The Inn at English Harbour

Hotel review

The setting of this hotel is spectacular, on the south coast of Antigua about 45 minutes from the international airport. It is a hotel in three parts: the Terrace Restaurant and reception at the top of the hill, with views up to Shirley Heights to the east, a restored military lookout and gun battery, well worth walking up to; and a view to the west down to English Harbour, and Falmouth harbour beyond, as good a natural harbour as its namesake in Cornwall. To the south, at the bottom of the hill lie the other two parts of the hotel, the beach area on Galleon Bay, with four cabin rooms and the charming Reef Restaurant and Bar; and the third part of the hotel, three white clapboard villas set back from the beach, with guest rooms, and nearby a spa, a gym, a library and two tennis courts. If you like the idea of walking out of your room straight onto the beach, go for a cabin room. If you want a quieter, more private room, go for one of the villas, preferably a first floor room which have high ceilings and beach views from their private balconies.

The sheltered Galleon Bay and sandy beach is perfect if you prefer to swim in a non-tidal sea, with waves that only seem to have one setting – gentle lapping, and it provides perfect anchorage for several normal size yachts, while round the corner in English Harbour and Falmouth are the superyachts to gawp at. For those interested in history, Nelson’s Dockyard on English Harbour is a fascinating, well-restored, Georgian shipyard. Nelson was here as a 26 year old captain. The UNESCO world heritage site has a museum, shops and fine buildings. The hotel has a complimentary ferry service to take guests there and pick them up.

Above the Reef Bar there’s a sign “Just another day in Paradise” which for this hotel and setting is well justified. More a Caribbean laid-back style, than glamorous hotel, with the stress that that sometimes brings and the staff could not be more friendly and attentive.

Charles Marsden-Smedley Review published: 07/05/2019