Cruz Bay

What makes St. John different is how much of it is protected: since 1956 about 60 percent of the land has belonged to the national park, along with large areas of the surrounding sea. That leaves no airport, no high-rise resorts and no big towns, but plenty of white-sand beaches, snorkeling trails and plantation ruins reached by short hikes. Cruz Bay, with its restaurants, shops and park visitor center, suits travelers who want to walk to the ferry, while villas in the hills and the slower village of Coral Bay suit couples and families looking for space and quiet.

Where to stay on St. John

Cruz Bay is the most practical base: ferries from St. Thomas arrive at its docks, the national park visitor center is a short walk away, and restaurants, shops and taxis are on hand. Apartments and condos in and around town suit travelers without a car and visitors on shorter stays.

Most vacation rentals on the island are villas set on the hillsides, many with pools and wide sea views. Those on the north side sit near the park's best-known beaches, Trunk Bay, Cinnamon Bay and Maho Bay, though the roads to reach them are steep and winding. Coral Bay, on the east side, was the island's main harbor in colonial times and is now a laid-back community with a few places to eat, a sheltered anchorage and easy access to the south shore and the East End, suited to longer, quieter stays. Inside the park, Cinnamon Bay Campground offers simple camping and cottages close to the sand.

Virgin Islands National Park

The park was created in 1956 after Laurance Rockefeller's Jackson Hole Preserve donated its land on St. John on the condition that it be protected from development. It now covers about 60 percent of the island, more than 2,200 hectares of adjacent ocean and nearly all of Hassel Island off St. Thomas, and in 2001 the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument extended protection over thousands more hectares of reef around St. John.

Inside the park, the Reef Bay Trail descends more than 9 kilometers round trip through forest and sugar-mill ruins to Taíno petroglyphs carved beside a spring-fed pool, a strenuous but rewarding hike. The short Lind Point Trail starts behind the visitor center in Cruz Bay and leads to Honeymoon Beach. Bordeaux Mountain, at 389 meters, is the island's highest point. Wild donkeys, deer, iguanas and many birds live here, while bats are the only native land mammals.

Beaches and snorkeling

St. John's north shore is a chain of bays inside the park. Trunk Bay has an underwater snorkeling trail along its reef, plus lifeguards and facilities. Cinnamon Bay is long and wide, with water sports and a nature trail through sugar factory ruins. Maho Bay has soft sand and calm, shallow water over seagrass, where sea turtles and stingrays are often seen, which makes it a favorite for families and beginners.

On the drier south shore, Salt Pond Bay, reached by a short trail from the road south of Coral Bay, has fringing reefs on both sides for snorkeling, and from there the Ram Head Trail runs about 1.6 kilometers along a rocky peninsula to the island's southernmost point. Reefs here are protected, so avoid touching coral, use mooring balls rather than anchors when boating, and follow park guidance on sunscreen and wildlife.

History and culture

People have lived on St. John for thousands of years, and Taíno artifacts and petroglyphs show settlement from around the 8th century until shortly before Europeans arrived. Columbus sailed past in 1493 without landing. Danish planters from St. Thomas arrived in 1717, Denmark formally claimed the island in 1718, and by 1733 more than a hundred plantations grew sugar and cotton with enslaved African labor.

That year, enslaved Akwamu people seized the Danish fort at Coral Bay and began a revolt that lasted about six months, until French troops arrived from Martinique; the park honors it as one of the first major uprisings of its kind in the Americas. Denmark emancipated the enslaved population in 1848, the plantations declined, and in 1917 the United States bought the Danish West Indies for 25 million dollars. The ruins of the sugar factory and windmill on the Annaberg plantation, founded in 1731, now explain this history, and Cruz Bay, founded in 1766, keeps its old Battery near the harbor.

Getting there and around

St. John has no airport. Most visitors fly into Cyril E. King Airport (STT) on St. Thomas, take a taxi to Red Hook on the island's east end, and catch the ferry to Cruz Bay, a short and frequent crossing; less frequent ferries also leave from Charlotte Amalie. Car barges cross from Red Hook during daylight hours, and ferries link Cruz Bay with Tortola and other British Virgin Islands, which means clearing customs and immigration.

On the island, taxis are easy to find in Cruz Bay, and a public bus runs between Cruz Bay and Salt Pond Bay along Centerline Road. A rental car, usually a four-wheel-drive, gives the most freedom for reaching beaches and villas, but roads are narrow and steep with sharp bends, and traffic drives on the left. The US dollar is the currency, and US citizens arriving from St. Thomas do not need a passport.

Weather and when to visit

St. John is warm all year, with an average temperature of about 26 degrees Celsius, little difference between summer and winter, and steady trade winds that are strongest in winter. Annual rainfall averages around 1,400 millimeters, and the driest months, December to April, are also the main tourist season, so villas are best booked well in advance for that period.

The rest of the year coincides with the Atlantic hurricane season, from June to November, when rentals are usually easier to find. In September 2017 Hurricanes Irma and Maria, both Category 5 storms, struck the Virgin Islands within two weeks, damaging homes, forests and reefs; the national park reopened its roads, trails and beaches by December of that year, though rebuilding on the island took much longer. Travel insurance and flexible plans make sense in late summer and autumn, while May and June often bring calm seas and fewer visitors.