan soca beyond the Caribbean. - **Claudette Peters**: Soca and soul singer, the most awarded woman in Antiguan music. - **Tim Hector**: Founded the Outlet newspaper, whose Fan the Flame column opposed the Bird governments. - **Sir Vere Cornwall Bird**: Trade unionist and the first Prime Minister at independence on 1 November 1981. - **Sir Lester Bird**: Second Prime Minister, from 1994 to 2004, and a champion track athlete before politics. - **Heather Doram**: Artist and designer of the national dress, the reference point for Antiguan visual art. ## Must-try Antiguan food - **Fungee and pepperpot**: The national dish. Cornmeal and okra fungee with a thick stew of salted meat and greens. - **Ducana**: Sweet potato and coconut dumpling, spiced and boiled in banana leaf. Eaten with saltfish. - **Saltfish**: Salt cod stewed with onion, tomato and pepper. Ducana’s partner, and breakfast here. - **Goat water**: Dark, spiced goat stew with dumplings, eaten early in the day. Best at a local counter. - **Conch fritters**: Chopped conch in batter, deep fried, with pepper sauce. The easiest first order. - **Spiny lobster**: Barbuda’s best-known catch, closed from 1 May to 30 June. Question it on a menu then. - **Grilled snapper**: Whole fish over charcoal with lime and scotch bonnet sauce. Best value at a beach shack. - **Johnny cakes**: Fried dough, crisp outside and soft inside, sold from bakery windows and roadside stalls. - **Seasoned rice**: Rice cooked with pigeon peas, coconut milk, thyme and meat. The side beside everything. - **Antiguan Black pineapple**: The national fruit, grown around Cades Bay, small and very sweet. Buy it at the roadside. - **Tamarind balls**: Tamarind pulp rolled with sugar and pepper. Sour, sweet and salty, sold at every market. - **Wadadli**: The national lager, launched in 1993 and named with the Arawak word for Antigua. - **English Harbour rum**: Distilled and aged on the island. The aged ones carry oak, dried fruit and vanilla. - **Cavalier rum**: The lighter, fruitier rum from the same distillery, and the base of most rum punch. ## FAQs ### Do you need a visa for Antigua and Barbuda? Most visitors do not. Citizens of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Australia and most Commonwealth countries enter without a visa for a stay of up to six months, and British citizens are normally admitted for 90 days. You need a passport with at least six months of validity, a confirmed onward or return ticket, and an address you are staying at, all of which the airline is more likely to check than the border. Check your own nationality against the immigration department’s current list before you book anything unusual. ### How do you get to Barbuda, and is it worth a night? Two ways. The Barbuda Express ferry runs from St. John’s most days and takes about ninety minutes, and a light aircraft covers the same 62 kilometres in a fraction of the time. A day trip works and is what most people do: the lagoon, the frigatebird colony and the beach fit into it. A night is what turns Barbuda from an excursion into the reason you came, because the island empties completely once the day boat has gone. Book accommodation directly and confirm it is open, since rebuilding after Hurricane Irma is uneven. ### When is the best time to go? December to April is dry, breezy and reliable, and it is priced accordingly, with January to March the most expensive stretch of the year. April and May are the value months: still dry, noticeably cheaper, and April carries the sailing regattas at Falmouth and English Harbour. The hurricane season runs from 1 June to 30 November, with the real risk concentrated in September and October, which are also the wettest months and when some hotels close. Late July into August is Carnival, which is hot, humid and the best week in the Antiguan year if that is what you came for. ### Do you need to rent a car? Not if you are staying on one coast, and yes if you want the island. Taxis are unmetered and run on government-set zone fares, which is fine for a transfer and expensive as a daily habit. The minibuses are cheap and real public transport, but they run to no timetable and leave when the driver decides they are full. A rental car makes the south coast, the east coast and Betty’s Hope a single day. Note that you drive on the left, and that a foreign licence is not enough on its own: every driver has to buy a temporary local permit, which the rental desk issues. ### What is there to do besides the beach? The Antigua Naval Dockyard at English Harbour is a working Georgian dockyard and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with Shirley Heights above it looking down on two harbours at once. Betty’s Hope, near Pares, is a restored sugar estate and the clearest account of what the island ran on for two centuries. St. John’s has the market, the cathedral and the museum. Sailing is the other half of the country: Antigua Sailing Week at the end of April is one of the biggest regattas in the Caribbean, and the charter fleet is in Falmouth all winter. And Codrington Lagoon on Barbuda is a boat ride into the largest frigatebird colony outside the Galápagos. ## Related countries - [United States](https://wimup.com/country/united-states.md) - [Canada](https://wimup.com/country/canada.md) - [All of North America](https://wimup.com/north-america) Part of [North America](https://wimup.com/north-america.md) ## Sources - [Tourism board](https://www.visitantiguabarbuda.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.