Antigua and Barbuda

Antigua and Barbuda: Betty's Hope and Devil's Bridge

The remains of the island's largest sugar plantation, then a natural arch carved by an unforgiving ocean

Antigua and Barbuda

Antigua and Barbuda: Betty's Hope and Devil's Bridge

A journey into the history and geology of Antigua, far from English Harbour and Barbuda: Betty's Hope, a former sugar plantation founded in the 17th century and long the island's most productive, whose restored windmills bear witness to a colonial economy entirely built on enslaved labour, then Devil's Bridge, a natural limestone arch carved by centuries of Atlantic waves on the island's east coast, where the ocean strikes with no protective coral reef.

When

Dec to April

Price

From 1 900€ excl. flights

(based on 2 people sharing)

How long

4 nights

Ideal length

Betty's Hope, the Sugar Memory

Days 1-2

The first chapter unfolds at Betty's Hope, a plantation founded in 1650 that became, by the 18th century, the largest and most productive of the one hundred and sixty sugar plantations that then covered the whole of Antigua, an economy entirely built on the forced labour of tens of thousands of enslaved people deported from West Africa. One of the site's two windmills, restored with its original machinery, allows visitors to understand the full sugar cane processing chain as it was practised over three centuries ago.

Day 1

The windmills and the site museum

A guided visit to the restored windmills of Betty's Hope and the small museum tracing the history of the colonial sugar economy and the slave trade in Antigua.

Day 2

St John's village and its market

A stroll through the capital St John's, discovering its colourful market and Anglican cathedral, before a lunch of local breadfruit specialities.

1 / 3

Devil's Bridge and the Atlantic Coast

Days 1-2

The road to Antigua's east coast, exposed with no reef protection to the Atlantic Ocean, where centuries of erosion have carved Devil's Bridge, a natural limestone arch under which waves surge, forming spray geysers that can shoot several metres high. The site's name is said to come from accounts of enslaved people who, according to local legend, threw themselves from this cliff to escape their condition, making the place as much a spectacular geological site as a place of memory laden with history.

Day 1

The natural arch and the spray geysers

A visit to Devil's Bridge, a natural limestone arch where Atlantic waves form spectacular spray geysers, and a discovery of the surrounding rock formations.

Day 2

A secluded east coast beach

A day at one of the secluded beaches on Antigua's east coast, less crowded than the west coast, between swimming and relaxation far from any other tourist presence.