Pink sand, crystal clear water, a tropical climate and luxurious hotels are perfect reasons for a family to pay a visit to Antigua. A tranquil Caribbean island, Antigua is the perfect destination for the parents who love to laze about under palm trees while they watch their kids splash around in the clear waters and indulge in cocktails and flavoursome food.
For families, the location has it all, somewhere for Mum and Dad to relax and plenty of activities for the kids to get involved with. You can also find baby friendly holidays for the area, with resorts that cater to the every need of a small child and ensure the parents get a chance to put their feet up. Most resorts on the island offer childcare for an additional fee and luxury holiday providers such as Tots Too work with several resorts to provide such a service, with one on one nannies and kids clubs.
But there’s so much more to see than the pool and the beach – families will love destinations such as the Wadadli Animal Nature Park, situated a quick 15-minute drive from St John. The park features a huge variety of incredible animals from small moneys to exotic birds and snapping turtles, it’s not quite as grand as a zoo but makes for a great day out and little ones will love getting up close and personal with the animals.
You don’t have to stay inland to enjoy the beauty of Antigua though, the waters around the island are perfect for budding sailors and families who enjoy the sea breeze with boats and opportunities to head out onto the clear water for the day. The island even has its very own sailing week, one of the biggest events in the Antiguan calendar and one that encourages people to visit Nelson’s Dockyard to see yachts race, from all over the world.
July and August are a great time of the year to visit as the island celebrates its Bacchanal carnival season featuring live performances, vibrant costumes, delicious street food and good vibes across the area for the family to explore and embrace while visiting.
Antigua is of course also well known for its love of cricket and for those families who also share a love for the game you can visit a famous ‘Windies’ stadium to watch a test match – check out the fixtures here and book a ticket to watch a game at Sabina Park.
If you’re more of a family of foodies then you won’t be disappointed with the dishes served up in Antigua, and fresh fish is definitely on the menu. In fact, Fridays are known as Fish Friday at Nelson’s Dockyard as catches come in ready for the restaurant table.
Barbecued jerk chicken and delicious Creole flavours in soup and other foods are ready to sample and become firm favourites forever more. Antigua, of course, also has a huge variety of rum to offer visitors and Papa Zouk’s is the best place to visit if you fancy sampling from over 200 varieties of the drink – just be sure to have a plan to get home safe with the kids!
Antigua offers everything a traditional family holiday can and more, so when considering where to book for 2016 keep this fun, vibrant island in the Caribbean firmly in mind.
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