Hart of Travel

St. John is one of the 3 US Virgin Islands located in the Caribbean. Stocked with white sand beaches, crystal clear blue water, and amazing marine wildlife, the Virgin Islands are a beach lover’s paradise. For those that prefer a little more solitude (read no big resorts and no cruise stops), St. John is the island for you. With two-thirds of the island being a national park, you get the sense that the island is still untouched, rugged, and pure. We were there in the high season and never felt like there was too many people to enjoy yourself no matter where we went.

• Instagram
• Pinterest
• Spotify

Table of Contents

• How to get there
• Transportation
• When to go
• Important travel tips
• What to do
• Where to eat
• Where to stay
• How long to stay
• Wildlife
• Plant life

How to get there

There is no airport on St. John (which also helps to keep the crowds down). To get to St. John, you have to fly into neighboring St. Thomas (Cyril E. King International airport) and then take a ferry across to St. John. There are a couple ferry options. You can take the ferry from Charlotte Amalie dock which is about a 10 minute taxi ride with a 45 minute ferry ride with great views of St. Thomas along the way. The other option is taking the ferry from Red Hook which is about a 25 minute taxi ride from the airport with a 20 minute ferry ride to St. John. Both ferries dock at the same place on St. John in Cruz Bay.

Transportation

Once you arrive on St. John, you’ll either need to pick up your rental car or get a taxi to wherever you’re staying. There are PLENTY of taxis right when you get off the ferry, most of them converted pickup trucks with benches in the bed and a canopy over the back.

In my opinion, you really only need to rent a car if you’re staying on the other side of the island in Coral Bay, otherwise it’s very easy to take taxis wherever you’d like to go on the island. Another pro to taking taxis is that you don’t have to worry about parking which is very limited throughout the island.

If you do rent a car, keep in mind that there are only a couple gas stations and driving on the windy, steep roads uses more gas than you might think, so fill up whenever you can! Also, BOOK EARLY! We made the mistake of waiting until the last minute and almost every thing was sold out. We ended up having to have two separate bookings with a day in the middle without a car (which is when we utilized the taxis).

If you are island hopping and have a rental car, there are car ferries available, but they run at different times than the passenger ferries so check the website!

When to go

The high season in the Caribbean is generally January – March when a lot of people are trying to escape winter and when the weather on the islands is the best. While it’s much cheaper to come here in the off season, I recommend not doing that in this case since the off season is when hurricane and rainy season is. It would be a really big bummer if you went all the way there and then it rained everyday so you couldn’t enjoy the magnificent beaches or if you got stuck in a hurricane situation which would be terrifying!

Important travel tips

You drive on the left side of the road on the islands! I thought this would be a lot more difficult, but since there are basically two main roads that, while they are windy, there are many turns, so it wasn’t so bad.

Early bird gets the parking spots! There were a couple times when we didn’t get there early enough and you could just continue driving to the next beach area until you find something, but it’s a hassle.

I know this probably goes without saying, but wear sunscreen and REAPPLY your sunscreen. The sun is stronger here, and if you’re in the water you might not realize that your skin is fried until it’s too late (speaking from experience).

What to do

Go beach hopping! All of the beaches are amazing, each offering it’s own perks. They are all definitely worth seeing! We tried to visit them by section, so we would go to a couple per day.

Rent snorkels and explore the underwater part of the park! There’s so much more than what’s just on the surface.

Trunk Bay – This was the only area you had to pay to enter. They had showers, bathrooms, food, souvenir, and rental options available.

Maho Bay – One of the busiest beaches with the best snorkeling if you want to see turtles. Get here early! There are some food and souvenir options available here as well, but beware, the prices are high.

Cinnamon Bay – Beautiful, large beach with food and restrooms available for use.

Salt Pond – Another great place to snorkel! Has a pit toilet available, no food.

Hawksnest Beach – Gorgeous setting, not as busy as some of the other beaches close by. No bathrooms or food.

Salomon Beach – Requires a hike to get to it unless you have a boat charter drop you off. No bathroom or food. Don’t recommend doing the hike during the heat of the day.

Honeymoon Beach – Requires a hike to get to it unless you have a boat charter drop you off. No bathroom or food. Don’t recommend doing the hike during the heat of the day.

Drive the North Shore Road – The windy and hilly roads offer part of the fun (if you get car sick, maybe take some Dramamine!). The other part is getting to see some of the ginormous houses in this area along with some really scenic overlooks.

Hike to Drunk Bay – Arguably the most wild rough part of the island with the full force of the Atlantic Ocean crashing on the rocky shore. It’s a great way to cool off from a long beach day. Watch out for the rocks positioned into turtles.

1.1 mile out and back

147 ft. elevation gain

Very peaceful hike through various tropical vegetation, along Salt Pond Beach and Salt Pond itself.

Trail info here.

Hike Peace Hill – Easy hike up a short hill to a plantation ruin that offers incredible views of the surrounding area!

Visit Annaberg Plantation – Beautiful plantation ruins that offer a look at the history of the island.

Take a boat charter tour – We did not do this while we were there, but there are a lot of options available from full day to half day to sunset, you really can’t go wrong. Here a couple places we heard offer great tours.

Kekoa St. John

Voodoo Charters St. John

Calypso / Bad Kitty Charters

Hike one of the many trails in the park! – While we didn’t do any of these ourselves, we’ve heard that they are worth it if you have the time and energy. Plan ahead – have plenty of water and try not to hike in the heat of the day.

Reef Bay Trail – 4.4 mile out and back moderately challenging trail.

Ram Head Trail – 2.3 mile out and back moderately challenging trail. Great place for sunrise or sunset!

Leinster Bay Trail – 1.9 mile out and back easy trail.

Cinnamon Bay Trail – 1.8 mile out and back moderately challenging trail.

Lameshur Bay Trail – 3.5 mile out and back moderately challenging trail.

Where to eat

I want to preface this section by saying that the food here can be a bit expensive. We tried to cook our own meals once a day to help with this, but even groceries are expensive since it’s an island and they have to import everything. So budget accordingly! Also the hours of operation for many of the restaurants can vary a lot, so check online to see if they’re open before you go. A lot of places are closed Sunday, Monday or Tuesday, Thursday.

There are so many great places to eat on the island! Here are some of our favorites:

Colombo’s – breakfast, lunch, and smoothies. Open 8-4. Our favorite place to eat on the island! The smoothies are fantastic and we loved the breakfast sandwiches. It’s located on Centerline Road right before the turn onto North Shore Road to get to all the amazing beaches along North Shore Road.

Sun Dog Café – located in Mongoose Junction in Cruz Bay right across the street from the visitor center. They have really good breakfast food and some great deals on bottomless drinks.

Wok on the Beach – Asian cuisine. Only open evenings. Located in Coral Bay. They had really good dishes and potstickers!

Salty Mongoose – Pizza! Only open evenings. The pizza was delicious and the location is right on Coral Bay.

Tap and Still – Pub style food. Honestly was one of the best burgers we’ve ever had. Located in Cruz Bay not far from the ferry dock.

The Tap Room (St. John’s Brewers) – Local brewery. Located in Mongoose Junction right across the street from the visitor center in Cruz Bay. Good beer and amazing fish tacos.

Skinny Legs – Located in Coral Bay. Pub style food. AMAZING mahi mahi sandwich.

Where to stay

There are a couple smaller resort style hotels if that’s what you prefer. The bulk of the accommodation is in Cruz Bay. There are also many Airbnb’s throughout the island. We split our stay between an Airbnb and an eco-resort. Both places were phenomenal!

This was our Airbnb. While it was a HIKE to get up there (definitely need a 4 wheel drive vehicle), it offered one of the best views of the island right from our balcony but also had a ROOFTOP PATIO. To top it off, there was a dreamy outdoor shower (very romantic) and there were beach chairs, paddleboards, and beach towels we could use. Highly recommend. It was a splurge but it was absolutely worth it.

The other place we stayed was Concordia Eco Resort. They are still building and are about to change ownership, but we absolutely loved it here! It’s located about as far away from Cruz Bay as you can get (definitely need a rental car) but this made it feel like we were secluded and really in untainted nature. They had a nature trail from the resort to Salt Pond Beach which was super convenient! They also had a little shop in the main office where you can rent snorkels for multi-day use, or buy select groceries which you could cook in your villas or tents. They were working on having a restaurant right there on the resort, so once that opens up it will be even better!

How long to stay

We were on St. John for 7 days and I think that was the perfect amount of time to see a lot of the island. There was definitely more we could have done, and now we know what to add on for our next visit.

Wildlife

Donkeys were introduced to the island back when the plantations needed them for work. When the plantations were no longer running, all the donkeys were set loose. They now live wild and you’ll see them throughout the island.

Goats are another animal you’ll see roaming around the streets, especially in Coral Bay.

Deer is another species that was introduced to the island for hunting purposes. You’ll see them around every once and awhile.

Hermit crabs. We saw SO MANY when we hiked to Salt Pond. Some of them were very large.

Iguana. We only saw 2 in a tree once, but there must be more on the island.

Flying fish. That’s right, flying. They literally jump out of the water and appear to be flying. One of them really freaked me out when I was swimming.

Sea turtles. We saw so many turtles when we snorkeled – especially in Maho Bay and Salt Pond. Just don’t touch them!

Plant life

I am a plant lover, so I tend to gravitate toward local vegetation, especially when it’s so different from what I see in my daily life. Here is some of the diverse vegetation we saw on the island.

I hope you enjoyed all you’ve learned about St. John and that this information helps you plan your own trip there someday!

• 14 Things You Can’t Miss in New Zealand
• 12 Things You Can’t Miss in Grand Teton National Park
• All You Need to Know About Going on “The Sound of Music” Tour
• How to Spend 3 Days In Salzburg
• How to Spend 2 Days with Interlaken as your Home Base