Antigua is suuuperrrr hot. Which I’m absolutely not complaining about. I wanted to get away for my birthday and found a great flight deal so I called my mom and we went!
I recommend actually renting a car for this trip. We spent a lot of money on taxis and you can rent a car for about $300/ 350 for the week.
Day 1- Wednesday
So we arrived and filled out a health and safety form that they give you on the plane (bring a pen) and customs took so long but eventually we made it to our resort.
We stayed in Jolly Harbour Village. The resort was much larger than I expected. We got an Airbnb in the resort instead of staying at the actual resort. Our Airbnb was alright but I don’t recommend it. We had a lot of bugs (thankfully only downstairs) and the power and the wifi went out the second day and unfortunately because it’s an island the wifi didn’t get fixed until the day we left.
If you’re from North America, they run on a different current here. I brought the wrong adapter and our Airbnb only had one. So I would maybe recommend staying at a resort here instead of an Airbnb.
We went to Sheer Rocks restaurant at Cocobay resort. The restaurant was a bit overpriced in my opinion but I will say that the service, food, and drinks were really good. You’re really paying more for the location, which is gorgeous. There’s a bit of walk to get to the actual restaurant so I don’t recommend wearing your good good heals unless you want to bring them for pictures.
Day 2- thursday
Lawd! It is so sunny here. The sun comes up super early and it also sets early so I recommend starting your days as early as possible because once the afternoon hits you gotta hide from the sun.
Today was very exciting because I got to cross something off my bucket list.
Ziplining!
And yes I forced my mom to go ziplining with me. Am I afraid of heights? Absolutely! But I had to say that I at least did it once. Actual small children were ziplining in front of us so I was like okay we have to do it. We went to Antigua Rainforest Zipline Tours and they took such great care of us but the staff really tried to make it easy and fun. The minimum you can do is 6 ziplines, which was more than enough for us. They also have a photographer and videographer and you can pay for the content after (worth it to me for the memories).
After ziplining our taxi made a stop at Darkwood beach so we could eat. It’s just regular bar food, nothing special. The restaurant’s right on the beach though so it was nice to be able to run over and dip our toes in the ocean.
Then we went back to the Airbnb to rest and of course visited another beach (Antigua has 365 beaches) which was right in our resort area.
Day 3- Friday (Barbuda)
This was one of my favourite days because we got to visit Barbuda. I wanted to go on my actual birthday but Nobu only opens on certain days and the ferry only runs at certain times. And I’m not a millionaire yet so I didn’t take a helicopter over.
The ferry is $107 USD for a round trip and it’s a 90-min ride. I’m warning you that the ocean can be really choppy and you should at least bring Gravol with you. People were throwing up and I started feeling pretty nauseous half-way through.
Once you get over that, you arrive at the beautiful island of Barbuda. So, you guys know I’m a big planner…. but I may have actually forgot our trip on the island. Luckily for us, so did another couple. The captain of the boat called one of his friends and he became our taxi for the day. It ended up working out better than an actual tour would’ve because we got to meet new people and actually got to see the island from a locals point of view.
We went on a tour and learned about the Codrington’s (who colonized the island), explored the caves, and even got a flat tire and saw a black widow spider.
But then our driver dropped us off at Nobu! This is the one thing I planned, I made reservations months in advance and I was so excited. This was my first time at Nobu and I don’t know how anything will ever top it. See for yourself.
This is definitely a 5-star experience that comes with the 5-star price tag but it was so worth it. They even have showers and provide towels because it’s right on the gorgeous Princess Diana beach. If you’re ever wondering what to get me for my birthday, a trip here should be on your list. There was even a man who helicoptered in and was feeding his dog Nobu…
We really didn’t have enough time here, because I could’ve stayed there all day but our driver came back and it was time to head back to Antigua.
Once we got back to Antigua we were hungry again, so I checked what was in the area and saw that we were close to the famous Papa Zouk.
We even met Papa Zouk himself, he’s the nicest man ever and brought us over all his favourite things. We even had food to take back with us. Day 3 Recap TikTok.
Day 4- saturday
Today we went to explore downtown. I don’t fully recommend this if you’re travelling solo. I was with my mom and men were following us around and catcalling. It actually got so uncomfortable that we called our taxi to come get us early.
Also – we had the same taxi driver the whole trip. He came recommended from our Airbnb and it felt much safer since he actually cared about our wellbeing and I would just send him a message on Whatsapp whenever we needed him.
But back to downtown. We went and explored the museum and just walked around, exploring the island more. I tried to get a tattoo but most of the places close on Friday & Saturday.
Then our driver took us to Shirley Heights, which is the gorgeous view you see above. It’s beautiful up there! It costs $15 USD each for tourists and $10 ECD for locals.
And you know we ended the day with another beach. Seriously the beaches are gorgeous here, you could pick any of them and have a great time.
Day 5- Sunday
Today there was a little earthquake. No major damage but the power went out for a little bit. Our driver suggested we go see the stingrays and this ended up being one of my favourite things.
The excursion was $50 USD each. We took a 10-min speed boat to another location where all the stingrays hang out. The water is standing height but you have to do a short swim to get to the standing part. I suck at swimming so one of the guides carried me on his back.
They give you an octopus and you get to feed the stingray, which is very weird because they suck them up like a vacuum and have teeth (so they’ll bite you if you don’t move your hand quick enough). You can also snorkel there.
Fun stingray facts:
- They digest their food under water, and will bury beneath the sand to hide from you.
- The females are 4-5 ft.
- They’re very gentle and actually very smooth and soft.
After our excursion we went to rest and then headed back over to Shirley Heights since they have a party up there every Sunday night. Day 5 recap.
Day 6 & 7- Monday & Tuesday
Today was my birthday so I just took it easy and stayed around Jolly Harbour. Which meant just going to the beach, drinking from coconuts and relaxing 🙂
This was our last full day. So, again we took the day to relax and I took my mom jetskiing. I tried to see as many beaches as possible but obviously it’s impossible to see 365 beaches in a week.
Overall, bring lot’s of sunscreen and aloe. Stay inside during the middle of the day. And enjoy yourself, it’s a beautiful island and they need the tourism!
