Anguilla’s Best Luxury Resorts, the Island’s Must-Stays
Image: ANI Anguilla
There’s a reason Anguilla is one of our favourite Caribbean islands. It’s relaxed, safe, and refreshingly unpretentious, all while hosting some of the largest superyachts in the region, serious money, and a very discreet celebrity crowd.
There are no cruise ships, no glossy high-rise hotels, and no manufactured scenes. Sundays are for backyard BBQs that anyone can join. It’s an island with a genuine sense of community, and you feel it immediately.
People stop to talk. They ask how your day is going. They help without being asked. That warmth runs through the culture here, a feeling becoming increasingly rare as much of the Caribbean tips toward overdevelopment.
Then there are the beaches, pillowy white sand, clear shallow water, and long uninterrupted stretches you can walk for miles. It’s the type of place where you stop at a beach shack for Rum Punch and leave with new lifelong friends.
Beneath the laid-back atmosphere sits a serious player in the luxury space. Resorts deliver authentic, local experiences in postcard-worthy settings, with suites that rival anywhere globally. Add a strong design sensibility shaped by the island itself, and you end up with a collection of stays that feel genuinely special. The kind people return to quietly, again and again.
The Edit | Anguilla’s Best Resorts
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Images: Victor Stonem, Courtesy of Belmond
Belmond Cap Juluca
Location: Maundays Bay, Anguilla
Cap Juluca is set directly on Maundays Bay, a long crescent of white sand on Anguilla’s southwest coast, prized for its calm water and consistent swimming conditions.
The resort is a 15-minute drive from Anguilla’s airport, or a short boat transfer from St. Maarten (transfers are included with your booking). Once on site, everything is oriented toward the beach, with whitewashed Greco-Moorish villas lining the shoreline.
Originally designed by Californian architect Oscar Farmer, a recent renovation refined the original design, introducing a new Guerlain spa. The Main House anchors the property, framing Maundays Bay through a series of arches, highlighting how picturesque the setting really is.
Stays include daily breakfast, and a dedicated host who manages everything from dining to excursions and an underrated perk, complimentary laundry. Preferences are gathered in advance, and the experience is shaped around how you actually travel, not a fixed itinerary.
The wellness programme is one of the best on the island. Guests can join hatha or ashtanga yoga, breathwork, tai chi, sound baths, private Pilates (including reformer), tennis with a resident coach, or low-impact aqua fitness.
The Guerlain Spa adds a substantive new dimension to the stay, particularly for guests who’ve visited Cap Juluca before. The spa is built around a sequence of wellness experiences that combine bodywork, breath, heat, and stillness. Guests can move between steam, salt, and water rituals before or after treatments, making the spa a half-day experience rather than a quick appointment. One of the most distinctive elements is The Fountain ritual, inspired by a freshwater source that sustained Anguilla for more than 1,500 years. As part of the experience, guests write their name on a leaf and place it near the water, a simple gesture that anchors the treatment in local history without tipping into ceremony for ceremony’s sake.
Image 1 : Edgardo Contreras, Image 2: Victor Stonem, Courtesy of Belmond
Beyond the resort, Cap Juluca is well placed for boat trips to Little Bay and the Prickly Pear Cays, with snorkelling, cliff-backed beaches, and long lunches on the water. The resort also runs guided salt-picking excursions at Anguilla’s historic salt ponds, offering insight into the island’s economy before tourism. Sunrise rock-side fishing is a standout, calming, and refreshingly analogue.
Dining is varied and well executed. Uchu focuses on Peruvian-influenced seafood and ceviche. Cip’s by Cipriani delivers straightforward Italian classics by the water. The Cap Shack keeps things informal with grilled seafood, rum punch, and live Caribbean music on the sand. A working herb garden supports both the kitchen and spa, and guests can visit to create custom tea blends.
What We Love
The beach is the obvious draw, but the strength of Cap Juluca is it’s consistency. The design has aged well, the wellness offering is substantive, and the cultural experiences are specific to Anguilla. Nothing feels excessive or underdeveloped. It’s a resort that earns its price through service and experience, not over the top instagram floating breakfasts.
