When Aaron and I started talking about our next couples getaway, Anguilla was immediately at the top of my list.

It’s easy to look at a map of the Caribbean and assume the islands start to blend together: turquoise water, palm trees, a very reliable beach-bar playlist. But the more I travel, the more I appreciate how distinctly different each island feels. They each have their own rhythm, their own personality, and their own version of luxury.

Anguilla’s? Quiet confidence.

Anguilla feels like a place you’re quietly let in on.

There’s no cruise port, direct flights from the U.S. are still relatively new, and it somehow feels untouched in a way that’s getting harder to find in the Caribbean.

And the beaches!!

Anguilla is a limestone island, which means powdery white sand and impossibly clear water. We visited Maundays Bay, Meads Bay and Shoal Bay, and these were easily some of the cleanest beaches I’ve seen in the Caribbean. No shells under your feet. No rocks scattered through the water. Just white sand disappearing into crystal-clear blue.

Even on a red-flag day, I could see straight through the water.

But the other thing I wasn’t fully prepared for?

The food.

For such a small island, Anguilla has an incredible dining scene. Long lunches, local BBQ, toes-in-the-sand beach bars, great cocktails and genuinely excellent dinners. Eating off-property is very much part of the experience here, which gives Anguilla a completely different feel from a Caribbean destination where you check into a resort and don’t leave for four days.

If I had to boil the island down to two things: perfect white-sand beaches + incredible food everywhere.

A pretty good combination.

Getting to Anguilla

We flew into Saint Martin and took a boat over to Anguilla with Funtime Charters.

After landing, you’ll clear customs before meeting the Funtime team for the transfer to the boat. And rather than thinking of the boat as another travel step, I would consider it the beginning of the trip.

The ride across was beautiful and there is something very Caribbean about arriving at an island from the water.

Once we reached Anguilla, it was only about a 10-minute drive to our hotel.

There are now more ways to fly directly into Anguilla, but depending on your origin and flight schedule, arriving through Saint Martin and transferring by boat can be a really enjoyable option.

Where to Stay in Anguilla

I made a point of seeing several of Anguilla’s best resorts while we were there because this is a destination where the hotel you choose really changes the trip.

They’re all luxurious. They’re all on beautiful beaches.

But they don’t feel the same.

My shorthand after seeing them?

Malliouhana: boutique + charming
Four Seasons: spacious + social
Cap Juluca: private + cinematic
Aurora: active + family-friendly

And knowing those differences is much more useful than simply knowing which one has five stars.

Malliouhana: Boutique + Charming

Malliouhana has the kind of personality I always hope to find in a Caribbean hotel.

Perched above Meads Bay, the property is bright, colorful, intimate, and design-forward while still feeling relaxed. The rooms are filled with natural light and calm coastal textures, and depending on the category, you’ll find panoramic sea views or private terraces overlooking Turtle Cove.

But the setting is what really gets me.

The hotel sits dramatically above the water, and the views as you make your way down toward the beach are incredible. Those steps leading toward the ocean get me every time.

The beach is public, as all beaches are in Anguilla, but it never felt busy. You can walk Meads Bay all the way toward Four Seasons at the opposite end, which I loved.

One thing worth knowing: the final approach down to the beach includes a rockier section rather than traditional stairs all the way to the sand. It’s beautiful, but something I’d consider when recommending the property to someone with mobility concerns.

Malliouhana skews adult, and while we saw a few babymoons, the overall demographic during our stay felt 30+.

It’s also quiet.

Music wrapped up around 8 p.m. while we were there, and the property becomes quite dark and peaceful after sunset. We noticed people heading toward Four Seasons later in the evening for dinner and drinks.

So if your ideal night is a beautiful dinner followed by an early night? Malliouhana.

If you want a DJ and another cocktail at 10 p.m.? Keep reading.

Four Seasons Anguilla: Spacious + Social

Four Seasons sits at the opposite end of Meads Bay but feels like a completely different vacation.

It’s bigger, livelier, and has significantly more happening throughout the property. Service during our visit was incredibly friendly, fast, and attentive, and there are plenty of options for dining and activities if you prefer not to leave the resort every day.

This would be high on my list for a group trip or families.

We saw several groups of women celebrating milestone birthdays, and it immediately clicked. Spend the day by the pool or beach, meet everyone for sunset cocktails, go to dinner, and then stay for live music or a DJ without needing to coordinate another stop.

The Sunset Lounge was a highlight for us. The cocktails were incredible, the Asian-inspired food was excellent, and the views are exactly what you want at golden hour.

At night, spotlights illuminate the water below, the music goes later, and there’s simply more energy around the property.

Cap Juluca: Private + Cinematic

And then there’s Cap Juluca.

If you know me, you know I care about personality in a place—not just pretty photos.

And this one? She has it.

Cap Juluca sits along Maundays Bay, with white Moorish-style buildings against impossibly blue water. It feels almost cinematic when you first see it.

