Antigua's tourist office boasts that the island has 365 beaches, 'one for each day of the year'. It has great reefs and wrecks for diving and snorkelling. On neighbouring Barbuda you can track the island's fabled frigate birds and visit the Caribbean's largest rookery.

St John's is Antigua's capital and commercial centre, home to over a third of the country's population. It's also the island's tourist centre, but most of the city remains unaffected by international influence, remaining solidly West Indian in flavour. St John's tourist activity is confined to the harbourfront complexes of Heritage Quay, a favourite with cruise ship passengers, and the more rustic Redcliffe Quay, where shops, restaurants and galleries inhabit restored stone buildings and wooden huts.

Once a naval base and now Antigua's most popular tourist attraction, English Harbour has the richest collection of historic sites on the island. You could easily spend the better part of a day roaming around the sites, which include restored buildings, hilltop forts and museums. The harbour's main attraction is Nelson's Dockyard, an 18th-century British naval base named after the English captain Horatio Nelson.

Most of Antigua's many beaches, with their white or light golden sands, are protected by coral reefs, and all are officially public. Prime spots include the adjacent Dickenson and Runaway beaches on the eastern coast, Deep Bay and Hawksbill Beach to the west of St John's, and Darkwood Beach to the south of Jolly Harbour. On the eastern coast, Half Moon Bay is a top contender. In the English Harbour area, Galleon Beach and secluded Pigeon Beach are good sites. The far ends of some public beaches, including the northern end of Dickenson, are favored by topless bathers; nude bathing is also practiced along a section of Hawksbill Beach.