Are you ready to snorkel with cute little sea turtles and drink the iconic Virgin Islands Painkiller cocktail? We’re going to make it happen on your next trip to the Caribbean! The Virgin Islands are known for having some of the best beaches in the Caribbean with soft white sand and crystal clear water… and very strong cocktails.
With over 50 beaches in the Virgin Islands to choose from, it can feel overwhelming with which beach to pick when visiting for your first time. After visiting the Virgin Islands twice, I’m sharing with you my five favorite Virgin Island beaches.
The beaches in today’s post include lounge beaches, snorkeling beaches, and adventurous beaches and are located on St. Thomas, St. John, Water Island, and the British Virgin Islands. All of the beaches covered are beaches that we would definitely visit again and may have already visited twice.
A little bit about our trips to the Virgin Islands:
- We typically spend six days there, but I would be happy with 4-5 days (and think that would be my preference)
- Where did we stay?
- 1st trip: Bluebeards Beach Club – great views, numerous restaurants on-site, further drives to restaurants and beaches
- 2nd trip: Margaritaville Vacation Club – very close to beaches, Red Hook restaurants, and marinas
- We usually explore a new beach each day and spend time at the pool and the resort in the late afternoons and evenings
- We love that it’s a five hour flight, in the same timezone as Ohio, and uses USD$
- BRING YOUR PASSPORT – it’s needed for the British Virgin Islands if you are staying on the U.S. Virgin Islands
St. Thomas Beaches
Coki Beach
We love getting recommendations from locals and with Coki Beach being recommended to us numerous times… we knew had to check it out. I’m so glad we did because Coki Beach became my first favorite beach in the Virgin Islands. I think it has such a fun vibe to it — it’s on the smaller side, reggae music is bumping across the beach, the cocktails are strong, and it’s great that there are servers that come to your beach chair to take food and drink orders.
Snorkeling
As a newbie (scared) snorkeler, I think Coki Beach is a great beach to snorkel at for beginners. This was the first beach I snorkeled at and it made me feel a lot more comfortable that the beach was smaller and the fish swim right up to the shallow waters. Another plus is that you can buy dog biscuits to feed to the fish and they will swim right up to you!!
General Beach Info:
Coki Beach is a cruise ship destination, so you’ll definitely want to check in with your concierge about the cruise ship schedule… and avoid at all costs! Coki Beach is right next to Coral World Marine Park and is only a five minute walk from Margaritaville Vacation Club. When you’re walking up to Coki Beach, you’ll see lots of tents and vendors set up selling souvenirs. I bought a little bracelet from a woman who was hitch hiking all over the world! She was on her way to Canada next.
You can rent beach chairs, umbrellas, and snorkeling equipment at Coki Beach. The fried conch fritters were AMAZING (I hope they’re in season when you go)!
- Bar: Yes
- Food: Yes
- Snorkeling equipment: Yes, for rent
- Beach equipment: Yes, for rent (always a good packaged deal with snorkel gear and beach equipment)
- Getting there: Taxi from other areas of the island or walk from Margaritaville Vacation Club
Water Island
Water Island is an amazing man-made beach to visit if you are looking for a little rest and relaxation. We have visited Water Island twice because we love how calming it is, especially with all the palm trees, straw umbrellas, and the mountains and boats in the distance. It’s a small beach, similar to Coki Beach, that has a bar, and two restaurants, Heidi’s Honeymoon Grill (awesome fish tacos!! and pictured below *heart eyes*) and Dinghys Beach Bar and Grill.
Snorkeling
Water Island is a great place to snorkel with sea turtles! We snorkeled with the sea turtles the last time we were there and during our first visit, we didn’t snorkel, but multiple people ran out of the water screaming they swam with the turtles (lol).
General Beach Info:
It’s a quick 15 minute ferry ride from Crown Bay Marina on St. Thomas. Here is additional information about Water Island. We chatted with a man who moved there with his wife and learned a little bit about the island. Some little fun facts: about 150-200 people living on Water Island, they have movie nights on the beach and sometimes they have to cut down the coconuts from the trees to make sure nobody gets knocked out!
- Bar: Yes
- Food: Yes
- Beach equipment: Provided, complimentary (at least when we were there in 2019)
- Getting there: 15 minute small boat ride from St. Thomas
fish tacos! so crispy and delish.
