USVI travel recs

[cuadrado]

I'm in the beginning stages of planning a week-long trip to the USVI in November. I was thinking about spending 2 days in St. Thomas and the rest of the time in St. John. Just wondering if anyone has been there and had any recommendations of specific things to see or do. TIA! 

[mrsd2006]

Sounds divine. We went to St Thomas on a cruise last year and took the ferry to St John for the day. We did an island tour. It's really quiet and laid back. St Thomas is a whole lot busier. You can also take the ferry to some of the British Virgin Islands- I would plan on that if staying there for a week.

There's lots of hiking, beaching, fishing- most of the island is a national park. Our tour guide told us of some hike you did with a park ranger where you hiked down the mountain and then they pick you up in a car and drive you back to the top.

www.vinow.com/travel/virgin-islands-ferry-schedules/

www.vinow.com/stjohn/activities/

[soozy87]

We went to St. John on our honeymoon. It was awesome! Great snorkeling all over the island. We enjoyed the National Park hike , but they suggest registering for it before hand because it tends to fill up quickly. Check out Deli Grotto for lunch.

[orangello]

I adore St. John - it's quiet, peaceful, and gorgeous. Great snorkeling, beautiful beaches, and very easy to get around.

Advice - rent a 4WD, some of the roads are steep and very winding. Hit Colombo's smoothie shack in the afternoons - you can't miss it, there's really only a few roads around the island. Rent a villa or condo vs. staying in a hotel, there's a great grocery store on the island. Go to Coral Bay and get Miss Lucy's for lunch - the food is great and the setting and view cannot be beat. Arawak Expeditions runs great kayak tours. Finally, we hiked the Reef Bay Trail and it was phenomenal. Bring enough water and be prepared for a steep incline on the way back, and make sure to take the short side trail to see the petroglyphs!

[Pom]

We loved Tortola and snorkeling The Baths at Virgin Gorda. I'd recommend taking a ferry over for sure. We were on St. Thomas and it was a bit more commercial. We did a great cocktail/sunset cruise there. Magen's Bay was a fun afternoon. I think St. Johns would be my pick to stay.

[luckystar2]

Lurker chiming in. We went on our honeymoon and then again a few months ago. I've also been to st. thomas on a cruise as well.

This year's trip we did 2 days on st thomas and then a week on St. John and another day on st. Thomas. I didn't want to rush with the flight and then catching a ferry on the same day and also wanted some time on St Thomas. I much prefer St. John and would definitely spend the majority of time there. On st Thomas we walked around the shops and went to paradise point and did a sea lion swim for our daughter at coral world (that was fun but it was out of the way so I wouldn't necessarily recommend it).

On our honeymoon we stayed at Gallows point resort which is close to Cruz bay. I loved it but prices have increased a lot since then. This time our in laws were with us so we rented a condo and it was amazing!!! Seriously perfection. It was just a little further from town than Gallows but within walking distance. It was around $4500 week for Feb (3 BR 3 bath). If you're interested I can link it. If you don't need that much space, you should be able to find a lot of options. There are some condos near town that were 1-2 bedroom that would obviously be less.

Rent a 4wd jeep for sure! You want to get to all the beaches and hikes and in the rain the roads can be crazy so 4wd is a good idea. We spent time on cinnamon bay, trunk, salt pond, honeymoon, Oppenheimer. Some are easily accessible and some are hikes. We did a few good hikes on our own -Lind point trail, peace hill, reef bay, cinnamon. Reef bay is great to see the petroglyphs. But definitely a bit of a work out (be careful if it recently rained as the beginning section was insanely muddy when we went).

We did a kayak, snorkel and hike tour through caneel that was good. Got to see a couple sea turtles. We rented paddle boards on honeymoon and saw some sting rays there. We did a fishing charter and caught some fish. Walked through Annaberg ruins. Otherwise it was beaches and hikes.

Food- there are tons of restaurants in town. We also bought some groceries since we had a kitchen. The beach bar is a fun little place right by the dock where you can eat or have a drink right on the beach. I also really liked rhumb lines. Another vote for Colombo's smoothie shack. Oh and there's a small little stand that has BBQ chicken that is really good. We also went to miss Lucy's the day we went over to coral bay and that was great too.

I love St. John. We've been on a couple Caribbean cruises and gone to Hawaii. St. John is my favorite. It was almost 11 years in between our two trips and it felt like coming home when we went back. I just adore it there. If you have any specific questions let me know.

[boiler717]

My favorite thing we did was a boat tour of the BVI, including an extended stop on Scrub Island. So much fun.

[cuadrado]

Jun 27, 2016 18:14:13 GMT -5 boiler717 said:

My favorite thing we did was a boat tour of the BVI, including an extended stop on Scrub Island. So much fun.

I think we actually decided that we are going to spend 2 days on Scrub Island. I'm looking forward to it!