the location

Getting to Cap Juluca is part of the experience whether you want it to be or not, since there’s no way to fly directly into Anguilla from most of the U.S. — from Miami it’s a 3-hour flight, and we land in Clayton J Lloyd Airport (AXA), which is the tiniest and most basic airports I’ve ever been to, and then Cap Juluca is a quick 10-minute drive. Or you can combine it with St. Maarten first and then take a ferry across, which takes a while and involves your luggage getting handled by more people than usual, but by the time you’re standing on Maundays Bay looking at a crescent of sand that curves for what feels like a mile, none of that registers anymore.

The beach itself was the first thing that got me: the waves barely break, just this constant soft motion, and the sand is genuinely powder soft instead of the coarser stuff you get on a lot of Caribbean beaches. Every villa and suite faces the water head-on, so you’re not craning for a view from an angle; you’re just looking straight out at it. The architecture is another standout about Cap Juluca. The whitewashed arches and domes, reminiscent of my time in Marrakesh and Amanjena, really send me on a tranquil vibe.  I’d send a couple here before I’d send a family with young kids — not because kids can’t be there, since we did see a few toddlers and tweens around, but because the whole rhythm of the place, the quiet ferry ride, the empty stretch of beach, the pace of everything, is built for two people who don’t need to be entertained.