Where to Stay in Anegada
Caribbean Guides
Where to Stay in Anegada
A Local Guide, Part of the Where to Stay in the Caribbean Series
Anegada isn’t just another island in the BVI.
It’s the island that even BVI veterans look forward to.
Every other island in this chain is volcanic: hills, ridges, harbors carved by mountains dropping into the sea. Anegada is the exception, a flat coral atoll that barely clears the water, ringed by one of the largest reef systems in the Caribbean. There’s no green mountain to navigate toward. You find it by GPS and a healthy respect for the reef, and that alone tells you something about the kind of place it is.
Most charter itineraries treat it as an optional detour, something to attempt if the weather cooperates. That’s a mistake. Anegada rewards the people who make the effort to actually get there.
If You Only Read One Paragraph
| The harbor, the moorings, and the closest thing Anegada has to a hub. | Setting Point |
| Miles of empty north-shore sand and the best kiteboarding on the island. | Loblolly Bay |
| A beach bar with a name you won’t forget, and a reef just offshore. | Cow Wreck Beach |
Fast Facts
Anegada in 30 Seconds
Best for
Empty beaches, fresh lobster, and getting off the beaten BVI track
Getting there
Ferry from Tortola, small plane, or your own boat threading the reef entrance
Vibe
Flat, remote, unhurried. The BVI with the volume turned all the way down
Rent a car?
Worth it. Distances are short but the island is wider than it looks on a chart
Should You Rent a Car?
Yes, or at least a golf cart. Anegada is small, but the good beaches and the handful of restaurants are spread out along both shores, and there’s no real taxi network to lean on. A cart or a rental for the day or two you’re here means you can chase Loblolly Bay, Cow Wreck Beach, and Setting Point without depending on someone else’s schedule.
Best Areas to Stay
The Anchorage
Setting Point
The harbor. The moorings. The closest thing Anegada has to a hub.
Setting Point, on the island’s southwest shore, is where most boats coming from Tortola or Virgin Gorda drop anchor. It’s home to the Anegada Reef Hotel and a small cluster of restaurants that fill up fast once the charter fleet arrives for lobster at sunset.
Stay here if you’re arriving by boat, or if you want to be within walking distance of dinner and a bar without needing a car for every meal.
The Postcard Beach
Loblolly Bay
Miles of empty north-shore sand and some of the best kiteboarding in the BVI.
Loblolly Bay sits on the north shore, facing open Atlantic swell that’s tamed by the reef offshore into flat, protected water. It’s postcard sand for as far as you can see, with a couple of low-key beach bars and, depending on the season, kiteboarders working the steady wind.
Stay here if beach time is the whole point of the trip. This is the least developed, most purely scenic stretch of the island.
The Snorkeling Spot
Cow Wreck Beach
A beach bar with a name you won’t forget, and a reef just offshore.
Cow Wreck Beach sits on the northwest shore, named for the cattle bones that used to wash up from old shipwrecks nearby. It’s home to one of Anegada’s best-loved beach bars, with excellent snorkeling right off the sand.
Stay here if you want your own quiet stretch of beach with a bar and a reef both within a short walk, and don’t mind being a short drive from Setting Point’s restaurant scene.
My Favorite Places to Stay
Garry Cihak, personal photo
Setting Point
Anegada Reef Hotel
The island’s original harbor-side stay, and still its social center.
Why I love it: this is the classic Anegada base, right on Setting Point with its own dock and a restaurant that’s been serving grilled lobster to sailors for decades. It has the lived-in, slightly weathered charm of a place that’s been doing one thing well for a very long time.
Stay here if: you’re arriving by boat, want to walk to dinner, and like being where the evening’s action actually happens.
Skip it if: you want polished, resort-style luxury. This is simple, comfortable, and unpretentious by design.
Photo courtesy Anegada Beach Club
Loblolly Bay / Keel Point
Anegada Beach Club
Beachfront palapas and glamping-style luxury on the island’s quiet side.
Why I love it: the Beach Club raised the bar for what a stay on Anegada could look like, with beachfront palapas, a pool, and a kitchen turning out lobster and fine dining a short walk from Cow Wreck Beach. It consistently rates as the best-reviewed stay in the entire BVI.
Stay here if: you want the comfort of a real resort without losing Anegada’s barefoot, unhurried character.
Skip it if: you’re chasing nightlife. This is a quiet corner of a quiet island, which is exactly the point.
Garry Cihak, personal photo
Cow Wreck Beach
Ann’s Guest House at Cow Wreck Beach
Simple rooms steps from one of Anegada’s best beach bars, formerly known as Cow Wreck Beach Resort.
Why I love it: this is Cow Wreck Beach itself, with a handful of guest rooms attached to the beach bar and restaurant that made the name famous. Wake up, walk down the sand, and you’re at one of the best snorkeling reefs on the island before breakfast.
Stay here if: you want to be based directly at the beach bar scene on this side of the island, with the reef and the rum punch both a few steps away.
Skip it if: you want a big resort experience. This is small, informal, and exactly as unpolished as a place called Cow Wreck Beach should be.
Don’t Leave Without Eating Lobster
Anegada lobster isn’t a gimmick. The waters around the island’s reef system are some of the richest lobster grounds in the Caribbean, and nearly every restaurant here, from the Reef Hotel’s dock-side tables to the beach bars at Loblolly and Cow Wreck, builds its menu around it. Order it grilled, order it with garlic butter, order it twice. This is one of the few places in the world where “fresh lobster” isn’t marketing language.
My Take
Every other island in this guide asks something different of you: Tortola asks you to show up, Virgin Gorda asks you to slow down, Jost Van Dyke asks you to stay past sunset. Anegada asks you to actually leave. No mountain on the horizon to steer toward, no easy sightline, just a reef to respect and a flat green smudge that appears once you’ve committed to finding it.
That’s exactly why it’s worth the trip. Anegada is the one island in the BVI where you feel like you’ve genuinely gotten away, not just from home, but from the rest of the Caribbean too.
Next
Anegada is the last stop in this progression, the island you reach once you’ve already worked your way through Tortola, Virgin Gorda, and Jost Van Dyke and decided you’re ready to go further still. If you’re building a BVI trip from the start, my guide to Where to Stay in Tortola is the place to begin. For the full lineup of Caribbean islands, see Where to Stay in the Caribbean.
Written from Palma, Mallorca.
39° 33.35′ N, 2° 37.57′ E
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Where to Stay in the Caribbean
Anguilla · Antigua · Dominica · Jost Van Dyke · Nevis · St. Barths · St. Kitts · St. Lucia · St. Martin / Sint Maarten · Tortola · Virgin Gorda
