My husband and I have just returned from Antigua. We stayed at Jolly Harbour Marina on the North Finger. It was perfect. The villa was just a few yards from the most fantastic beach. There are two beaches at Jolly Harbour one on the South finger and the other on the North finger. We preferred being on the North finger beach. It was wonderfully peaceful with stunning views all around. Although we were a ten minute walk. from the commercial centre this was not a problem as we hired bikes from the villa owner. You can also hire golf buggys to get you around. Being on the North finger we felt that we had the best of both worlds as the South finger is much busier.

The villa was nicely furnished, very well equipped, very clean and spacious and overlooked the marina. The villa owners we booked through were very helpful in making sure we got the best out of our holiday.

We only stayed in Antigua for one week and we now wish we had booked for two weeks. There was just so much to do. As well as plenty of swimming and sunbathing we went sailing, and had a fantastic day out at Nelsons Dockyard and English Harbour and in the evening went to Shirley Heights - definitely a must see. We took a helicopter ride over Monserratt an awesome experience.

There is a huge supermarket at Jolly Harbour it has all the familiar brands and prices are similar to the UK and there are loads of good places to eat out.

We will defintely go back again next year and do all the things we didn't get time for.

We can thorougly recommend Jolly harbour as a great place to stay.

The villas here all differ, not so much in terms of size, but in decor. In anticipation of our next visit to Antigua, we booked a particular villa and paid a deposit. When we returned to Antigua, the booking office told us the villa we had booked was occupied and we were moved to a villa at completely the opposite end of the development. The villa in which we stayed was a much lower standard than the villa we booked. The shower was awful as it was just a drip. The toilet leaked. There were cockroaches. To make it worst, the Villa next to our was being renovated and during the day the noise was unbearable. The work next door started at 7.30am - hardly a lie in on holdiay. All our compliants to the booking office and management were totally ignored. They even said that our booking was not against a particular villa even though the recipt had a particular villa number on it. There was a complete lack of proffessionalism on the part of the booking office staff who really did not care what customers wanted or thought. My advice would be to totally avoid this development on any visit you have to Antigua. Antigua is a lovely island and there are many better places to stay than this which actually values their customers. I am accustomed to dealing with people on an honest basis and therefore I will never return to Jolly Harbour Villas.

We were robbed as we slept in the villa. Scary. Please read the following: This is our second time to Jolly Harbour Villas. First time was in 2004. We had a good time then with no problems. However, it is quite obvious that the company that rents the villas has changed and has gone downhill. The villas were old and musty smelling. It seems as though they are updating some of them. My family rented 2 villas from March 24th to March 31st 2006. We had problem after problem. In the first villa: We encountered cockroach after cockroach in the kitchen. Housekeeping sprayed for bugs to no avail. Then a more professional service was used which still did not help. We had bugs from the first day until the last day. The coffee pot did not work and it took 3-4 days to get one that did. In the second villa the pipes were continuously knocking and there was a huge leak that we had to put buckets under and empty ourselves. Then when they attempted to fix it, we had no water for at least a day. There was no hot water in the downstairs bathroom. The maids are only allowed to come every other day to clean, which makes for a lot of sand in the villa and lack of necessities (toilet paper). To top it off...WE WERE ROBBED. All the doors were locked when we went to sleep at 12 midnight. We were robbed between 12 midnight and 6:30 a.m. They stole a digital camera, MVP player with speakers, purse, wallet, money, credit cards, diamond earrings (unfortunately they were in the purse). It happened over night while we were in the villa sleeping. The maids even commented on how it is happening more and more. This happened 3 days after we arrived. The front desk were so unhelpful they would not even allow us to use a telephone line to cancel our credit cards. The security officer was new, stating that he had worked for the villas about 7 years ago and they were not bad then but are getting that way now. After our robbery got report about another break-in 1 day later. It is scary that they would break-in while you are there. Security called the police and the police came. We had to go to the police station to make a report 2 days later and then were not allowed to have a copy of the report. We were told we had to go downtown St. John's to make a request in writing for a report copy and then pay 20.00 US dollars for the report to be mailed to us in the future. It is ridiculous. Please beware while staying on this property. Put bottles in front of your door so you can hear/scare an intruder or bring extra security for the door (very poor locks). We will never return to Jolly Harbour Villas.

I was really worried about going to Antigua self catering but it was fantastic. The villas were very well equpped and the staff were very helpful and friendly. We travelled with virgin and they were great aswell. It was a brilliant holiday and my 3 kids loved it.There was plenty for them to do. The restaraunt and shop was really reasonable for prices I was very surprised. I would love to go back to the villas over and over again but I know that virgin have stopped selling them. If anyone can help me and tell me how to get back there please just email me. I would love to go back over and over again.