Anguilla is 26 kilometres long, flat, and made of coral limestone. Like Cayman it has no rivers and no runoff, which is why the water around it is exceptionally clear. It has around 33 beaches for a population of about 16,000, and it has no cruise dock.
That last fact does more work than anything else. Cruise passengers arriving in thousands are what fills a Caribbean beach by ten in the morning, and Anguilla receives none. The beaches here are empty on ordinary days in ways that have to be seen to be believed.
Getting there is the filter
Anguilla has a small airport with regional connections, but most visitors arrive via St Martin: a flight into Princess Juliana, then either a twenty-five minute ferry from Marigot or Blowing Point, or a short charter hop.
That connection is mildly inconvenient and it is the reason the island stays as it is. It is also the thing to build slack around, since a delayed transatlantic flight can leave you on the wrong island overnight.
The beaches, and how they differ
The island runs roughly east to west with beaches on both coasts.
Meads Bay and Barnes Bay, on the northwest, are long stretches of white sand with the highest concentration of resorts and the sunsets.
Rendezvous Bay and Maundays Bay, on the southwest, face St Martin across the channel and are calmer, with mountain views on the horizon.
Shoal Bay East, on the northeast, is consistently rated among the best beaches in the Caribbean and has beach bars rather than resorts.
Little Bay and the north coast have coves reachable by boat or rope.
Sandy Island and Prickly Pear, offshore, are sandbars with a beach bar and nothing else, reached by a short boat.
Anguilla is also, oddly for its size, a serious food destination — a legacy of the resorts training staff and chefs staying on to open their own places.
The nine below are grouped by beach.
Maundays Bay and the southwest
Facing St Martin, calm water.
Cap Juluca, A Belmond Hotel, Anguilla occupies a curve of Maundays Bay in Moorish-style white villas with domes and turrets, a long beach and a level of quiet that has kept the same guests returning for decades. It is the best hotel on the island.
Cap Juluca, A Belmond Hotel, Anguilla
Maundays Bay · 5★ · $$$$
Moorish white villas along a curve of calm water
Check availabilityAurora Anguilla Resort & Golf Club sits on Rendezvous Bay on a large estate with a golf course, several pools, a marina and full family facilities.
Aurora Anguilla Resort & Golf Club
Rendezvous Bay · 5★ · $$$$
Golf, a marina and full family facilities on a large estate
Check availabilityMeads Bay and Barnes Bay
The northwest, with the sunsets.
Four Seasons Resort and Residences Anguilla occupies a bluff above Barnes Bay with villas and suites stepping down to the sand, three pools and the most polished service in the eastern Caribbean.
Malliouhana Resort Anguilla sits on Meads Bay as the island's original luxury hotel, reopened after a rework, with a clifftop pool and a long beach below.
Malliouhana Resort Anguilla
Meads Bay · 5★ · $$$$
The island's original luxury hotel, with a clifftop pool
Check availabilityFrangipani Beach Resort occupies a position on Meads Bay in a small family-run property with a pool, a good restaurant and rates well below the resorts either side.
Quintessence Hotel Anguilla sits on Long Bay in a hillside property with suites, a pool over the water and a small room count.
Quintessence Hotel Anguilla
Long Bay · 5★ · $$$$
A hillside pool over the water with few rooms
Check availabilityShoal Bay East and the northeast
The best sand on the island.
Zemi Beach House, LXR Hotels & Resorts occupies a position on Shoal Bay East with a Thai spa built in a 300-year-old teak house shipped over, a pool and the beach outside.
Zemi Beach House, LXR Hotels & Resorts
Shoal Bay East · 5★ · $$$$
A Thai spa in a 300-year-old teak house on the best sand
Check availabilityElsewhere
Anacaona Boutique Hotel sits on Meads Bay in a small property with a garden, simple rooms and the best value on the island.
Carimar Beach Club occupies a beachfront position at Meads Bay with apartments, a garden and a family operation at a mid-range rate.
Carimar Beach Club
Meads Bay · 4★ · $$$
Beachfront apartments run as a family operation
Search hotels in AnguillaWhat we have left off
The villa rentals across the island are excluded, and on Anguilla they are a substantial part of the accommodation, particularly for families and groups over the winter. They are houses rather than hotels.
What to do
Take a boat to Sandy Island, a sandbar twenty minutes offshore with a beach bar, a few palms and nothing else. It is the best lunch in the Caribbean.
Eat. Anguilla has an unusual concentration of good restaurants for its size, from beach shacks doing crayfish and barbecue to serious kitchens, and several are institutions.
Snorkel at Little Bay, reachable by boat or by a rope down the cliff, and at Shoal Bay's reef.
Go to a beach bar on a Sunday afternoon, which is when the island's live music happens and it is a genuine local scene rather than a resort performance.
Walk a beach and count the people. On an ordinary day at Rendezvous or Meads you will not need many fingers.
Practical notes
Most visitors route through St Martin's Princess Juliana airport and take the ferry or a charter across. Anguilla's own airport handles regional flights.
December to April is the dry season and peak, with New Year at extreme rates. May, June and November are much better value. Hurricane season runs June to November with the peak from August to October; Anguilla was badly hit in 2017 and rebuilt.
The island is expensive and quiet. There is no nightlife to speak of beyond the beach bars, which is the point.
Explore 4 & 5 Star Anguilla Hotels
Questions people actually ask
Why are the beaches so empty?
No cruise dock, a population of 16,000 and 33 beaches. The arrival route filters the numbers.
How do you get there?
Usually via St Martin, then a 25-minute ferry or a short charter flight. Build slack into the connection.
Is there anything to do besides beaches?
Eat, which Anguilla does unusually well, and boat to the offshore sandbars. Not much else, deliberately.
How many nights?
Seven. The connection makes anything shorter poor value.