Eleven miles of pink-tinged sand with barely a hotel in sight — that's Barbuda, the quieter sibling of Antigua in the Caribbean's Leeward Islands. And it's about to get a new draw: Robert De Niro's long-gestating Nobu Beach Inn, a 36-bedroom property expected to finish construction in late 2026.
The island's headline beach is Low Bay on the west coast, an unbroken ribbon of white and pale-pink sand where the colour shifts with the light and the shell fragments mixed into it. Princess Diana Beach, on the southwest coast, is the other standout — wide, soft sand and startlingly clear water with very little development around it. That emptiness is the point here. You can walk for miles without passing a beach club.
One of the most unlikely arrivals on this sleepy coast is Nobu Barbuda, the Japanese restaurant that opened on Princess Diana Beach in 2020. Guests arrive by boat or helicopter for sushi, Wagyu and the famous miso black cod. It's a surreal pairing: a global restaurant brand on a beach that still feels a world away from standard Caribbean resort strips. Lunch here is worth planning ahead for, especially in peak season.
Beaches aren't the whole story. Codrington Lagoon on the island's west side hides one of the Caribbean's great wildlife sites — a frigate bird sanctuary holding thousands of magnificent frigatebirds, including males inflating their huge red throat pouches during mating season. You reach it by boat, and it's a good argument for staying overnight rather than day-tripping from Antigua.
The big development news is Nobu Beach Inn, backed by De Niro within The Beach Club, Barbuda. The plans are deliberately low-key in scale: 36 bedrooms spread across 17 individual villas on a 400-acre site with two miles of beachfront. Amenities will include a beach club, oceanfront pool, indoor and outdoor spa, kids club, outdoor cinema, tennis and padel courts, plus dining ranging from the existing Nobu restaurant to an oceanfront grill and an omakase sushi bar. Another 25 Nobu Residences are planned. The low-rise villa format is a conscious choice to preserve the open, undeveloped feel that makes the island distinct.
Practically speaking, Antigua is the gateway — you continue on by small plane, helicopter or boat, and scheduled flights now make an overnight stay easy. If you want something small and atmospheric before the Nobu inn opens, Barbuda Belle near Low Bay is a handful of bungalows and villas right on the sand.
The takeaway for travellers: Barbuda is entering a busier chapter, but its core appeal hasn't changed. Go now or soon, walk Low Bay, take the lagoon boat, book Nobu lunch in advance, and give the island more than a few hours. It rewards slow travel more than almost anywhere else in the region.
Reported by Caribbean Journal.