Anguilla Beaches: Choosing the Right Beach Day

Anguilla beaches are the reason most people come, and choosing one for the day is a genuine decision because they differ in access, facilities, atmosphere and, above all, sea conditions. The tourist board counts 33 beaches, all publicly accessible, and describes most as calm with gentle shoals, while noting that the Atlantic-facing side picks up surf in winter. Below we compare ten, from the famous strands with beach bars to coves you can only reach by boat or rough track, so that you can match the beach to the day rather than the other way round. This is about where to spend a day; for where to sleep, see our accommodation guide.

Anguilla beaches compared by conditions

Conditions vary with the swell and the season and are never constant. As a rule, south and west-facing beaches on the leeward side are calmest, north and east-facing beaches are more exposed from December to March, and any beach can be flat one day and dumping the next. Look before you commit, and if the water is rough on the north coast, drive ten minutes to the south coast.

• Usually calm: Rendezvous Bay, Maundays Bay, Cove Bay, Sandy Ground (Road Bay), Little Bay.
• Usually calm inshore, reef-protected: Shoal Bay East.
• Variable with the swell: Meads Bay, Barnes Bay.
• Exposed, for looking rather than swimming: Savannah Bay and Junks Hole, Captain’s Bay.

Shoal Bay East

The long north-east beach with the reef offshore, several beach bars renting loungers and umbrellas, small hotels behind the sand and shade from trees at the eastern end. It suits a full day with lunch on the beach, snorkelling from the shore and families. Its drawbacks are a 20 minute drive from the West End, weekend crowds by Anguilla’s standards and a shore break on winter mornings when the swell runs.

Meads Bay

The West End’s signature beach: long, wide and lined with resorts and restaurants, including a beach shack serving at picnic tables on the sand with no reservation needed. It suits a day that ends in a good dinner without moving the car. The water is deep close in and the beach can carry a dumping wave in winter, so it is not the safest choice for toddlers on a swell day. It is also the busiest beach in high season.

Rendezvous Bay

A long, gently curving south-facing beach with the hills of St Martin across the water, a few resorts and villas set well back and long empty stretches between them. It suits walkers, families with small children and anyone who wants space. The disadvantages are limited shade, few facilities outside the properties and, on windy days, a chop across the channel.

Maundays Bay and Cove Bay

Maundays Bay is a near-perfect crescent on the south-west coast, sheltered and shallow, with a single large resort along its length. Non-guests can use the beach but facilities belong to the resort. Cove Bay next door is longer, emptier and equally calm, with a beach bar and a more local feel. Both suit calm-water swimming; Cove Bay suits those who want it without a resort setting.

Barnes Bay

A west-facing beach on the north side of the West End, backed by a large resort and villas, with clear water and good snorkelling along the rocks at either end. It suits snorkellers and a quieter alternative to Meads Bay. Like Meads it can be rough in winter swells, and public access is via a narrow path rather than a car park.

Sandy Ground

The village beach on Road Bay is a working harbour as well as a beach, with fishing boats, yachts at anchor, a line of beach bars and the departure point for shuttle boats to Sandy Island and Prickly Pear. It suits a social day with music and an easy lunch, and its calm water is fine for swimming, though the bay is busy with boats. It is not the beach for pristine seclusion.

Little Bay

A small cove beneath cliffs on the north coast, protected as a marine park for its seagrass and listed by the tourist board as reachable only by boat. Boats run from nearby Crocus Bay, and the rules matter: the published Marine Parks Regulations require a permit for mooring or anchoring and prohibit those activities between 7pm and 6am, and the Department of Fisheries and Marine Resources’ 2015–2025 management plan, updated in May 2017, describes Little Bay as a no-anchoring area with moorings. Confirm current arrangements with your operator before visiting. It suits snorkellers and a half-day adventure; there are no facilities, no shade and no easy way back if the weather turns. Our guide to boat trips in Anguilla covers the operators and the marine park rules in more detail.

Savannah Bay and Junks Hole

On the exposed east coast, Savannah Bay is a long, wild, Atlantic-facing beach reached by an unpaved track, with Junks Hole at its eastern end. It suits walkers, photographers and those who want an empty beach with surf rolling in. Swimming is often unsafe because of waves and currents, facilities are close to nil apart from a seasonal beach bar, and the track can be rough after rain.

Captain’s Bay

The most remote of the ten, at the far north-eastern tip, reached by a bad road and often deserted. It is dramatic, with cliffs and breaking surf, and it suits a short visit rather than a beach day. The currents are dangerous and swimming is not advisable; treat it as a viewpoint with sand.

Choosing a beach for the day

• With small children: Rendezvous Bay, Maundays Bay or Cove Bay when the south coast is calm; Shoal Bay East on a flat summer day. Look at the water before unpacking, whatever the beach. Our family guide to Anguilla adds the practical detail.
• Lunch and loungers: Shoal Bay East, Meads Bay, Sandy Ground.
• Snorkelling: Little Bay, Barnes Bay, the reef at Shoal Bay East.
• Solitude: Savannah Bay, Cove Bay early, Captain’s Bay for an hour.
• A rough day on the north coast: go south: Rendezvous, Maundays, Cove.

Take the tourist board at its word that every beach is public and parking is easy, carry your own shade and water, and check the sea before choosing. Used this way, the variety of Anguilla beaches becomes the best reason to hire a car and move around; base decisions belong in where to stay in Anguilla, not here.