Shoal Bay powder sand and world-class restaurants — Caribbean luxury without the crowds
The Valley is the low-key capital of Anguilla — a flat, dry, scrubby British overseas territory in the northern Leeward Islands that has assembled one of the most concentrated collections of excellent restaurants and luxury beach hotels in the entire Caribbean. Shoal Bay East is regularly rated among the ten best beaches in the world — a 3km arc of flour-white sand in water that shifts from turquoise to electric blue. Salt ponds, abandoned sugar windmills, and the heritage Wallblake House plantation are the island's quieter cultural attractions. Anguilla has no mass tourism: no cruise ships,…
Anguilla's modern story begins with an unlikely revolution — in 1967, when Britain attempted to merge Anguilla into a tripartite state with St. Kitts and Nevis, the 6,000-person island population rose up, expelled the St. Kitts police force, and declared independence (the 'Anguillian Revolution'). British Commandos were dispatched to suppress what turned out to be a completely non-violent protest; the Anguillians' determination to remain directly governed from London eventually prevailed. Anguilla is now a British Overseas Territory with UK citizenship rights and a standard of living among th…