St John's

St John's abounds with history but it is without one of Antigua's 365 beaches. Busy with cruise-ship visitors during the day (not to mention its 45,000 inhabitants), the island's commercial centre has several interesting historic sights and remains popular with day visitors coming for its wide range of duty-free shops. The closest beaches will be found on the nearby Five Islands peninsular and are very fine indeed. The peninsular, a few kilometres west of St John's, has several of the island's better hotels, but the area is primarily gated and inaccessible unless you are a guest.

St John's teems with day-trippers by day and has a few lively restaurants and bars by night, so it draws a wide range of British and American partiers, including families and singles. The resorts in the Five Islands peninsular are primarily geared toward adults.

Antigua is largest of the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean, roughly midway between St Maarten and Guadeloupe. St John's, on the northwest coast, is the island's capital, but the area's closest resorts are in the Five Islands peninsular. The airport is 8km (5 miles) east of St John's.

The beaches closest to St John's are in the Five Islands area, most notably Galley Bay and Deep Bay, though the former is less protected and can have moderate to pounding surf. One beach, at the Hawksbill by Rex Resort, is clothing-optional.

To look beyond the beach, you'll have to look beyond the Five Islands peninsular. In St John's are several interesting historic sights, including the Anglican Cathedral of St John the Divine, between Long and Newgate streets. The Museum of Antigua & Barbuda, in the former courthouse at Church and Market streets, has several hands-on exhibits. It's easy to travel down to historic Nelson's Dockyard in English Harbour, one of the Caribbean's best-preserved historic districts and the only Georgian-era dockyard still in use; in addition to a museum, it's filled with shops and restaurants.

If you are in a Five Islands villa, you really have to get out onto the island (or onto the sea) to find many kid-friendly activities. Kids appreciate sailing and snorkelling trips, most of which leave from Dickenson Bay or Jolly Harbour. A rainforest canopy zip-line tour, on Fig Tree Drive at the island's southern end, will please both kids and adults. 'Stingray City Antigua', in Seaton's Village, offers an opportunity to interact with stingrays in safe and controlled conditions.

You'll find few shopping opportunities in Five Islands unless you want to limit yourself to the offerings of your hotel's gift shop. Most of the island's shopping opportunities are concentrated in St John's, or at Nelson's Dockyard in English Harbour. Duty-free bargains abound in the shops of St John's Heritage Quay, though the most charming of the island's shops can be found in Redcliffe Quay, also in St John's. Cedars Pottery in Buckley and Rhythm of Blue Gallery in English Harbour are two locally owned shops that produce their own high-quality wares.

St John's has the upscale disco The Coast, but much of the nightlife is in faraway English Harbour. The island has three casinos, the largest being the Grand Princess in Jolly Harbour; the King's Casino in St John's is closer to resorts in the Five Islands area. Sunday-afternoon barbecues at Shirley Heights Lookout start in the afternoon but continue well into the night with reggae and steel-pan bands, drawing a mix of both locals and visitors.

A proper British breakfast is available at most resorts, but the growth of all-inclusive properties has brought a decline in the number of independent restaurants. Still, there are a few standout establishments, including several upscale restaurants in Five Islands and St John's.

The Five Islands area is fairly isolated, so a car will be necessary if you plan to dine outside of your resort. Organised tours are a popular means to see the island, and taxis (with fixed rates) will do for a few trips out of your resort, though costs will mount quickly if you plan to tour or dine out often. Once you get into St John's, though, you can take an island bus to English Harbour, but not to any of the other main tourist areas.

Antigua's sister island, Barbuda, is just 42km (26 miles) north and can be visited easily either by a 15-minute flight or 90-minute ferry ride from St John's. Day tours to see the island's famed Pink Beach and bird sanctuary are easy to arrange but can be costly.

The island's finest restaurant (perhaps one of the best bistros in all of the Caribbean) is Chez Pascal, on Galley Bay Hill on the Five Islands peninsular. Built on a hill overlooking the sea, the restaurant offers excellent sunset views in addition to delicious food. (You can even stay in one of the charming rooms.)

V C Bird International Airport, St John's (ANU)