Falcon Nest Bar and Grill

Sandra and Eudoxie Wallace turned a barren cay in Island Harbour into a beach bar and BBQ in 1985, and in the early years guests ate off grape leaves while sitting in the sand.

Nat Richardson’s Palm Grove is the only building on Junk’s Hole, at the end of a mile and a half of dirt and coral road on Anguilla’s eastern end. There is no electricity out there, which is why everything comes off a grill.

Elodia’s is the last stop at the eastern end of Shoal Bay East, past the umbrellas and the crowd and just short of The Point. That walk is the whole pitch: the same famous beach, far fewer people on it.

Gwen’s has survived beach erosion, a fire, and Hurricane Irma, relocating and rebuilding each time with a little more concrete and zero drop in spirit. Owner Gwen Webster’s resilience alone earns the place a spot on the island, and Shoal Bay East genuinely wouldn’t be the same without it. Expect a slow pace by design: pick your own spot among picnic tables, deck chairs, or hammocks, and don’t expect hovering service. Gwen’s rum punch has a real reputation, made with better rums than most beach bars bother with. Sunday afternoons bring the local Anguillan Scratch Band for a proper beach dance party. A genuine Anguilla institution.

Ernest Benjamin Harrigan opened this on Shoal Bay East in 1984, back when there was no electricity out on that beach and the shacks ran off generators.