St John's abounds with history but it is without one of Antigua's 365 beaches. Busy with cruise-ship visitors during the day (not to mention its 45,000 inhabitants), the island's commercial centre has several interesting historic sights and remains popular with day visitors coming for its wide range of duty-free shops. The closest beaches will be found on the nearby Five Islands peninsular and are very fine indeed. The peninsular, a few kilometres west of St John's, has several of the island's better hotels, but the area is primarily gated and inaccessible unless you are a guest.

St John's teems with day-trippers by day and has a few lively restaurants and bars by night, so it draws a wide range of British and American partiers, including families and singles. The resorts in the Five Islands peninsular are primarily geared toward adults.

The beaches closest to St John's are in the Five Islands area, most notably Galley Bay and Deep Bay, though the former is less protected and can have moderate to pounding surf. One beach, at the Hawksbill by Rex Resort, is clothing-optional.

To look beyond the beach, you'll have to look beyond the Five Islands peninsular. In St John's are several interesting historic sights, including the Anglican Cathedral of St John the Divine, between Long and Newgate streets. The Museum of Antigua & Barbuda, in the former courthouse at Church and Market streets, has several hands-on exhibits. It's easy to travel down to historic Nelson's Dockyard in English Harbour, one of the Caribbean's best-preserved historic districts and the only Georgian-era dockyard still in use; in addition to a museum, it's filled with shops and restaurants.

You'll find few shopping opportunities in Five Islands unless you want to limit yourself to the offerings of your hotel's gift shop. Most of the island's shopping opportunities are concentrated in St John's, or at Nelson's Dockyard in English Harbour. Duty-free bargains abound in the shops of St John's Heritage Quay, though the most charming of the island's shops can be found in Redcliffe Quay, also in St John's. Cedars Pottery in Buckley and Rhythm of Blue Gallery in English Harbour are two locally owned shops that produce their own high-quality wares.

St John's has the upscale disco The Coast, but much of the nightlife is in faraway English Harbour. The island has three casinos, the largest being the Grand Princess in Jolly Harbour; the King's Casino in St John's is closer to resorts in the Five Islands area. Sunday-afternoon barbecues at Shirley Heights Lookout start in the afternoon but continue well into the night with reggae and steel-pan bands, drawing a mix of both locals and visitors.