Barnes Bay and Meads Bay, Anguilla
Four Seasons Resort and Residences Anguilla
Huge, sleek rooms on a bluff between two beautiful beaches, and that's the reason to book. The service is slow, the kitchens are slower, and the sea can be too rough to swim in for days in winter. Good for families and groups. Couples wanting calm should go to Cap Juluca.
Service
There's a lot of warmth here. The staff remember you if you've been before, they're wonderful with children and they're careful with allergies. I'd single out the front desk and the concierge team.
The pace is another matter. Meals in the restaurants can take a long time, 45 minutes or more on a slow night, and at the pool or beach you sometimes have to go looking for someone to take an order. Read your bill carefully at checkout too, because mistakes do happen.
None of that is unusual in the Caribbean, but at these prices you notice.
Rooms
The rooms are my favourite thing about this resort. They're very big, with large marble bathrooms, deep tubs and, for most of them, a view of the sea. The resort opened in 2009 as the Viceroy, with interiors by the designer Kelly Wearstler, and it still looks sleek and modern compared with most Caribbean hotels.
I'd book an Ocean-View or Deluxe Ocean-View Studio and skip the Resort-View rooms, which look onto the gardens. Some studios have their own plunge pool, and I love those.
Where you are on the property matters as much as the category. With a family I'd be on the Meads Bay side, near the family pool. As a couple I'd choose the quieter Barnes Bay side, near the adults-only pool. For a group, the residences and villas have kitchens and proper living space. Not every ocean-view residence looks at the ocean, so we confirm the exact outlook before you pay.
Food and drink
You get more choice here than at most places on the island. Salt is the main restaurant, up on the bluff, and it was redesigned in late 2025. It does a big breakfast, with johnny cakes if you want to start the day the local way, and seafood at dinner.
Lima-Limon is the little Mexican place above Barnes Bay, and the short ribs there are the best thing on the property. Sunset Lounge does sushi and cocktails by the adults' pool with live music, and Bamboo covers lunch on the beach with sand between your toes.
It's expensive, and the kitchens can be slow. Happily, you're on Meads Bay, which has the best run of restaurants in Anguilla, and several are a walk along the sand. I'd eat out about half the time, and I think you'd have more fun that way.
Setting
The resort sits on a rocky bluff with a beach on either side, and the sunsets from up there are the thing everyone photographs. Meads Bay is long, wide and lively. Barnes Bay is smaller, quieter and prettier. There are three pools: one for adults, one in the middle with cabanas, and a shallow family one by the beach.
Here's what I'd want you to know before you book. In winter and spring, swells from the north can make both beaches too rough to swim from, sometimes for days, most often between January and March. If calm water every day is the whole point of your trip, tell us, because other beaches on the island are more sheltered.
It's also a large resort, spread out over 35 acres. Some rooms are a walk or a buggy ride from the sand, and it has a more polished, contemporary feel than a sleepy Caribbean one.
Value
Rooms start at somewhere around $725 to $1,000 a night depending on the season, and they climb steeply from January to March and over the holidays. Food and drink are costly too, and breakfast alone can run past $75 a day for two if it isn't included.
There are things on the other side of the scale. Even the smallest rooms are big, and the kids' club, kayaks and paddleboards are free.
The best prices are from late May to early August, and just after the resort reopens in the autumn. It closes each year from about mid August to mid October. Booking through an advisor usually adds breakfast and a resort credit at the same rate, and breakfast matters here.
Who it suits
I'd send families and groups travelling together, and couples who like a resort with some life in it: pools, a few restaurants, music in the evening, and more places to eat a walk away. If you want somewhere small and quiet right on a calm beach, I'd point you to Cap Juluca on Maundays Bay. If you want golf, Aurora is the only place on the island that has it.
More on the area: Anguilla guide.
Booking
You can get Four Seasons Preferred Partner perks, usually free breakfast, a hotel credit and a room upgrade, by emailing a travel advisor. There's tons of them out there but I like using this portal, as it shows live prices and I don't have to wait for a quote.