Anguilla

Entry itself is simple — visa-free for 90 days for the main Western passports, a passport valid for your stay, and no online form. The friction is just getting there: there’s no direct long-haul, so you fly into St Maarten (SXM) and cross by water.

The cheap route is the public ferry from Marigot on the French side (~20–25 minutes, roughly hourly); private charters from the Dutch side near the airport are faster and pricier.

Build the St Maarten connection into your timing: the Marigot–Blowing Point ferry runs roughly 08:30 to 18:00, so a late SXM arrival can mean an expensive private charter or an overnight on St Maarten. Allow a comfortable buffer between your flight and the last ferry, and carry US dollars for the fares and the small departure taxes each way.

For such a small, low island, the sheer quality and number of beaches is the whole point — Shoal Bay East is the famous one, but Rendezvous Bay’s three-mile sweep, Meads Bay’s restaurant row and Maundays Bay’s calm are all world-class. And because the law makes every beach public, you can walk and swim anywhere, even in front of the grandest resort.

The water is the activity — add a boat trip to the uninhabited cays of Sandy Island or Prickly Pear for a castaway afternoon.

• The world’s-best-beach box tickedSkipoverthinking itGoShoal Bay East — two miles of white sand
• A long, calm swimSkipanywhere exposedGoRendezvous Bay or Maundays Bay in the south-west
• An offshore-cay daySkipstaying put on one beachGoa boat to Sandy Island or Prickly Pear Cays

The free public-access law is a genuine advantage: you can spread a towel in front of Cap Juluca or Four Seasons as a non-guest, you just can’t use their loungers or bars. In a sargassum spell (mainly spring–summer) the seaweed lands on the Atlantic east — switch to the leeward west and south, which stay clear.

Anguilla’s positioning is barefoot luxury: genuinely upscale resorts and villas, but on a flat, low-density island with no casinos and no high-rises. The flagships — Cap Juluca, the Four Seasons, Malliouhana and the golf-resort Aurora — draw a quiet, well-heeled crowd that comes for the sand and the restaurants, not nightlife.

It’s the deliberate opposite of its brasher neighbours — no cruise port, no strip, just beaches and good food.

Anguilla rewards travellers who want quiet over spectacle — if you’re after casinos, duty-free malls and a buzzing strip, St Maarten next door is the place, and you can day-trip the glitz. Anguilla’s pleasures are slower: a beach, a long lunch, a rum at a driftwood bar.

For its size Anguilla has an outsized food reputation — a spectrum from barbecue beach shacks to serious fine dining — and it’s as much a reason to come as the sand. The music runs just as deep: Moonsplash, founded in 1991 by the Anguillian reggae legend Bankie Banx, is billed as the Caribbean’s longest-running independent music festival, held each March at his Dune Preserve driftwood bar on Rendezvous Bay.

A day here often ends the same way: a rum at a beach shack, live music drifting over the sand.

Time a March trip to Moonsplash if music is your thing — it’s small, storied and draws big names to a beach bar. Any time of year, the Dune Preserve and the island’s barbecue shacks are the real Anguilla, a world away from the resort dining and often the better meal.

Anguilla is flat, dry and small, so a hire car is all you need — the roads are short and easy, you drive on the left, and a temporary permit (about US$25 for three months, or US$15 for three days) is issued with the car. Taxis cover the gaps but aren’t cheap; agree the fare up front.

The airport (AXA) is regional-only, so the car is for getting around once you’ve arrived by ferry, not for island-hopping.

Grab the 3-day driving permit (~US$15) rather than the 3-month one if you’re only here for a short beach break and will mostly stay put — it’s a small saving the car-hire desk will offer. The island is small enough that a car plus the odd taxi covers everything without stress.

Aim for the dry December–April window for the most reliable sun and calmest seas — and the highest prices. The June–November hurricane season peaks August to October; Irma in 2017 was the catastrophe, a near-direct hit since fully rebuilt.

If you can, time a March trip to Moonsplash, or come for the August festivities when the island’s boat racing and Carnival take over. The summer sargassum is a coast question — east bad, west clear.

Money is the familiar East Caribbean setup — EC$2.70 to US$1, with US dollars accepted everywhere — but Anguilla is genuinely upscale and high-cost, importing everything, so the spend is the lodging and the restaurants rather than any sights. In 2025 the tax system was reworked: a 13% General Services Tax now sits on accommodation, tours, car rental and attractions, alongside a 9% import tax.

With a ~10% service charge often added too, the bill climbs well above the headline — budget accordingly, and lean on the free beaches and the barbecue shacks.

Read hotel and restaurant quotes carefully: the 13% services tax plus a ~10% service charge can add nearly a quarter to the headline price, and it’s easy to miss when comparing. The free public beaches and the shack lunches are where an Anguilla trip claws back some value against the resort tab.

Anguilla’s history has a twist: in the 1967–69 “Anguillian Revolution” it revolted to remain British, rejecting being governed from St Kitts within the new Associated State — the islanders expelled the St Kitts police, voted overwhelmingly to separate, and Britain eventually landed troops to restore order. Anguilla formally split from St Kitts-Nevis in 1980 and stayed a British territory.

The island’s true passion is boat racing — hand-built wooden sloops, a national sport officially recognised in 2012 and more popular than cricket, with big regattas around the August festivities.

To see the real Anguilla, catch a boat race during the August festival — the hand-built sloops and the whole island turning out are a world apart from the resort beaches, and the clearest window onto local life. It’s the islanders’ own celebration, not a tourist spectacle.