Check the place you want to go then looked up flights or ship schedules to see where you want to go. If you want to stay for more than a day in one spot, you are better off flying. Then find out what is in the area and have a ball. Take Antigua, for instance:

Hop a bus, tour the city, enjoy the nightlife...........

That's what you do once you are in Antigua.

While enjoying the beauty and fun things to do on the English-speaking island of Antigua, tourists might want to soak up the flavor of the local people. One way to do this is by hopping on a bus and going for a ride. The privately-owned minivans, utilized more by Antiguans than visitors, usually run after rush hour and on Sunday.

Taking the bus may be a good way to see St. John's, Antigua's capital and largest city with its population of some 36,000 or so people. The city is said to be "rather shabby in spots but still a great place to visit."

The city contains several notable sites, including the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and the Museum of Antigua and Barbuda. There are several shopping areas, including the Radcliffe Quay made up of vintage buildings, and the Heritage Quay, a duty-free shopping complex that opened in the 1980s. The island's casinos, nightclubs and bars, featuring mostly jazz and reggae music, make for a more enticing visit.

Antigua is laced by tranquil bays and soft white-sand beaches on a partly volcanic and partly limestone coral terrain. The tropical land is generally low-lying, with rolling hills that turn emerald green during the rainy season.

Antigua's 108-square-miles, along with the 62-square-mile island of Barbuda and the tiny uninhabited island of Redonda form the independent nation of Antigua and Barbuda, within the Commonwealth of Nations.

People who want to sail to Barbuda can charter a boat, or join an excursion cruise.

Antigua's terrain, from the hilly ranges in the southwest to the almost desert-like cacti-dotted areas in the northeast to the enormous brush and woodland in the interior, offers visitors a choice of scenery.

Boggy Peak, the island's highest elevation, rises to 1,330 feet. Below the peak, the island's 365 white talcum-soft beaches fringed with palm trees are among the most beautiful in the West Indies.

Tourism is the principal industry on this tropical island where the North East Trade Winds make nights cool and comfortable.

Antigua has been described as the Yachtsman's Mecca." Sailing Week, held annually in the spring, features the Caribbean's number one regatta, which is among the 10 largest in the world.

Dive sites for beginners or advanced scuba divers are popular on the 9island. Many hotels have water sports facilities from scuba diving to para-sailing.

The cultivation of fruits and vegetables, light industry, offshore banking and fishing add to the economy. Some 856-percent of Antigua's some 67,000 residents are slave descendants: most of the remaining are English, Portuguese, Lebanese and Syrian descendants.

The island, discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1493, was first inhabited by the Siboney then the Arawak Indians. The Arawaks were later forced out by the cannibalistic Caribs. Attempts by the Spanish and French to colonize the island failed. In the 1630s the British established a colony on Antigua. The English held the country from the 1600s until it achieved independence and became a fully independent nation in 1891. The prime minister and an Upper and Lower House administrate the country's government.

Hope to see you next time I'm in Antigua-hopefully in the fall of 2007!

Learn more about this author, Patricia Lieb.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

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