Images: ANI Anguilla
ANI Anguilla
Location: Little Bay, Anguilla
ANI Anguilla isn’t a resort in the traditional sense. It’s a private hotel perched above Little Bay, reserved exclusively for one group at a time. Cliffside villas with sweeping sea views, and the luxury of having an entire property, staff, and experience designed around your group alone.
What sets ANI apart is how easy everything feels. There are no fixed schedules, no restaurant bookings to chase, no decisions to negotiate with your other guests. Instead a dedicated team of chefs, hosts, spa therapists, and activity guides shape their days around how you want to spend them.
Mornings might start with yoga overlooking the sea, followed by a long, lazy breakfast and a swim straight off the rocks below the property. Afternoons can be as active or idle as you like, snorkelling and paddleboarding in Little Bay, boat trips to Sandy Island, cliff jumping for the brave, or beach hopping along Anguilla’s famously pristine shoreline.
Menus change daily based on whatever mood the group is in. Expect Caribbean flavours, fresh seafood, and beautifully executed comfort dishes, served family-style, plated formally, or laid out casually by the pool.
ANI’s location makes it easy to explore Anguilla too. The team arranges private charters, island drives, and beach lunches, as well as cultural experiences like local music sessions, rum tastings, and visits with Anguillan artists and makers.
What We Love
ANI Anguilla offers complete privacy without isolation. You’re not tucked away on a distant private island, you’re on Anguilla, with its beaches, culture, and experiences at your fingertips but away from crowds. For groups who value time together and want the island to open up around them, ANI Anguilla is in a category of its own.
Images: Four Seasons Resort and Residences Anguilla
Four Seasons Anguilla Resort and Residence
Location: Meads Bay & Barnes Bay, Anguilla
Four Seasons Anguilla sits across two of the island’s best-known beaches, Meads Bay and Barnes Bay, giving it a scale that no other resort here can match. It’s the largest property on the island, and that size works in its favour. There’s room to spread out, room to stay a while, and room for different kinds of travellers to coexist without stepping on each other.
Getting here is straightforward. Fly directly into Anguilla if you can, or route through St. Maarten and transfer by ferry or private boat. Once you arrive, the resort’s footprint means you don’t feel hemmed in or confined to a single strip of sand. Long walks, multiple swimming spots, and different dining zones make this feel like a small coastal neighbourhood rather than a single hotel.
The design, led by Kelly Wearstler, focuses on space, light, and materials that don’t compete with the view. The result is calming without being bland, exactly what you want if you’ve arrived tired, overstimulated from travelling with children.
Where Four Seasons Anguilla really pulls ahead is the scale of accommodation. The range of suites, villas, and residences is unmatched on the island. Many come with plunge pools, full kitchens, laundry facilities, and enough square footage to actually live in. For families or groups, this is the difference between feeling settled versus chaotic confinement. The complimentary laundry service for young children is a small detail, but one parents will appreciate immediately.
Food is another reason people stay here rather than dining out every night. SALT is the resorts fine-dining option, with a modern Caribbean menu that’s well-executed. Bamboo Bar & Grill works for long beach lunches. Sunset Lounge has the best end-of-day view on the property and enough energy to feel social without turning into a scene. Lima Limón adds bold, flavour-forward Mexican-Caribbean dishes, and Café Nai serves some of the best coffee and matcha on the island.
Daily fitness classes, tennis, rock climbing, and water sports cover the active holiday crowd. Food-focused sessions, ceviche classes, margarita workshops, and guided dining tours around the island, are genuinely fun and well run. Punch & Paint, hosted by a local artist, is an easy, enjoyable way to connect with Anguilla beyond the beach.
