Anguilla is a limestone shelf sixteen miles long and never more than three miles wide, and almost the entire coastline is sand. Thirty-three named beaches ring an island you can drive across in twenty minutes. The water is shallow and turquoise because the reef sits close in, and because there are no rivers on the island there is no run-off to cloud it.
Shoal Bay East
The one that appears on the postcards. Two miles of white sand on the north coast, a reef close enough to snorkel from the shore, and a handful of beach bars where the conch fritters arrive without ceremony. It is the busiest beach on the island, which on Anguilla means you might share it with forty people.
Rendezvous Bay
A long southern crescent facing Saint-Martin, so the view across the channel comes with the sunset behind the hills of the French side. The sand is softer and paler here than on the north coast, and the swimming is calm because the bay is sheltered.
Meads Bay
A mile of sand on the west end with the island's best-known restaurants set directly behind it. Come for a long lunch and stay until the light goes.
Maundays Bay
The curve in front of Cap Juluca, and probably the most photographed stretch of sand in the eastern Caribbean. The bay is protected on both sides, so the water barely moves.
The quieter ones
- Little Bay — reachable by boat or by rope down the cliff, which keeps the crowds away entirely.
- Captain's Bay — remote, rough water, and usually empty.
- Savannah Bay — a long east-end beach where the surf actually breaks.
- Sandy Ground — the working harbour beach, where the boats are built and the races start.
- Limestone Bay — small, rocky at the edges, excellent snorkelling.
What to know before you go
There are no public toilets or lifeguards on most beaches, and shade is scarce because the island is low scrub rather than palm forest. Bring water. All beaches in Anguilla are public up to the high-water mark, including those in front of the resorts — you are entitled to walk the whole length of Meads Bay or Maundays Bay whatever the hotel signage suggests.