Our Anguilla Vacation | The Viceroy Resort

Matt and I have tried to sneak away for a Caribbean vacation the last several years as we had an on-going tradition with my Dad to travel for his birthday every May (St. Lucia, Exumas, Turks).  We wanted to keep the tradition alive and it happens to fall close to our anniversary as well, so it makes for a good excuse.  This year we also called it a "baby moon."  I booked this trip in February when I was feeling unbelievably sick from this pregnancy and HAD to have something to look forward to in the near future when I suspected I might be feeling better. 

We love to try new Caribbean islands and this trip was pretty easy to choose because it was second on our list for Honeymoon destinations.  I knew it was a place I wanted to visit and I had several friends that had been and given rave reviews!  Here's a look at our trip and I'll try to break it down the best I can! 

**Warning- Prepare yourself for a LONG, photo-filled blog post**

The Viceroy Anguilla Resort || 

The hotel was absolutely beautiful with a grand entrance that immediately gave you that sense of arrival.  An agent from the hotel met us at the airport in St. Martin and directed us to the boat taxi that we would take over to Anguilla.  

Upon arrival, we checked into our room and immediately were ready to explore this gorgeous property.  Our room was perfectly decorated with a nice balcony.  Unfortunately, we booked the least expensive rooms the hotel had to offer; so we didn't have the great ocean front room I had hoped for.   It wasn't a huge deal since we didn't spend a ton of time in our room, but I would have loved a great balcony view with a plunge pool which a lot of the rooms do offer.  Anyway, I put my spoiled thoughts aside and reminded myself it wasn't our honeymoon and focused on all the fun ahead of us!

The resort had a TON of activities to offer including three pools, three restaurants, tennis courts, basketball court, amazing workout facility with a full spinning room and yoga studio (classes taught daily), a kids camp (ages 4 and up), and a white sands private beach with lots of water toys for your enjoyment.  And don't let me forget the breathtaking spa...I've been to quite a few spas in my day and this one has to take the cake for the most gorgeous of them all.  I enjoyed a massage and facial and they were both amazing. 

Our Days in Anguilla ||

Day 1: This was our arrival day.  We got to the resort around 4:30pm and headed to the Sunset Lounge at the hotel to enjoy some sushi appetizer before dinner.  We were starving.  We enjoyed exploring the resort and watching sunset before eating dinner at the Bamboo Bar & Grill at the resort.  

Day Two: We kept things low key on our first full day and headed to the beach for the day.  We were interested in talking to some other couples at the resort and find out what they've done so far on the island and where they've eaten.

We walked down the beach to what turned out to be our favorite little lunch spot, The Straw Hat.  The lobster and shrimp tacos and tuna pizza are out of this world!

We enjoyed a dinner that evening on the beach at a restaurant off property called, Barrel Stay.  It was about a 15 minute cab ride from the resort.  The food and views were quite nice, but it was a Sunday night and we happened to be the only people in the restaurant which was a little leery feeling.  The owners couldn't have been nicer and more welcoming though!

Day 3: We spent another day relaxing at the hotel and I crushed my favorite breakfast at the hotel.  They had a beautiful buffet set out every morning for breakfast and I couldn't get enough of this homemade granola and creamy muesli with every fruit option you could think of! 

We spent a little more time exploring the hotel and then settled on the beach again.  I booked my first spa appointment for a massage that afternoon. 

  

 

This is the view from the fabulous spa...breathtaking.

Chilling out in my robe around the spa...

We headed to a highly recommended restaurant that evening called Veya.  It is also off property and feels like you are dining in a well-built tree house.  My meal was incredible, but Matt made the mistake of ordering an ribeye which I would not recommend.  Meat is not what they are known for on the island obviously, so you are always better off ordering a great seafood or chicken dish.

Day 4: It was recommended to me before we arrived in Anguilla to rent a car while we were there, but I decided to wait until we arrived to make that decision.  I didn't think we would need one for the entire 7 nights we were there and that we could just get one half way through the trip.  On Tuesday, we decided to get a jeep and explore the island a bit.  We hopped around to a few other resorts to check them out and had lunch on another beach about 30 minutes away. 

|| Malliouhana Resort ||  

This resort was just down the beach from ours and has recently been completely renovated.  It was very beautifully done as well. 

We had dinner that evening at a wonderful Italian restaurant on the beach called Dolce Vita.  The chef lived in Italy for over ten years and you really felt like you were getting true Italian. 

Day 5: Several friends made sure we took a day trip to a little island off Anguilla called Scilly Cay.  It's literally a 2 min boat ride from Anguilla but has incredible views and knock-your-socks-off rum punches...so I witnessed from my hubby.  They island is only open on Wednesdays and Sundays, so make sure you time it just right!  

The food is so fresh and you have your choice between lobster, crayfish (small, sweeter lobster), chicken or fish.  I had the crayfish and I thought it was amazing!

The rum punches got to hubby's head that day, but he rallied and we were still able to enjoy a great dinner at the restaurant at Malliouhana.  

I had the best meal of the entire trip here.  It was a black squid ink lobster pasta that was out of this world.  They make all of their pastas in house and you could taste it.  I think I'll be dreaming of this dish for awhile.  

Day 6: We enjoyed another excursion on Thursday to Sandy Island which is just another short boat ride from Anguilla (about 5 minutes).  It also has a little restaurant on the island and a few lounge chairs and snorkel spots for you to enjoy.  We had another fresh and delicious meal of lobster, shrimp and ribs and enjoyed some time relaxing on a new beach.  

  

We got back to the hotel around happy hour and decided to enjoy some time in the adult-only infinity pool.  The views are gorgeous and the drinks are tasty! Even the mocktails :)

We headed over to another resort, Cap Juluca, for dinner at Pimms.  The atmosphere was very romantic and the food was very good.

Day Seven: We spent our final full day on Friday at the resort again.  We planted ourselves on the beach, I got a facial at the spa, and then we got ready for our final excursion of the trip.  I booked us a sunset sailboat cruise that I was little skeptical of because you never know how these things can go, but we were both pleasantly surprised.  We had a fun group of 8 of us on the sailboat and the crew made it so enjoyable.  

We were greeted with fresh mango pureed mimosa with lots of beer and wine to choose from and then they put out an incredible display of appetizers for us.  It was a fun way to see the island and enjoy a beautiful old sailboat ride.

We enjoyed our final dinner back at the Viceroy at restaurant Coba.  It has stunning views over looking the ocean and brilliant decor throughout.  I would venture to say this is the finest restaurant on the island and a must-do if you're in Anguilla.  

Day Eight:  It was already Saturday again which meant it was time to fly home!  We enjoyed one last breakfast at the hotel and then packed our things for our voyage home.  We had such a wonderful and relaxing trip together.  As hard as it was to leave our son at home, we realized how important this time together is.  I'm so happy we could have this little getaway and I couldn't be happier to get home to our little rugrat.  

My Final Thoughts ||

The island absolutely caters to tourists.  It has a lot of options for restaurants and several great resorts.  I would highly recommend the Viceroy to anyone traveling to the island.  I think it would be an especially fun spot to come with a larger group of people.  They have some amazing villas on property and so many activities to enjoy together.  

The Pros of the Island:

- Great restaurants to choose from

- Beautiful ocean and beaches

- A lot of excursions to choose from

- First Class resorts to choose from (Viceroy, Malliouhana, and Cap Juluca)

- Nightlife options with fun live music (pregnant Mama was too sleepy after dinner to enjoy this, but they had some great spots to hit if you were up for it)

The Cons of the Island:

- Most excursions and restaurants are a $60/roundtrip taxi ride (if you don't rent a car, you could pay $60 for your day excursion and then another $60 to go out to dinner for the evening.  That's why people recommend to rent a car for $45-$65/day)

- Most likely you will have to fly into St. Marteen and take a water taxi to Anguilla. Then you have to take a taxi from the boat dock to your hotel.  It makes for quite a bit of travel for the day!   

** We got this tip on our last day on the island from someone else.  Instead of taking the water taxi which is $80 per person each way, hop on Anguilla Air for the same price and a short 10 minute flight.  You get to skip over immigration in St. Marteen which would have saved us quite a bit of time and get to Anguilla quicker than the 30+min boat ride.  

Lastly, I've had several people ask me to compare this island to our honeymoon in St. Lucia.  They are really totally different and I don't feel like I'm comparing "apples to apples."  We loved our honeymoon so much and St. Lucia was the perfect island for that.  We adored our private villa with the most stunning views of the Piton mountains and an expansive deck with our own private pool.  Those were the luxurious we afforded ourselves for a honeymoon.  We expected to do a lot of complete relaxation which we did, but also adventured up the Gros Piton for a hike and soaked in the mud baths.  Mostly though, we stayed close by our resort and didn't explore the island too much.

Anguilla is much more of an exploration island with lots of adventures to be seen and had.  You can certainly stay-put at your hotel, but your missing a lot of the scene!  I'm so glad we were able to travel to Anguilla and hope this review helps when you are ready to plan your next vacation.  I know I rely on lots of reviews and opinions from other people when planning my trips, so my goal is to help you in any way I can.  Please feel free to ask questions  any time!!