The main tourist centre of southern Antigua is the small resort of English Harbour, sometimes also known as Falmouth Harbour. However, it is always one and the same town.
Find the cheapest hotel in English Harbour
With its beautiful setting of two enclosed bays and photogenic hills, English Harbour is one of the most popular anchorages for luxury yachts in the entire Caribbean.
What to see and where to go?
There's no beach right in the centre of tiny English Harbour, but you can walk to one of the island's best beaches within 15 minutes. Pigeon Point Beach. Just about 200 metres away, you'll come across the much wilder (and significantly emptier) Windward Bay beach.
The last known swimming spot is Galleon Beach in a quiet bay with great snorkelling conditions, but you have to drive (or walk 35 minutes by road) to get there.
The biggest attraction of the town is the historic shipyards Nelson's Dockyard, which are part of a UNESCO national park.
Where to shop and where to go for entertainment?
Even though English (Falmouth) Harbour is a very small town, there is no shortage of tourist facilities.
The centre around the marina is dotted with restaurants and bars, the most famous of which is the Abracadabra nightclub near Nelson's Dockyard. Just across the road you can shop at the regular Covent Garden supermarket. There's a smaller grocery store in the marina.
English Harbour also has a private health centre, an ATM (inside the Covent Garden supermarket) and several dive and snorkelling equipment shops, as well as rental or organised boat trips.
Accommodation in English Harbour
If you're travelling to Antigua on your own with a hire car, English Harbour is one of the best places to stay. Prices here are traditionally high and the cheapest accommodation starts at around 92 eur per night in a 2-bed room.
- The Lodge - Antigua - The cheapest accommodation in town offers simple but fully furnished studios and prices well below 110 usd per night.
- The Moxy - a small budget hotel right in the centre of the resort has "borrowed" its name from a better known chain, but it has nothing to do with it. However, it offers clean and modern rooms and prices from 155 usd per night.
- Antigua Yacht Club Marina Resort *** - The cheapest hotel resort right in the main marina offers prices from 170 usd per night, which is below average for Antigua hotels.
If you prefer more luxurious resorts, we recommend the hotel South Point Antigua *****.
Transportation to English Harbour
The town sits at the end of one of the island's main roads (albeit of the same appalling quality as all the others) and it takes about 45 minutes to get here from Saint John's.
Parking is a no-brainer in English Harbour, as there's a large free car park at the historic Nelson's Dockyard. Otherwise, you can stop anywhere along the roads if you don't interfere with other traffic.
English Harbour is one of the few places on the island that can be reached quite easily by bus or minibus from St. John's. You can use the number 17 bus service, which runs from West Bus Station in St. John's. It doesn't have intervals, and buses/deliveries only leave St. John's when they fill up. The return trip is based on the interval at which they arrived from the capital.
During the day, however, the 17 usually runs once every 5-15 minutes, and it's rare that you'll have to wait more than 30 minutes. Fares from St. John's cost 3,75 xcd.
What to see around
Discover all the places to see in Antigua and Barbuda.
