A holiday in St Lucia doesn't have to be spent on or around a beach, so the recent addition of the Antigua Yacht Club Marina Resort is well worth taking a look at. It has 20 rooms so it is small enough to call itself a boutique hotel, and it certainly sets out to be an exclusive hotel. Antigua Yacht Club Marina Resort sits on a hillside above the historic English Harbour, as well as being well situated insofar as restaurants, bars, shops and boutiques, and absolutely unbelievable yachts at anchor, are concerned.

The Antigua Yacht Club Marina Resort consists of 30 executive suites studio residences. They consist of 12 sea view studio apartments, 12 garden view studio apartments, and six one bedroom suites situated in a total of six buildings. It is also a 19 room hotel, and the rooms are extremely well equipped with all modern comforts including wireless broadband internet access for those addicts who can't be torn away completely from Internet Explorer!! It can mind you be difficult to tear yourself away the dramatic views of the harbour from the suites.

You will find a health spa, a turkish steam bath, and there is a fully equipped fitness centre in this brand new hotel which was built as recently as 2006, which is so new it still smells slightly of paint.

The Antigua Yacht Club Marina Resort is the perfect place for the independent traveller, who wants to see more of Antigua that the inside and outside of a glitzy five star beachfront mausoleum. The kind of people who take this kind of holiday in Antigua will probably have an interest in sailing, and will almost certainly hire a car.

The hotel hosts the famous Antigua Sailing week, but it has a certain buzz to it all the time, with the arrival and departure of people staying for a couple of days before venturing back to sea in their yachts and gin palaces.

If a holiday in St Lucia means being able to chill out in high comfort then you are in the right place. Also if you enjoy a fragrant tropical garden, knowing a five minute taxi ride takes you to famous Pigeon Beach, and the equally famous rum punches at the Bumpkin Beach bar.

One of the really atmospheric parts of staying at the Antigua Yacht Club Marina Resort comes after dark, when somehow the yachts come alive, some people can be heard partying on the water, whilst others swell the crowds in the restaurants and bars, thus creating a totally different feel to the whole marina area, and the hotel as well.

Previous guests have all been very impressed with the very comfortable rooms, and the staff, and the feeling that although the Antigua Yacht Club Marina Resort is close to the action it is nevertheless somehow off the beaten path. The staff are very helpful if you ask them about best places to eat, and hang out in the evenings. They seem to have the delightful attitude of wanting to get for you whatever you need, and that kind of makes Antigua Yacht Club Marina Resort even more special for a slightly different holiday in St Lucia.