One of the Caribbean’s Coolest Beach Bars Is On an Uncrowded Beach in Antigua With Endless Breezes, Swinging Chairs, and Perfect Surf 

The sign on the side of the road got me. It was black, and hand-painted. 

“Bar on the Beach.” 

That’s not a sign I can easily refuse. 

And, unsurprisingly, I was quickly rewarded, here on one of the most intriguingly-named beaches in the Caribbean.  

For starters, it’s cool here. No, the mercury reads somewhere in the 90s. 

But here on Jabberwock Beach (yes, like the creature from Lewis Carroll’s poem, or, referentially, the later Monty Python film)  on the northern coast of Antigua, the wind never stops — and in the corner, behind the dunes, it’s wonderfully breezy. 

This bar is not exactly a secret — it’s just a short drive from the American University, and about the same distance from top resorts like Hodges Bay, on the main road. 

But it still has that feeling of delicious emptiness, of being delightfully uncrowded. Of the sort of beach bar that draws pilgrims from far beyond its shores. 

It’s called the Breezyswing Beach Bar, and it’s well-named: the breeze is a given; and, lining the bar counter, are a handful of swinging chairs, suspended from the rum shack’s roof, and a bean bag chair.

The bar is simple, but complete: all the local rums you like (Cavalier works well here), rum punch, cold beer. But what you really come here for is the sensorial mixology: the perfect cocktail of frothing surf and shaking palms, with a garnish of gleaming sand dunes. 

But it isn’t the only story here. 

And there’s another reason people come to this beach. 

Just next door is Kitesurf Antigua, the island’s hub for every manner of wind-powered marine sport, from high-level instruction to rentals of both traditional kites and wingfoils. In other words, this is a place for serious surfers — or those who are serious about learning the sport. 

This is, plainly, one of the top kitesurfing beaches you’ll find anywhere in the region, with a sustainable well of wind fed infinitely by the trade winds. 

The sound itself is intoxicating; the music of pure waves; one of the islands’ great aural wonders, and instant medicine for the soul. 

And whether you’re suspended above the waves — or just across from the bar counter — this beach will get you.