Holiday rentals in Antigua and Barbuda, with a fruit garden outside your door

LambLion Holiday Apartments is a family run holiday rental in the middle of Antigua, with eleven self catering apartments set in a garden of more than a hundred kinds of plants. The nearest beaches are about 15 minutes away, St John’s and Nelson’s Dockyard are each about 20, and if you book two nights or more directly with us the nightly rate drops by 15%. If you are comparing holiday rentals in Antigua and Barbuda, this guide covers everything we offer.

It goes apartment by apartment, then through the garden, the location and the places our guests drive to, so most of your questions should be answered before you message us.

Holiday lets in Antigua range from coastal villas to family run apartments like ours

Many of the holiday lets in Antigua that you will find on the big booking sites are private villas and condos along the coast, many with pools and a price to match. A smaller number are apartments and guesthouses run by the families who own them.

LambLion is one of those. Lionel and Lorilyn Walker built it on Freemans Main Road, in the countryside between the villages of Sea View Farm and Freemans Village. Each apartment has its own front door, its own kitchen or kitchenette and its own balcony, and the garden around the buildings is shared by everyone who stays.

What you will not find is a beach on the doorstep. We are inland, which is why every coast is within reach and the nights are quiet.

Our holiday apartments in Antigua sleep two to four guests

LambLion has four kinds of holiday apartments in Antigua, the studio, the one bedroom, the twin bedroom and the two bedroom, and all eleven are self catering. Rates are in US dollars.

Apartment	Sleeps	Beds	Kitchen	Standard rate	Booked direct
Studio	2	Queen bed	Kitchenette	$110 a night	$93.50 a night
One bedroom	2	Queen bed or two twin beds	Full kitchen with stove and oven	$120 a night	$102 a night
Twin bedroom	2	Two twin beds	Full kitchen with stove and oven	$130 a night	$110.50 a night
Two bedroom	Up to 4	A queen, a full and a twin bed	Full kitchen with stove and oven	$180 a night	$153 a night

The studio suits two people who mostly want a base

The studio is about 21 square metres, with a queen bed, a private bathroom with a shower and a kitchenette with a fridge, toaster, coffee maker, microwave, cookware and a portable stove. It has a small living area with a fan, a workspace and a private balcony.

The one bedroom and the twin bedroom have full kitchens

The one bedroom apartment is about 46 square metres and comes with either a queen bed or two twin beds, so tell us which you want when you book. The twin bedroom apartment has two twin beds, which works for friends travelling together, a parent with a grown child, or two crew members working the same event. Both have a full kitchen with a stove and oven, which makes a real difference if you plan to cook most nights.

The two bedroom apartment is the one for families

The two bedroom apartment sleeps up to four, with a queen bed in one room and a full and a twin bed in the other, so nobody is on a sofa bed. At about 60 square metres it is the largest apartment we have, with the same full kitchen as the one bedroom.

Every apartment, whatever its size, has air conditioning, ceiling fans, a Smart TV, a security safe and a private bathroom with a shower. You can see photos of each one on our apartments page.

What is included in a LambLion holiday rental? Wi Fi, parking, laundry and your own balcony

Every LambLion holiday rental includes free Wi Fi with a workspace, free parking on site and free self service laundry. Check in is from 3pm and check out is by 12pm.

• Wi Fi in every apartment, and a desk or table to work from, which is why remote workers stay with us (we wrote about working remotely from Antigua here).
• Parking at the property, so a hire car costs you nothing extra overnight.
• A self service laundry that guests use free of charge, which means you can pack for a week even if you stay three.
• Air conditioning, ceiling fans and a balcony, so you can choose between cool air and the breeze.

We answer calls and WhatsApp messages from 8am to 8pm every day on +1 268 726 2572, and Lionel or Lorilyn will tell you where to shop, which taxi to call or how to arrange a hire car.

The LambLion garden grows mango, papaya, coconut and herbs that guests can pick

“My grandmother would call it the fever grass. And we’ll make tea with it.” That is how Lorilyn Walker describes the lemongrass in her beds, and most of the herbs in the LambLion garden end up the same way, in a pot of tea.

The LambLion garden has more than a hundred kinds of plants, grown organically and fed with compost from the property. Papaya, bananas, mango, coconuts, soursop, sage, aloe and kale all grow here, along with raised vegetable beds and herbs for tea. Guests are welcome to pick what is in season, and Lorilyn will tell you which herbs are ready when you arrive.

Nothing here is rushed. Lionel lets the fruit ripen on the tree, and as he says, these things teach you patience. So what you can pick depends on the month, and some weeks the mangoes are still green.

The garden has shaded tables and a wooden gazebo to sit in. We wrote a longer piece on what a day at LambLion looks like, from picking fruit in the morning to an English Harbour sunset, and the garden page shows more of what grows here.

LambLion Holiday Apartments is Green Globe certified, and solar panels give up to half of our daily power

LambLion Holiday Apartments holds Green Globe certification for sustainable tourism, and in December 2024 Green Globe recertified the property for a third year with a compliance score of 88%. You can read Green Globe’s own report on its website.

In practice that means solar panels make up to half of our daily electricity, solar heaters give all the hot water, and rainwater harvesting, storage and wastewater recycling meet most of our water needs. Garden and kitchen waste goes into a compost tumbler and returns to the beds. A volunteer Green Team meets every month, and we support Sea View Farm Primary School. The full detail is on our sustainability page.

Lionel and Lorilyn Walker, an Antiguan couple, own LambLion and answer your questions themselves

“We got married in eighty. We built a house in eighty six. And when we moved to our house, I had a kind of different outlook. Now you start to think about what you can plant in your own backyard.”

