antigua catherines cafe
Pigeon Point in Antigua.
Best of the Caribbean

The 25 Best Best Beach Bars in the Caribbean for 2025, From Aruba to St Barth to Eleuthera  

By: Alexander Britell - January 10, 2025
1 of 25

You can find the perfect island. You can book the perfect hotel. But your vacation hasn’t really begun until you pull up to your chair with an ice-cold cocktail at the perfect Caribbean beach bar. For all of the wonders and charms of this region, nothing manages to so easily access the hearts of travelers as a toes-in-the-sand shack or a rum punch under a palm tree. There’s just something romantic about it, something enchanting. The beach bar is more than just a table or a menu; it’s an idea, a fantasy, a distillation of all of the things we dream about on cold winter nights. We’ve been to more Caribbean beach bars than just about anyone, and the 2025 edition of our annual guide to our favorite beach bars is a curation of diverse establishments across the many islands of the Caribbean. 

So how did our editorial team choose this year? It’s never easy to whittle the choices down to 25. But we do have some conditions:  there has to be sand (no floating bars, unfortunately). There has to be good service, quality cocktails and, perhaps most importantly, good food. Because a great beach bar should ideally be a place where you can spend all day. Today’s beach bar patron is demanding more, and the Caribbean’s top beach bars are adapting, with more creative cocktails, better rum selections and food that can stand all on its own. Here are the best beach bars in the Caribbean for 2025, with a number of new entries on the list this year.

catherine's cafe
Catherine’s is the new leader.

#1 Catherine’s Cafe, Antigua We have a new number one beach bar in the Caribbean: Catherine’s Cafe, the outrageously good beach bar and restaurant on Pigeon Point Beach in Antigua. Everything here is done meticulously, exquisitely. The cocktails (including the rather clever on-draft rum punch) are superb, the service splendid and the setting just magnificent. But the biggest story might just be the food — the best of any beach bar in the Caribbean, period. If you haven’t been here yet, it’s time to plan your visit.


1 of 25
Popular Posts best caribbean restaurants

The 50 Best Restaurants in the Caribbean - 2025

No region in the world has a more diverse or dynamic culinary continuum than the Caribbean. Just about every cuisine on earth is represented, often in wonderfully, intoxicatingly fused expressions. Across the breadth of the Caribbean Basin, you will find […]


The Southern Corner of This Caribbean Island Is Filled With Endless Beaches, a Boutique Resort and a Spirit of Adventure    

eleuthera caribbean island

You can get lost out here. There are nearly 4,500 acres of Bahamian frontier here, filled with casuarinas, empty trails and secluded white-sand beaches. Take a golf cart, or a bicycle or, if you’re daring, just a pair of running […]


In Dominica, an All-Inclusive That Comes With the Whole Island 

dominica fort young views

All-inclusive has been changing. That’s not a secret. It’s the biggest thing in travel right now, particularly in the Caribbean, where travelers want more. But they don’t just want the unlimited food and beverage. They want the experience. They want […]


Related Posts st croix beach with water

Beach of the Day: Sandy Point in St Croix 

Christiansted has long been the fulcrum of St Croix’s tourism energy. It’s not exactly a surprise: from the buzzing culinary scene (including two of the 50 best restaurants in the Caribbean) to the history to the Buccaneer (one of the […]


How Grand Bahama Is Becoming the Caribbean’s Newest Cruise Powerhouse 

grand bahama cruise

It’s only about 70 miles as the crow flies between Florida and the west end of Grand Bahama. While the island is closer than almost anywhere to the US, it’s been something of an afterthought in the travel industry in […]


Delta Air Lines Is Adding More Nonstop Caribbean Flights, With New Routes to Grand Cayman and Nassau 

beach on paradise island

Caribbean travel is heating up for the winter, with airlines adding more new routes — a very strong sign for the region’s peak season. That includes a pair of new routes from rapidly-expanding Delta Air Lines.  So where it the […]