Best of St Johns US Virgin Island
- montbleuco
- Dec 27, 2024
- 3 min read
If you love a laid back, flip flop wearing, jeep riding, donkey road crossing, chicken in your restaurant type of island then this is your place! Of the 30 islands/tropical destinations Sami and I have been to this island has made it into our top 3. An impressive 2/3rds of the island is a national park with underwater preserves. Boasting some of the world's best beaches and turquoise waters. (Especially on the north side of the island near Annaberg Sugar Plantation looking out towards BVI the water was more shallow and the most stunning turquoise blue color) St Johns is a quick 45 minute ferry ride from St Thomas. St Thomas is more commercialized, more hustle and bustle, lots of shopping and more of a nightlife if that is your more your thing, whereas St. Johns is completely laid back, rural setting, unpretentious island living. Below are some of our favorite things we saw and did on this island
Best Airbnb: Periwinkle Cottage
We loved our stay at Periwinkle! Though we are friends with the owner and hired to take photographs this is a completely unbiased review. We would recommend this villa to any of our friends and family. It's an open air villa meaning you can prop all of the windows and doors open for an outdoor/indoor living concept. It sits on the top of a hillside overlooking Coral Bay. The design itself gave us total mama mia vibes. A quaint beachy villa with modern touches! Coral Bay is 25 minutes from Cruz Bay which is where the ferry arrives. Cruz Bay has more hotel, dining, and shopping options but we preferred Coral Bay which was less commericalized and more remote.
Gorgeous Trunk Bay and sea turtle sighting in Maho Bay
View of Coral Bay at Sunset from our Airbnb
Trunk Bay- Rainfall and Double Rainbows
BEST LUNCH SPOTS: The majority of our stay we shopped for fresh fish at Calabash Market and ate at the airbnb, but we did have lunch a couple of times at Skinny Legs in Coral Bay. It is a yummy american grill with good vibes, picnic table seating, and chickens scuttling about. It's a great place to come off the beach in your coverup, flip flops and have a good meal to replenish the calories that were spent snorkeling.
BEST SNORKELING SPOTS/BEST BEACHES
We snorkeled Watermelon Cay, Trunk Bay, Maho Bay, Salt Ponds, Hansen Bay, Cinnamon Bay, and Francis Bay. Our favorite was Salt Ponds, but we honestly loved every beach and I wouldn't miss out on any of these. Watermelon Cay was also stunning, Maho had lots of sea turtles. This website does a great job giving more information on the snorkel spots, how to enter, parking,what you will see, etc...
BEST HIKES
#1- Not to miss! Ram Head Trail- this trailhead is right off Salt Pond, our favorite snorkeling site, so hit them both same day! We left all of our snorkel and beach gear on the beach and just took off in our hiking shoes and water bottles. It did get hot and it is a moderate hike so plan on a workout! It comes with epic views though and is worth it! We also did the number 2 rated hiking trail in St Johns; the Reef Bay Trail. It has rave reviews but if I'm being honest we didn't love it. You might though, so perhaps give it a try! It does have ruins along the way and some petroglyphs. It's a workout though! Some people were actually running on this trail which has lots of ascents and descents. They seemed like they were professional athletes training for some hardcore marathons. We were not those people.
In conclusion place St Johns USVI on your bucket list! Sail boat, vacation home rental or resort! You wont be disappointed!
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