That is Lionel Walker, who runs LambLion with his wife Lorilyn. Lionel puts his idea of a good life in one line. “My ideal world is where I wouldn’t have to go to the shop to buy anything at all.”

Guests who review us on Google tend to mention the same few things, the central location, the quiet, the garden and how much help Lionel gives with transport and plans. You can read the whole family story on our meet the family page.

What is the best area to stay in Antigua and Barbuda? The middle of Antigua, if you want every coast within half an hour

The best area to stay in Antigua and Barbuda for exploring is central Antigua, because no beach on the island is much more than half an hour away by car. Stay on the north west coast and the south takes longer, stay in English Harbour and the north is a long drive, and the middle sits between them.

LambLion is on Freemans Main Road, about 9 km from V. C. Bird International Airport. These are the drive times we give our guests.

From LambLion to	By car
The nearest beaches, such as Long Bay on the east coast	About 15 to 20 minutes
St John’s	About 20 minutes
Nelson’s Dockyard and English Harbour	About 20 minutes
Jolly Harbour and the west coast beaches	About 20 to 25 minutes
Dickenson Bay	About 20 to 25 minutes
Half Moon Bay	About 30 minutes
V. C. Bird International Airport	About 9 km

A car makes the most of this. Antigua drives on the left, and you need a temporary driving permit, which costs EC$50 and which the hire company usually arranges, as our guide to renting a car in Antigua explains. Without a car, Route 17 stops at Sea View Farm on its way to English Harbour, and our guide to getting around Antigua by bus and taxi covers the rest. Taxis from the airport are listed by V. C. Bird International Airport.

For a fuller comparison of St John’s, English Harbour, Jolly Harbour, Dickenson Bay and the middle of the island, read our area guide on where to stay in Antigua.

Things to do near our holiday rental in central Antigua

Antigua is known for its 365 beaches, one for every day of the year in the island’s own slogan, and Visit Antigua and Barbuda lists the main ones. Our guide to the best beaches in Antigua has a dozen of them with drive times from LambLion. Away from the sand, these are the places guests ask us about most.

Nelson’s Dockyard and English Harbour

Nelson’s Dockyard is a Georgian naval dockyard on English Harbour, about 20 minutes from LambLion, and it is part of the Antigua Naval Dockyard and Related Archaeological Sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The National Parks Antigua page has opening details. The Antigua Charter Yacht Show and Antigua Sailing Week both happen here, and we have written guides for staying during the yacht show and sailing week.

Shirley Heights Lookout

Shirley Heights Lookout sits about 490 feet above English Harbour and Falmouth Harbour, and Visit Antigua and Barbuda calls the view especially good at sunset. On Sunday evenings there is usually a party with live music and food. Times and entry change, so check before you go.

St John’s and the public market

St John’s, the capital, is about 20 minutes away. The public market on Market Street sells fresh fruit, vegetables and crafts and is busiest early on Friday and Saturday mornings, which is the best time to stock your kitchen for the week. Our guide to the cost of food in Antigua prices a real weekly shop.

Fig Tree Drive and the rainforest

Fig Tree Drive winds through the greenest part of Antigua in the south west, and Antigua Rainforest Zipline Tours runs its canopy course along the road.

Betty’s Hope and Devil’s Bridge

Betty’s Hope is a former sugar plantation near Pares, where two windmill towers still stand and one was restored in the 1990s. Its history, including the enslaved people who worked the estate, is set out in detail by Archaeology Antigua. Further east, Devil’s Bridge is a natural limestone arch on the Atlantic coast near Indian Town Point. The rocks there are slippery and the waves are strong, so stay well clear of the edge.

There is more on our things to do in Antigua page, which we keep up to date with festivals and events.

Can you get to Barbuda from Antigua? Yes, the Barbuda Express ferry takes about 90 minutes from St John’s

The Barbuda Express ferry sails from St John’s to Barbuda in about 90 minutes, according to Visit Antigua and Barbuda, and day tours run on the same boat. Barbuda is the quieter of the two islands in Antigua and Barbuda, with long empty beaches and the Frigate Bird Sanctuary in Codrington Lagoon. From LambLion you are about 20 minutes from the ferry dock in St John’s, so a Barbuda day trip is easy to fit into a week here. Departure days and times change with the season, so check with the operator first.

Is it expensive to stay in Antigua? Our holiday rentals start at $110 a night, before the direct booking discount

Antigua can be expensive, especially at the big resorts, and food costs more than many visitors expect because most of it is imported. A self catering holiday rental brings both down. At LambLion the studio is $110 a night and the two bedroom is $180, and booking two nights or more directly on our website takes 15% off, so the studio becomes $93.50 and the two bedroom $153.

The discount exists because booking sites charge us a fee on every stay, and when you come to us directly we would rather that saving went to you. Rates can be higher during major events. A single night gets a smaller saving. Our comparison of self catering and all inclusive in Antigua prices a real week both ways if you are deciding between the two.

When is the best time to rent a holiday home in Antigua? February and March are the driest months

February and March are the driest months in Antigua, with around 38 to 39 mm of rain on average at the airport, and the dry season runs from about January to April. The wettest months are October and November, and the Atlantic hurricane season runs from 1 June to 30 November. The Antigua and Barbuda Meteorological Service publishes the forecasts, and our Antigua weather month by month guide has the full table.

Demand follows the calendar too. Antigua Sailing Week in late April, Carnival in late July and early August and the Charter Yacht Show in early December all fill the island, so book early if your dates fall on one of them.

Where can I find long term rentals in Antigua? Ask us about stays of two weeks or longer

LambLion takes medium term stays of two weeks or longer as well as holidays, and students, remote workers and family visits are all welcome. Tell us your dates and we will send prices and availability. Our medium term apartments page explains how longer stays work, and our guide to long term rentals in Antigua covers what to look for anywhere on the island.