The Number One Resort on This Caribbean Island Has a Spectacular Beach, Private-Pool Suites and Serious Buzz

Zemi Beach House has become one of the hottest stays in Anguilla, combining Shoal Bay East, a remarkable spa, serious food and one of the Caribbean’s great rum bars.

There are some hotels that seem to keep finding their way into the conversation. Someone just came back. Someone else is planning a stay. A travel advisor is talking about it. A friend is asking which room to book.

In Anguilla, that hotel right now is Zemi Beach House.

The LXR Hotels & Resorts property has been one of our favorites for years, and lately Zemi seems to be having a particularly strong moment. Earlier this year, we named it the number one resort in Anguilla, and in July we called it the best luxury Hilton hotel in the Caribbean.

Spend a few days here and the allure is quite easy to understand.

This is a luxury resort that manages to feel intimate and complete at the same time, with a spectacular setting on Shoal Bay East, a genuinely unusual spa, excellent food and a rum bar that is a destination all by itself.

And then there is that beach.

It Starts With Shoal Bay

Zemi occupies six acres on Shoal Bay East, the long sweep of powdery sand and almost electric turquoise water that has helped define Anguilla for generations.

The beach isn’t something you occasionally visit from the hotel. It becomes the organizing principle of the stay.

You see it at breakfast. You walk beside it after lunch. You move between the water and the beachfront pool all afternoon. And because Zemi is relatively intimate, you never feel as though you’re navigating a sprawling resort just to reach the sand.

That’s one of the reasons we included Zemi in our recent guide to Caribbean resorts with beautiful beaches.

The Resort Feels Like Its Own Little World

Zemi has the polish of a major luxury hotel without losing the personality of a boutique resort.

The accommodations range from rooms with balconies and terraces to larger beachfront suites, penthouses and residences, including options with private pools.

There are multiple pools, including an adults-only infinity pool, and enough different corners that you can change the feel of the day without ever leaving the property.

That’s important in Anguilla, where doing very little is often precisely the point.

You can spend the morning on Shoal Bay, retreat to the pool, disappear for a spa treatment and come back outside for a late lunch without ever feeling like you’ve repeated yourself.

A Spa You Actually Remember

Then there is the Thai House Spa, one of the most distinctive wellness experiences anywhere in the Caribbean.

Its centerpiece is an authentic Thai house more than 300 years old, transported from Thailand and reconstructed in Anguilla. There’s a Moroccan hammam, a heated Vitality Pool and a treatment program that makes the spa feel more like a destination inside the resort than an amenity you visit for an hour.

It’s the sort of place that gives a hotel an identity.

There are plenty of excellent luxury spas around the region. There is only one like this.

And Then There’s the Rhum Room

Our favorite after-dark stop at Zemi is the Rhum Room.

It’s intimate, atmospheric and home to a deep collection of Caribbean rum, the kind of place where you arrive intending to have one pour and suddenly realize you’ve been talking rum for an hour.

We’ve long considered it one of the great hotel bars in the Caribbean.

That seriousness carries through the rest of the culinary program, from 20 Knots to Stone and the beachfront dining. That’s particularly important on an island like Anguilla, where food is such an essential part of the travel experience.

You should absolutely leave the resort and explore the island’s restaurants. But you don’t have to leave Zemi to eat very well.

Why Zemi Is Having a Moment

Anguilla’s luxury hotel collection is exceptionally deep. That’s precisely what makes Zemi’s current momentum notable.

It isn’t trying to recreate the grand resort experience of another era. It feels contemporary, relaxed and remarkably easy.

You have one of the Caribbean’s great beaches outside your room. You have the Thai House Spa. You have excellent dining, multiple pools and a terrific rum bar. And you have all of it in a property small enough that, after a day or two, it begins to feel familiar.

There’s another advantage: Zemi is part of Hilton’s LXR Hotels & Resorts collection, meaning you can earn and redeem Hilton Honors points here — an unusual proposition at this level of Caribbean boutique luxury.

We loved Zemi when we stayed here. Two years later, the resort has only become more compelling.

Right now, if you’re wondering which Anguilla hotel everyone seems to be talking about, this is it.

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