This Caribbean All-Inclusive Resort Has Two White-Sand Beaches, Six Pools and Antigua’s Best Address
Morning on one beach, afternoon on another. Huge rooms. Pickleball with an ocean view. Your very own watersports playground. 100 acres of natural landscape. It’s all part of why the all-inclusive St James’s Club and Villas just might have the best address on the whole Caribbean island of Antigua.
You won’t run out of space at this legendary all-inclusive destination, set on the southern coast of Antigua and, perhaps most notably, just about 10 minutes from nearby English Harbour, home to Antigua’s world-famous marina and its UNESCO World Heritage Sites (one of the more charming, well-preserved of its kind in the Caribbean).
That means you have easy access to arguably Antigua’s top destination — that is, if you ever want to leave. Because the wonders here are immense: the peninsula on which this resort is set has two postcard-perfect beaches. One, a stretch of white sand with a sonorous soundtrack of ocean surf. The other, a deliciously calm bay perfect for whatever maritime pastime you favor, whether it’s paddleboarding, kayaking or getting out on a Hobie.
This is a Caribbean all-inclusive for active travelers: you can get in your reps at the high-tech gym, spend the morning on state-of-the-art pickleball courts or go for a hike. It’s all here.
The rooms are, in the grand tradition of Elite Island Resorts, large, capacious and endlessly comfortable (as are the fantastic bathrooms). The property has a full menu of accommodation options. If you’re a couple seeking the sand, take a beachfront room. Maybe you’ve got the kids and want a two or three-bedroom villa with a sea view. The latter have some 1,600 square feet, with a convenient hillside perch that gives you lovely tropical breezes all year round. It’s also worth noting that this is a resort that works equally well for couples looking for space and for families with kids. You can customize the kind of getaway you want, and the sheer size of the acreage here means you will always find a corner for exactly what kind of activity you’ve been searching for. In other words, if you want an adults-only experience, you can get exactly that (and yes, . If you want a family vacation, it’s right there for you.
We should also mention that the spa is impressive and includes some very cool treatments like the “Glowing Retreat,” which costs $175 and includes aromatherapy, a body scrub and a pedicure.
The resort likes to say “do it all, or nothing at all.” And in our experience, you can and should choose both.
We mentioned the six pools, and they’re well spread out across the property and its environs, some for all ages and others just for adults (including those staying in the Royal Suites, something we’d highly recommend). That’s where we stayed on our last trip, and they feel like their own private resort, particularly the plunge pool right at the edge of the ocean).
And yes, it’s all-inclusive, all of it. The cappuccino and the smoothies at Mamora Bay Cafe. The rum punch at the beach bar. The fish at Coco’s. Everything at the Docksider buffet. The theme nights at Rainbow Garden.
But what we’ve always loved at the St James’s Club on all of our previous stays at the resort is the feel. What you always get at an Elite resort (and the company now has seven all-inclusive resorts across the Caribbean, including five on Antigua alone) is a real experience. You get an authentic Caribbean vacation, one that just so happens to be all-inclusive. You get true Antiguan hospitality, not high-rises. That’s the Elite way and that’s the vacation you will inevitably find at the SJC. You also get a quiet, classic resort where you hear the waves, you hear the shaking of the palm trees and you can hear your own footsteps.
And isn’t that what we’re all looking for in a Caribbean all-inclusive resort?
So what about getting here? Antigua has been one of the fastest-growing island destinations in the Caribbean in the last decade, and that means it has never been easier to reach. You find flights from Miami to Antigua’s lovely VC Bird International Airport (an airport we’ve recognized several times as among the best airports in the Caribbean) in the $600s roundtrip in May, according to Google Flights. Out of New York, American Airlines has fares as low as $324 roundtrip, and JetBlue has flights for $459.