Meads Bay itself is wide, easygoing, and rarely feels crowded. Three pool areas, including an adults-only option, means everyone can unwind without the sound of kids screeching. In most rooms you won’t step straight from your bed onto the sand the way you might at Cap Juluca, but the trade-off is choice. Beach one day, pool the next, long lunches, Meads Bay dinners out, repeat.
What We Love
Four Seasons Anguilla is the resort people book when they want more of a social atmosphere. The rooms are generous, the food is good enough to stay in, and there’s always something happening without it ever feeling busy. If you’re choosing one place to base yourself in Anguilla, especially with kids or a group, this is the smartest pick.
Images: Malliouhana Resort Anguilla
Malliouhana Resort Anguilla
Location: Between Meads Bay and Turtle Cove, Anguilla
Malliouhana occupies one of the most commanding positions on the island, set high on a cliffside between two beaches with uninterrupted views across the Caribbean. From the open-air lobby, you look straight out over Meads Bay, where super yachts idle offshore, guests often anchoring up and popping in for lunch. It’s a setting that immediately separates this resort from Anguilla’s beachfront-heavy lineup.
The resort first opened over 30 years ago and played a defining role in establishing Anguilla as a serious destination for honeymooners. That legacy is still present, but the experience today feels intentional rather than nostalgic. The design is bold and graphic, with Mediterranean structure layered with Caribbean colour, custom tilework, sculptural antiques, and a significant private art collection. It has a point of view, and it sticks to it.
The resort hosts food-led events several nights a week, rum tastings, ceviche demonstrations, and a strong line up of local musicians . Bar Soleil is the place to be at sunset, while Leon’s on Meads Bay brings a looser, beach-club vibe during the day and into the evening.
The wellness offering is also a strong draw card, with yoga on the bluff or a fitness class at the spa, followed by a swim in the cascading cliffside pools. The spa menu focuses on restorative treatments and classic bodywork, complemented by outdoor activities like tennis, pickleball, paddleboarding, and cycling tours around the island.
Nature and culture are given real attention. Guests can join eco tours through the resort’s landscaped gardens to learn about native plants. Stargazing sessions using a professional telescope add a quieter, surprisingly memorable night-time experience. Explore the island by vintage Moke, fish and have your catch prepared by the chefs, or head out by boat to snorkel offshore cays.
One of the most distinctive offerings is the Anguillita Rum Journey, which starts in the gardens and ends with a hands-on cocktail experience overlooking the sea.
Despite its romantic reputation, Malliouhana also works for families. The Mini Explorers program introduces children to Anguilla through ocean activities, fishing traditions, cooking, and outdoor play, freeing parents to enjoy the resort’s quieter, more indulgent side.
What We Love
Malliouhana is one of our favourite resorts in the world, full stop.
We honeymooned here and would return in a heartbeat over anywhere else on the island. The atmosphere is the reason. There’s a sense of the Caribbean at its peak, glamorous, colorful, and unapologetically fun.
Our advice though, skip the villas and book a suite. You’ll feel more connected to the heart of the property, the interiors, the gardens, the views, the energy that makes Malliouhana what it is.
Design lovers will notice the details immediately, from tilework and colour choices to the way spaces are framed. It’s the kind of place that has you travelling home with renovation ideas. And then there are the people. The staff are genuinely warm, conversational, and engaged, the kind who remember you, challenge you to a chess rematch, and make the stay feel personal. It’s very Anguilla in that way. Easygoing, friendly, and sincere.
Images: Aurora Anguilla Resort and Golf Club
Aurora Anguilla Resort and Golf Club
Location: Rendezvous Bay, Anguilla
Aurora sits on a long, open stretch of Rendezvous Bay, a short drive from Blowing Point ferry terminal and facing straight across to St. Martin. It’s one of the largest resorts on the island, and it feels like it. This is not Anguilla’s quietest stay, nor is it trying to be.
Aurora is built for travellers who want activity, and adventure, without leaving the resort. The centrepiece is the Greg Norman–designed championship golf course, the only one on Anguilla. On an island this dry, the condition of the course is impressive, manicured fairways, ocean views, and lush greens that play properly. Even non-golfers feel its presence; the open green space gives the resort a lush tropical atmosphere you don’t get elsewhere.
