Pick the island first. Everything here follows the boat.
Which catamaran actually stops long enough to swim, what the taxi from the airport really runs to, and whether St Croix is worth a separate flight.
A catamaran, a St John crossing, a night paddle, a reef.
The four bookings a first Virgin Islands week gets built around. What each one costs, and what the people who took it said afterwards.
01The one everybody booksTurtle Cove Catamaran Snorkel and Sail at Little Buck Island STTLittle Buck Island by catamaran, with enough time in the water to justify the fins. The busiest boat in the territory for a reason.
02The crossingSnorkel St. John Tour from Sapphire and MargaritavilleSt John reef from a St Thomas dock, so you get the island without moving hotels. Sapphire and Margaritaville pickups.
03After darkNight Kayak Tour St. Thomas – Westin Frenchman’s ReefLit kayaks through the mangrove lagoon once the sun has gone. The one thing here you cannot do in daylight.
04The half day that worksCas Cay – Kayak Hike and Snorkel AdventureCas Cay: paddle out, walk the salt pond trail, snorkel the drop. Three things in one morning, under a hundred dollars.
In the Virgin Islands the good day starts at a dock, not a car park.
Almost everything worth doing here floats. Catamarans out to Buck Island and the turtle grass off Water Island, the fast run across Pillsbury Sound to St John, dive boats over wrecks nobody has to swim far to reach. The road network is an afterthought and the drivers know it.
Three islands under one flag, and they do not feel remotely alike.
St Thomas has the airport, the cruise berths and nearly every boat. St John is two thirds national park and reached by ferry. St Croix sits forty miles south across deep water, with its own airport and its own history.
Catamaran, sailing yacht, or a hull to yourself off St Thomas.
The water is the whole point of a week here. Three kinds of boat day, what it costs to get aboard each one, and what you actually get for the difference.
The reef starts about ten metres off a Virgin Islands beach.
You do not need a boat to see something here, but a boat gets you to the good stuff: green turtles grazing the sea grass at Buck Island, the wall off Cane Bay on St Croix, and shallow patch reef at Coki that a nervous swimmer can handle.
- 1Turtle Cove Catamaran Snorkel and Sail at Little Buck Island STTfrom $119
- 2Sea Trek Helmet Dive at Coral World Ocean Parkfrom $119
- 3Snorkel & Swim with Turtles. Semi Private Tour to Buck Island & Honeymoon Beachfrom $160
The Virgin Islands days out that more people book than any other.
Every review on the site →These carry more travellers than anything else across the three islands, and each one earns the slot for a different reason.
1
Turtle Cove Catamaran Snorkel and Sail at Little Buck Island STT
Sail from Frenchman’s Cove to Little Buck Island for turtle snorkeling, reef fish, snacks, and open-bar drinks on a 3-hour catamaran trip.
From · $119
Read our review →
2
Snorkel St. John Tour from Sapphire and Margaritaville
from $180
3
Night Kayak Tour St. Thomas – Westin Frenchman’s Reef
from $69
4
Tree Limin’ Extreme Zipline
from $155
5
Parasail Experience in St Thomas
from $146
6
Sunset & Harbor Lights Dinner Sail from the Marriott’s Frenchman’s Cove
from $119
7
Night Kayak Tour St. John – Westin Resort
from $69
8
Sea Trek Helmet Dive at Coral World Ocean Park
from $119
If the ship sails at five, St Thomas is not the island setting your clock.
Ships berth at Havensight and Crown Bay, both a short taxi from town. That leaves seven or eight hours, and the ferry to St John eats ninety minutes of it before you have done anything. St Croix is a different island entirely — a flight or a long ferry, not a shore excursion. Book something that ends where it started.
The mangrove lagoon is a better trip at night than in daylight.
Lit kayaks go out through the mangroves off St Thomas after dark, when the water throws the light back and the herons stop caring about you. The alternative is a dinner sail out of Frenchman’s Reef with the harbour lights coming on behind you. Both beat a resort bar.
Every evening trip →
Charlotte Amalie is a Danish port town with a duty-free street bolted through it.
The warehouses along Dronningens Gade were built for sugar and are full of watches now, but the bones are Danish: yellow ballast brick carried as ship’s weight, stepped alleys running uphill off the waterfront, a fort from 1671 and a stone tower on the ridge that has been called Blackbeard’s for longer than anyone can prove.
- 1Parasail Experience in St Thomasfrom $146
- 2Flavors of St Thomas Walking Food Tourfrom $145
- 3Private Four Hour Historic/Beach Tour with Star Fish Tours & Taxifrom $287
What a day out in the Virgin Islands actually costs.
Every priced tour on the site, grouped by what you pay. This is not a cheap territory and the boat days are where the money goes — but the reef off a public beach costs a taxi fare.
Island sightseeing runs, town walks, park entries and the shared taxi tours out of the cruise berths.
The standards: half-day catamarans, turtle snorkels, night kayaks and the St John crossings.
Full-day sails to the cays, two-tank dives and a boat with nobody else on it.
By island — and by the towns on them
By kind of day — deck, reef, road or after dark
The newest Virgin Islands tour reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
St. John Luxury Catamaran Turtle Snorkel and Cays Full Day
Read our review →
Full or Half Day Private Power Catamaran- USVI Beach and Snorkel
Read our review →
Days End Sunset Sail from the Westin at Frenchman’s Reef
Read our review →
St. John Sail with Bar and Hors d’Oeuvres to Lovango Dinner
Read our review →
St Thomas Kayak and Sea Turtle Snorkel Excursion
Read our review →
St. Thomas Jost Van Dyke & Soggy Dollar Snorkel Sail w/ Breakfast – Ritz-Carlton
Read our review →
PARADISE TAXI & TOURS USVI-St. Thomas- Airport Transfer to Ritz Carlton Elysian
Read our review →
