Is Antigua expensive? Well, before we arrived, we had heard that it is. Now, it can be expensive. Things definitely can add up. But it doesn’t have to be. We were able to travel to Antigua for less than $100/person a day, and here’s how!
If you want a free Antigua budget resource, get it here
Watch our full breakdown of our Antigua trip and what we spent:
Car Rental
We stayed for 8 days in Antigua and Barbuda, so we decided to rent a car. We rented our car through our airbnb hosts. It was super easy as we just picked the car up at the airport terminal. We did have to purchase an international drivers license for $20/person.
Total spent for Car rental, license and gas for 8 days = $380
Groceries
We like to be able to have the option to cook some meals throughout our time. This is one reason why we like to stay at an airbnb as opposed to a hotel.
Some foods are more expensive than in the United States, like berries or chips. But some things were about the same price.
Total spent for Groceries = $545
Dining out
We like to eat out and try new foods when we’re traveling. But we don’t like to spend too much on food and drinks
Find some local, off the beaten path restaurants to save money. We found a great one by our airbnb, Green Apple Cafe, that was super delicious and we got like 4 things to eat for $20 USD. Places like beach bars will be more expensive.
Total spent for dining out = $280
27 EC (Eastern Caribbean dollars) is about $10 USD
Excursions
Depending on how many excursions you do, this can obviously influence your budget. Since we had the car and were able to drive around on our own, we choose to do 2 excursions.
We did a snorkel and lobster lunch with Creole Antigua Tours. The tour cost $140 (at the time we went), but it included a full lobster lunch, snorkeling, drinks, and a catamaran cruise around the island
We also did a food tour with Eat N Lime Food Tours.
Both of our excursions, included food, so this price could also go with our “dining out” budget as well.
Total spent for excursions = $490
Airbnb
We think choosing an airbnb is definitely a great way to save some money in Antigua. It allowed us to cook our own meals.
Most 3 star hotels cost around $250/night. And we ended up paying around $150/night for the airbnb that was right on the beach.
Total for the airbnb = $1206
Total Spent for 8 days in Antigua and Barbuda
For 8 days in Antigua and Barbuda, we spent $2912. That is $364/day or only $182/person/day.
If you take a way the cost of the room (since you’ll be booking that ahead of time), we spent less than $100/day/person on our food, drinks, and excursions. Such a steal!
Antigua and Barbuda is a beautiful place! In fact, its one of our favorite Caribbean islands! It can be expensive to visit, but it doesn’t have to be! Plan ahead to save some money on your trip to Antigua and Barbuda.
Can you send me the link to the Airbnb in Antigua? That place looked awesome for the price. How was the water on that beach? Didn’t look real clear.
Thanks,
Mark
Here’s the link to the airbnb https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/40692100?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=abc91257-df17-4f3c-9f90-fb951933729a Hope this works, if not I can email it to you- And we loved the beach, it wasn’t as nice as some of the others, but definitely one of our favorites and very private. I dunno if you’ve watched our YouTube videos, but we have a video on our top 10 favorite beaches in Antigua: https://youtu.be/CJw98aqxcLY