Aurora doubles down on things-to-do. The water park is a genuine standout. A zero-entry lagoon pool, long lazy river, proper slides, splash zones, and private cabanas with full service. For families, it changes the trip, kids have somewhere purpose-built to burn energy, and adults don’t have to engineer entertainment.
After dark, the open-air amphitheatre gives guests even more to do. Outdoor movie nights, live music, and events unfold with sunset views and food trucks in tow. It creates a social centre without tipping into chaos, especially welcome if you’re staying longer than a few nights in Anguilla.
There’s no shortage of sport beyond golf. Aurora is home to the largest pickleball facility in the Caribbean, alongside tennis courts, a climbing wall, mini golf, basketball, and a full kids’ and teen programme. Catamaran cruises and water sports are easy to arrange, while dining leans heavily on produce from the resort’s own hydroponic farms, keeping menus fresh and grounded.
What We Love
The golf. On an island as arid and dry as Anguilla, the quality of Aurora’s Greg Norman–designed course is genuinely impressive. Even if you’re not a serious golfer, the course shapes the entire mood of the resort, and leaves it feeling more like a tropical retreat than other stays on the island. For those who do play, it’s reason enough to book Aurora on its own.
Image: Expedia, Quintessence Hotel Anguilla
Image: Expedia, Quintessence Hotel Anguilla
Quintessence Hotel Anguilla
Location: Long Bay, Anguilla
Quintessence is unlike any other resort on the island. Set on the quieter shores of Long Bay, this boutique property feels closer to a private estate than a traditional hotel. It’s intimate, self-contained, and deliberately singular in its vision.
Designed by Geoffrey Fieger over the course of a decade, the hotel has a museum-like quality. Haitian art, custom metalwork, and layered interiors give every area a sense of intention. It’s a resort that invites slow exploration, noticing details, revisiting spaces, spending time soaking up the area rather than filling up your schedule.
Accommodation is generous, making Quintessence particularly appealing for couples who want privacy or multi-generational groups looking for something more personal than a large resort. The service is highly tailored, and the atmosphere is quiet without feeling sterile.
The property has earned multiple Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star awards, the highest-rated distinction on the island, and it shows in the attention to detail, from dining to spa treatments to concierge-led experiences.
What We Love
Quintessence is for travellers who want something deeply individual. It’s calm, cultured, and uncompromising in its identity. If you value art, privacy, and staying somewhere that feels truly one-of-a-kind, this is the most distinctive address in Anguilla.
Zemi Beach House LXR Hotels and Resorts
Location: Shoal Bay East, Anguilla
Zemi Beach House sits directly on Shoal Bay East, consistently ranked among the best beaches in the Caribbean. Powder-fine white sand, shallow turquoise water, and a long, walkable shoreline that feels calm even at peak season.
It’s around a 15-minute drive from Blowing Point ferry terminal and feels pleasantly removed once you arrive, less social scene, more beach-first retreat.
Zemi’s defining feature is its spa, housed inside a 300-year-old Thai teak house that was carefully relocated and rebuilt on site. It’s atmospheric, cocooned, and genuinely transportive, one of the most distinctive spa settings in the Caribbean.
Dining is relaxed but well executed, with a mix of beachfront meals, indoor dining, and casual daytime options. The Rhum Room, home to more than 140 rums, adds a grown-up, after-dark ritual that feels appropriate to the setting. Stays revolve around swimming, beach walks, yoga on the sand, and unstructured time, not timetables of activities.
Zemi works best for couples and travellers who want quiet luxury with an exceptional beach, without the scale of Four Seasons or the social energy of Aurora. It’s calm, relaxing, and deliberately low-key.
What We Love
Shoal Bay East on your doorstep, and that spa. The Thai house feels completely different from anything else on the island. Zemi doesn’t over-program or over-style it understands that its greatest asset is the beach, and it gets out of the way.
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