After quickly visiting some of the beaches on the western and southern parts of the island during our initial days in Antigua, there were a few (well, a lot of them actually) we wanted to go back and spend more time on. Valley Church Beach was one of them.

It’s a nice beach with coarser, shell-laden sand and a great spot for families. There’s ample parking available right along the beach itself so you don’t have far to walk, which is especially helpful if you find yourself feeling like a pack mule sometimes (as I most certainly did).

It was Sunday and mid-holiday time between Christmas and New Year. Valley Church Beach was more crowded than the first time we stopped there, but not so much that we didn’t want to stay there. It was refreshing to see local families enjoying the beach, having get-togethers and hosting cookouts. I personally prefer this to a beach overrun with tourists (like myself, ha).

There were shady spots courtesy of sea grape trees, among others. It was a nice landscape with nooks and crannies of shade set back from the sunny shoreline. And as always, the Caribbean water was gorgeous and inviting.

We swam, we sunned, we played. The afternoon went quickly.

It was very hard to pack up and leave, even if only for the day. I found this to be true of just about every beach we visited during our time on the island.

Antigua boasts 365 beaches; one for each day of the year. But in my opinion, that still would not be enough time.