What's on in St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda through the year

Busy — Cruise season, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Cruise season (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually))

Busy — Cruise season

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Cruise season (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually))

Busy — Cruise season, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Cruise season (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually))

Peak crowds — Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta, Antigua Sailing Week

• Festival

  Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta

  12–20 Apr · usuallyMajor festivalCrowdedBook early

  Schooners, gaff ketches and the occasional J-class race out of Nelson's Dockyard for five days in the middle of April, timed to the end of the charter season. English Harbour fills first and St. John's takes the overflow. Source ↗

• Festival

  Antigua Sailing Week

  20 Apr – 5 May · usuallyMajor festivalCrowdedBook early

  One of the oldest regattas in the Caribbean: racing off the south coast by day and a party ashore every night. Rooms, hire cars and flights across the island are spoken for months ahead, whether or not you are sailing. Source ↗

Still on: Cruise season (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually))

Busy — Antigua Sailing Week

Nothing new starts in May.

Still on: Antigua Sailing Week (20 Apr – 5 May (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

• Hazard

  Hurricane season

  1 Jun – 30 Nov

  Antigua sits where the Atlantic storms make their first landfall; Irma flattened Barbuda in September 2017. Most of the season passes uneventfully, and rates from August to October are the lowest of the year for that reason. Source ↗

Busy — Antigua Carnival, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Antigua Carnival

  24 Jul – 6 Aug · usuallyCrowdedBook early

  Calypso finals, pageants and pan through the last week of July, building to J'ouvert before dawn on the first Monday of August and the Last Lap through St. John's the next evening. Both of those days are public holidays. Source ↗

Still on: Hurricane season (1 Jun – 30 Nov)

Busy — Antigua Carnival, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: Hurricane season (1 Jun – 30 Nov), Antigua Carnival (24 Jul – 6 Aug (usually))

Quiet — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in September.

Still on: Hurricane season (1 Jun – 30 Nov)

Busy — Independence Day and food fair

• Holiday

  Independence Day and food fair

  25 Oct – 1 NovNational holidayCrowded

  Independence week closes on 1 November with a parade, awards and a national food fair in the capital. Offices and banks shut for it, and the fair is the one day of the year to eat everything the island cooks in a single afternoon. Source ↗

Still on: Hurricane season (1 Jun – 30 Nov)

Peak crowds — Independence Day and food fair, Cruise season

• Season

  Cruise season

  1 Nov – 30 Apr · usuallyCrowded

  The port logged 431 calls and over 800,000 passengers in 2025, the bulk of them in the northern winter, and up to five ships can be alongside at once. Heritage Quay works to their hours: before ten and after four the town is its own again. Source ↗

Still on: Hurricane season (1 Jun – 30 Nov), Independence Day and food fair (25 Oct – 1 Nov)

Busy — Cruise season, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in December.

Still on: Cruise season (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually))