After spending 10 glorious days on St. John, USVI it has quickly become my favorite Caribbean destinations. With no airport you must travel by ferry after arriving onto St. Thomas giving St. John a truly remote island feel.
The Westin St. John & Villas is a newly renovated property that would be my home for the extended week (see more on the property here) and provided a great location to explore the island. Days were spent hiking, snorkeling and beach hopping. Favorites include:
Trunk Bay: Most famous and photographed beach that does have a small entry fee but one of the only ones with snorkel rental and snack bar. Home to an underwater snorkel trail its one of the top spots but I recommend venturing over to the far left for less crowds and better coral.
Hawksnest Bay: Plenty of parking and picnic tables and for me shade!
Oppenheimer Beach: A bit tricky to get to this is home to the tire swing on a palm tree. I double parked to walk down but realized you can easily snorkel over from Hawksnest if you are not planning to post up for the day.
Cinnamon Bay: One of the longest stretches of beach it was our go to destination for lunch picnics. Camping is available so a nice perk was access to showers to rinse off.
Maho Bay: *The best spot to see sea turtles! The Bay is so serine with the water looking like glass.
*The best way to get around the Island is by renting a Jeep for the day but they do have taxi’s available at popular spots. Note that unlike traditional taxi’s the open back trucks charge a per person fare ($6-15) so for families the car is the way to go.
The condo made it easy to make most of our meals & the Lemongrass restaurant at the Westin was excellent but if you venture off property the casual High Tide Bar & Grill, next to the Cruz Bay port, provides a great surf & turf + the best conk fritters…ever. If you are after the best sunset view for dinner head up to Asolare, past downtown, to dine on Asian Fusion fare.