The beach here is spectacular. During our visit, the water here felt a little calmer and the entry gentler than some of the other beaches we experienced. The resort itself stretches along the bay rather than building upward, so much of the experience feels connected to the water.

Your beach chair is waiting for you in the morning. Lunch can happen barefoot at Cap Shack. The spa sits just above it. And the whole property has this wonderful ability to make doing very little feel like exactly what you should be doing.

But my favorite detail had nothing to do with the rooms or the beach.

Around the property, you’ll notice plaques on trees bearing the names of families who have returned to Cap Juluca again and again—20 years, 25 years, even 30 years.

Not for show. Simply because they’ve become part of the property.

That tells you almost everything you need to know.

People don’t return somewhere 30 times simply because it’s beautiful.

Cap Juluca has soul.

It’s refined, romantic, and iconic, but somehow still intimate. Long walks. Longer dinners. No agenda beyond being together.

For a honeymoon, anniversary, or couples trip where the hotel itself is part of what you’re celebrating, this would be very hard for me to beat.

What to Do in Anguilla

The temptation with a trip like this is to create an itinerary.

Don’t.

You need significantly less scheduled than you think you do.

Spend your mornings on the beach. Have a long lunch. Go back to the beach. Plan around sunset. Make a great dinner reservation.

And dedicate one day to getting lost, or as lost as you can get on a 35-square-mile island.

The Beaches

If your vacation requirements begin and end with “the beach needs to be incredible,” move Anguilla up your list.

We spent time at three:

Maundays Bay — Home to Cap Juluca and probably the beach I’ll picture first when I think about this trip. Powder-white sand, beautiful water, and a wonderfully calm feeling.

Meads Bay — Home to Malliouhana on one end and Four Seasons farther down. It’s a gorgeous stretch for walking, swimming, eating, and watching the sunset.

Shoal Bay — Another one of those “is the water actually this color?” beaches. Absolutely worth seeing when you’re exploring the island.

Rent a Moke

One of our favorite things we did had nothing to do with a five-star hotel.

We rented a Moke and drove.

No complicated itinerary. We stopped when something looked interesting, pulled over for views, and made our way around the island with nowhere particularly important to be.

Anguilla is small enough that exploring feels easy, and I loved getting beyond the polished resorts and seeing more of the island.

Definitely make your way to Elvis’ Beach Bar. It’s casual, fun, and exactly the kind of place where you plan on having one drink and end up lingering longer than expected.

Some of my favorite memories from this trip came from not having a plan.

Where to Eat & Drink

The food deserves to be part of the reason you choose Anguilla.

For such a small island, the dining scene is genuinely impressive. And more importantly, it doesn’t feel like you need to choose between “local” and “nice.”

You can have BBQ one afternoon, a long lunch with your feet in the sand the next, and a beautiful dinner overlooking the water that evening.

There’s also a very social quality to dining out here.

We saw plenty of couples, but almost every restaurant also had tables of friends traveling together—groups lingering over dinner, ordering another round, and everyone we talked to had been coming to the island for years.

It’s lively without feeling scene-y.

A few spots to put on the list:

Blanchards — Go around sunset and give yourself time to enjoy it. Meads Bay at golden hour is hard to beat.

Four Seasons Sunset Lounge — Excellent cocktails, Asian-inspired food and one of my favorite sunset spots from the trip.

Elvis’ Beach Bar — Come casual. Stay longer than you planned.

Valley’s BBQ — Because not every great meal on Anguilla needs white tablecloths or a reservation.

My biggest advice is simply: leave your resort.

Even if you’re staying somewhere with excellent restaurants, eating around the island is part of experiencing Anguilla.

Why Anguilla?

There’s a version of luxury travel that’s about having more.

More restaurants. More activities. Bigger resorts. Longer itineraries. Another reservation.

Anguilla isn’t really that.

What I loved about it was how little it needed.

An incredible beach. A hotel with personality. Somewhere great for lunch. A sunset worth stopping for. And enough time to actually enjoy all of it.

It feels elevated without being showy. Social without being crowded. Beautiful without feeling overly manicured.

Anguilla is the kind of luxury that feels easy.

And that’s exactly why I loved it.

Planning an Anguilla Trip

Move this one toward the top of your warm-weather list.

I made a point of seeing some of the best resorts on the island firsthand because the differences between them matter. The hotel I’d choose for an anniversary isn’t necessarily where I’d send a family with young children or six friends celebrating a 40th birthday.

Whether you want boutique and charming, spacious and social, private and cinematic, or a resort built around a family trip, I can help match you with the property—and room category—that actually fits the way you want to travel.

For select Anguilla hotels, booking through Melted & Moved also means access to preferred partner benefits, added amenities, and the kind of behind-the-scenes support that can make a great hotel stay even better.

Thinking about Anguilla? Send a TRIP INQUIRY or email kate@meltedmoved.com and I’ll point you toward the spots that make this island so special.