visiting us

If you are planning to come to Barbuda you are on the right website – we live here! It was always difficult to find detailed or accurate information about Barbuda and this is one of the reasons we started this site over twenty years ago. We want you to be able to see our whole island online – the village community, our people, our lifestyle, our businesses – and not just the pink sand beach. Hurricane Irma put us firmly on the map but we are also much more than just an island that has experienced difficult times. Barbuda’s charm is that it has fought for centuries to remain self-determining and as a result is one of the few remaining natural Caribbean island communities left in the world that has mostly undeveloped, world-class beaches open to everyone, used mainly by Barbudan fishers and for camping. As a result it’s a very special destination.

In the past we have been a well-kept secret. We had exclusive Coco Point Lodge, K Club was full of celebrities before everyone was a celebrity, and Palmetto hotel was a beautiful Italian-run boutique hotel. They were usually full all season. We had a nineteen-seater plane which serviced day tours and we were a busy and prosperous island community with just enough visitors to be able to share the secrets of our island and enjoy their company, so we are careful with our resources. And now around the world many others like us are trying to curb mass-tourism. We do not want to lose our communal land with it’s rich heritage and unique culture to become a gated community or playground for the super-rich.

To understand more about us you can read the history of the island and explore the difficult relationship we have had with the various governments of Antigua. But Barbudans have always welcomed sustainable development and we welcome you. And once you have been here you might be telling us, as most other visitors do, that you come here because you like it how it is.

To get to Barbuda you have to come to Antigua first. If you are booking your flights to Antigua there are several flights a week from the US, UK, Canada and other destinations and from Antigua you will be able to get the 90 minute ferry ride or a 15 minute flight to Barbuda. And for many of our visitors a private yacht or helicopter ride is what brings them to us, often just for lunch at Nobu. Our new international airport is open, and this allows private jets to miss out Antigua altogether, but makes little difference to the ordinary traveller. For most people our day tours, taxi’s, bars and guest houses offer local knowledge and a great insight into island life. Only we can show you where the pink sand beach is today. Scroll down the page for links to all of the transport options to and from Barbuda, car or bike hire on Barbuda, a selection of our range of accommodation and food, shopping and tours. Not much is advertised on Barbuda, you have to come here and find it for yourself.

Barbuda is sometimes offered as a day tour from Antigua and many people on holiday in Antigua do visit us for the day – ask at your hotel or contact one of our local taxi and tour operators listed below for details of their tours. However, we think you will have an even better experience if you stay here for at least two or three nights, because the day-return plane and ferries do not allow much time to explore everything there is to offer here. If you want to stay longer you will find most of the information you need about accommodation below, and by contacting Barbudans direct you will benefit from their local knowledge of many other things that are not on the website. Try calling numbers rather than e mail, call more than once because we have bad signal, and don’t give up! We have our own Tourism department who can help you and nearly everyone here will know someone who has a house or a vehicle for rent.