St. John Beaches
With the Virgin Islands being part of the National Park, we decided it would be a fun adventure to hike to Honeymoon Beach on the Lind Point Trail (about one mile). There is nothing more rewarding than finishing a hike and running into the ocean! The hike was on the easier side, but it was difficult in flip-flops and non-hiking gear. You’ll definitely want to bring water with you because it is HOT.
You can stop at the travel center and purchase cheap water packs, if you didn’t bring a water bottle. While on the hike, you’ll come across a spectacular view point overlooking St. John Bay. There are open air cabs to get you from beach to beach on St. John also.
Honeymoon Beach
Just wow, Honeymoon Beach is BEAUTIFUL and hiking here made it even more rewarding. You will be blown away by how blue the water — Honeymoon Beach had to be one of the most stunning beaches we visited. I definitely want to visit again! There were yachts and luxurious sailboats docked in the distance that created a barrier from the rest of the world, it made it even more perfect.
You can order food and alcoholic beverages at Bikinis on the Beach Bar and Grill. We ended up purchasing a reusable rubber cup for the frozen cocktails from the restaurant and we may or may not be convinced that they put way more alcohol in your cocktails if you purchase a reusable cup — it seems like a great trade off to me!
- Bar: Yes
- Food: Yes
- Snorkeling equipment: Yes, for rent
- Beach equipment: Yes, for rent – Honeymoon Beach equipment rental information
- Getting there: Hiking, open air taxi, need a ferry from St. Thomas/St. Croix
Trunk Bay
Trunk Bay is a world renowned beach known for its famous self-guided under water snorkel trail! It’s a really cool experience to follow the signs under the water to see the different types of coral reef. When snorkeling in Trunk Bay both times we swam through thousands of tiny fish — it is such a cool experience, but kind of scary (for me) because you are snorkeling around a large rock about 100 feet away from the shoreline.
In the photo below, you can see the first large rock in the distance, that is where you’ll snorkel around for the under water trail.
General Beach Info:
- Bar: Unsure
- Food: Yes
- Snorkeling equipment: For rent
- Beach equipment: For rent – Trunk Bay beach equipment rental information
- Getting there: open air taxi
- Showers available to rinse off afterwards
British Virgin Islands
Omg! We had the best time visiting the British Virgin Islands while on a small group boat tour hosted by New Horizons & Breakaway Charters. I will do a whole blog post about our experience and the ins-and-outs of the group boat tour… stay tuned!
The Baths on Virgin Gorda
Visiting The Baths on Virgin Gorda was AWESOME – we have never seen anything like The Baths before and we would highly recommend making a trip out there from the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Baths have bright blue water and are surrounded with massive, smooth boulders that are plopped right into the middle of the bay. It was such a peaceful, relaxing, and fascinating place to see.
On top of the hill is Top of The Baths Restaurant and Bar, it was a beautiful outdoor restaurant setting and the sushi I had was so fresh (I thought about it for days after). I would definitely eat at Top of The Baths Restaurant and Bar again!
- Bar: Yes, at restaurant
- Food: Yes
- Snorkeling equipment: N/A
- Beach equipment: N/A
- Getting there: Group boat tour – here is additional information about visiting the British Virgin Islands
- I loved the boat tour because they handled all of the passport requirements and it made it really easy for us
Soggy Dollar Bar
Have you ever heard of the Soggy Dollar Bar on Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands? I hadn’t until a few years ago… it’s the Soggy Dollar Bar because you have to SWIM THERE FROM YOUR BOAT! I have never done anything like this before! It was sooo much fun. That also means you have to swim back to the boat after you had a few strong cocktails from the Soggy Dollar Bar.
I know I keep saying the cocktails are strong, but these were by far the strongest cocktails we had in the Virgin Islands.
- Bar: Hell yes
- Food: Yes – Soggy Dollar lunch menu
- Snorkeling equipment: No – I double checked TripAdvisor and numerous comments said no, due to the amount of alcohol being consumed (lol… I told you).
- Getting there: Group boat tour
Until next time, Virgin Islands!
Writing this blog post made me miss the ocean so much! I can’t wait to visit the Virgin Islands again, but hoping to get out to Hawaii next. All of these beaches are unique in their own way, which is what makes them incredible. I have to say the most exciting thing for me was swimming to the Soggy Dollar Bar, I remember we just couldn’t stop laughing during the swim in. I would highly recommend visiting the British Virgin Islands too, but personally love staying on St. Thomas because of easy access to restaurants and the airport.
I hope you find this beach guide useful and have the best time on your trip! Let me know in the comments below what your favorite beach is in the Virgin Islands.
