In short… Cap Juluca, a Belmond Hotel, is a polished, old-school Caribbean resort known for its white Greco-Moorish villas strung along a stunning, mile-long beach—and excellent Guerlain spa.
The surroundings… Anguilla is a small, wafer-flat island ringed with creamy white-sand beaches, the Caribbean you dream about in mid-winter. Cap Juluca sits at the western end of this eel-shaped isle (which is how it got its name), in the protected crook of Maundays Bay, just a few minutes’ drive from the ferry terminal. (There’s also a small airport.) While the island has seen its share of development in the last decade—there was more construction along its narrow roads than when I last visited in 2019—it remains relatively pristine and low-key, with (importantly!) no cruise-ship port. Once inside the resort, you feel completely removed, with nothing but a welcome mat of sand dotted with umbrellas and that bluest sea laid out before you.
The backstory… In the mid-‘80s, American developers Linda and Charles Hickox fell for mile-long Maundays Bay when they passed it by boat from St. Martin. They brought in the L.A. architect behind Bing Crosby’s Palm Springs home to design Pimms restaurant, which quickly became a magnet for international regulars. In 1988 the couple opened Cap Juluca, arranging its now-iconic whitewashed Greco-Moorish domed villas along the bay like sugar cubes. In the years since, they’ve served as the backdrop for countless fashion shoots and weathered their share of hurricanes, including Irma in 2017, which devastated nearby St. Martin and St. Barths. The timing was uncanny: the storm barreled through just a week after Belmond took charge of the resort and closed it for renovations. Cap Juluca reopened in 2019 and in the years since, longtime regulars who’ve visited 20 times or more have been honored with carved wooden plaques hanging from palm trees around the resort. The brand is investing more than $7 million in a refresh of the rooms and restaurants, to be complete in early 2027.
The vibe… Genteel, polished, and refined, with a whiff of English formality (Anguilla is a British Overseas Territory). Rottet Studio’s renovation replaced the former Arabian Nights-ish dark wood interiors of the thick-walled architecture with a lighter mix of natural textures: sisal rugs, rattan, tiled floors, limestone surfaces. The lobby feels like an airy living room with art books, stone urns and other objets scattered across tables substantial enough to withstand a Caribbean typhoon. A small library, restaurant, and art gallery flank the space, but you rarely see many guests at once—except at golden hour each evening, when bottles of champagne are sabered and poured around. Cap Juluca seems to be intentionally designed for privacy, with 24 villas spread along the beach, each with its own loungers and umbrellas and friendly attendants keeping an eye on things. Some villas are a considerable walk from the restaurants, so we were glad to have our own golf cart to zip around in (there are bikes, too).
The rooms… Those villas somehow account for 113 rooms and suites (feels like fewer!), several with their own pools. Ours was a 2-bedroom beachfront casita suite with a living room and kitchenette; each room opened out to the beach. The feeling is breezy and light: four-poster beds, woven rope chairs, billowing curtains. The very large bathrooms lead to what must once have been an outdoor shower, now oddly a high-walled courtyard with a lounge chair—ideal for nude sunbathing, if that’s your thing; drying wet swimsuits if it’s not. Amenities are by Guerlain, so you’d be forgiven for slipping a couple of hand creams into your bag. There are also three generous patios, a perfectly shady outdoor office. One mystery we never solved, but suspect the very attentive but unobtrusive housekeeping team of: despite our constant comings and goings from the beach, there was never a lick of sand on the tile floor.
The food & drink… You could, if you wanted, walk barefoot to all four restaurants at Cap Juluca, and we did (putting our shoes back on, of course, before entering). Pimms is still here, now the resort’s fine-dining spot that leans toward Caribbean classics, including warm johnnycake buns with caviar and Anguillan spiny lobster fettuccine. Next door is Cip’s, the Caribbean cousin of the one at Belmond’s Hotel Cipriani in Venice. It’s where the cornucopia-esque breakfast spread appears each morning (excellent avocado and ricotta toast and matcha lattes). It’s an equally lovely spot for lunch and dinner overlooking the surf; we had a very tasty beef carpaccio and a spaghetti alla vongole. Uchu, in the main building, takes things in a Peruvian direction, which makes sense when you consider Belmond’s hotels and storied Andean Explorer train in Peru. We didn’t eat here, but we did stop for a drink at the bar—a cozy, hunter-green room lined with quirky sketches by belle-époque artist Georges Goursat—and collaborated with the bartender on our own concoction of gin, passionfruit juice and lime juice. For something considerably more casual, there’s the Cap Shack, on a wooden deck at the far end of the beach, where you can pull up for a poke bowl and Red Stripe (or local brew, AXA).
The wellness… The new Guerlain spa is beautiful and transporting—it occupies a villa that’s been transformed to resemble a Moroccan riad, with a tinkling fountain at the center of the tiled courtyard. I had the Infinite Renewal treatment with Princess, who pressed wooden mallets into my back to reach deeper muscles and layered on Guerlain emollients, then left me in the courtyard buzzed on beta waves, with herbal tea and date energy balls. Be sure to spend some time at the rooftop infinity pool, and in the boutique area that looks like a glamorous fragrance laboratory, with shelves and counters of tester bottles arranged in an ombré of bronze, gold and flaxen elixirs.
Belmond also has an occasional partnership with Sanctum, an immersive Dutch wellness program that offers movement and meditation classes using wireless headphones—the kind you wear at a silent disco. We took a morning yoga class in the pavilion beyond Cip’s, and the view of those white villas against the bluebird sky was a pretty inspiring sight between asanas.
There are also plenty of kayaks, stand-up paddleboards, and sailboats available to take out on the beach. One afternoon we also spotted horses and learned that you can arrange rides through a nearby stable.
Is it family friendly? Very. There’s a full-service kids’ club, the Explorer’s Club & Nursery, for ages 4-12, and nanny/babysitting services available. The protected bay keeps the waves manageable, and the beach attendants are so attentive that nobody will go hangry. There’s also a modestly sized pool near the main building that attracted a few kids. And the 2-BR villas would be very workable for families.
Be sure to… Have lunch at Blanchards Beach Shack, a short taxi ride away. Friends who return to Anguilla every year tipped us off, and they were right: frozen mojitos, fried chicken, fish tacos, and a wonderfully relaxed atmosphere. We happened to be there on Anguilla Day, and the place was hopping.
Parting words… A timeless, slightly fantastical Moorish monument to the good life, with an almost obsessive devotion to detail.
Date of stay… May 31 – June 3, 2026
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