Fig Tree Drive

Beach-flat Antigua keeps a green surprise in its south-west: Fig Tree Drive climbs off the coast at Old Road into the island's old volcanic hills, where the roadside turns to banana groves - figs, in Antiguan - mango and breadfruit canopy, and glimpses of Boggy Peak, the island's highest point. Fruit stalls and the long-running Fig Tree Studio art gallery punctuate the bends, a canopy zipline threads the valley at Wallings, and the restored Wallings Dam reservoir walk adds a Victorian-era forest reservoir to the loop.

The landscape

• The canopy road - bananas, mango and breadfruit over the bends.
• Wallings Dam - the Victorian reservoir and its forest loop trail.
• Roadside fruit stalls - black pineapple in season, the island's pride.
• The zipline - the canopy course in the Wallings valley.

When to go

Year round - the south's greenery outlasts the dry season that browns the rest of the island. After rains the forest is at its lushest. Sunday drives meet local liming at Old Road's beaches.

Things to know

'Drive' is accurate: this is a scenic forty minutes of bends rather than a destination, made a half-day by the stops. The road is narrow with local traffic taking its half in the middle. Black pineapple season is roughly summer - out of season the stalls sell imports; ask. The Boggy Peak summit itself is a rough track with a fenced installation at top - the drive's viewpoints serve better.

Nearby

Old Road's Carlisle Bay, Darkwood Beach and the route on to English Harbour.

Key facts