The smallest and greenest of the three U.S. Virgin Islands: about 20 square miles, around 60 percent of it Virgin Islands National Park, no airport and no cruise pier. Everyone arrives by boat into Cruz Bay — then it is white-sand bays, reef trails and switchback roads.
Live schedules, official fares, today's beach and weather reads, cameras and maps — each one opens the full page.
St. John drawn from the U.S. Census shoreline, with Virgin Islands National Park (green) from the National Park Service's own boundary, the roads the taxis drive, and the sand of the main beaches. Tap a pin for its page.
St. John has no airport. Fly into Cyril E. King Airport (STT) on St. Thomas, take a taxi to a ferry terminal, and cross by boat: almost everyone lands at the Cruz Bay dock, a short walk from everything in town.
The quick way is the Red Hook ferry on St. Thomas's east end — about 20 minutes, roughly hourly from early morning to late evening. The downtown boat from Charlotte Amalie takes about 45 minutes and runs a few times a day in season (it pauses for part of the off-season — the table shows whether it is running now), which can suit you if you are staying in town.
From the airport: a taxi from Airport (STT) to Red Hook is $23 for one rider, $17 each for two or more, about 30–40 minutes — see the fare.
| Route | Crossing | Adult one way | Resident / senior | Boats a day now | Operators |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hook, St. Thomas ↔ Cruz Bay | 20 min | $8.15 | $6 | 18 | Varlack Ventures, Transportation Services of St. John |
| Crown Bay, St. Thomas ↔ Cruz Bay | 35 min | $20 | $15 | 2 | Inter Island Boat Services |
| Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas ↔ Cruz Bay | 45 min | $13 | $12 | Paused · back Nov 1 | Varlack Ventures, Transportation Services of St. John |
Fastest: Red Hook, St. Thomas ↔ Cruz Bay, 20 min. Children and bag fees vary by route — each timetable page has the full fare table and booking links.
International ferries leave Cruz Bay for the BVI. A passport is required, and you clear BVI customs and pay entry fees on arrival.
The full STT → St. John guide · Every ferry today · STT airport wait times · Flying to the Virgin Islands
There is no bus to the beaches and no ride-hailing. You either rent a jeep in Cruz Bay or ride the open-air safari taxis, which wait at the ferry dock and charge an official fixed fare per person — the table below has the fare from Cruz Bay to every main beach and to Coral Bay, straight from the VI Taxicab Commission schedule.
Driving is on the left, the roads are steep, narrow and full of switchbacks, and parking at the north-shore beaches fills by mid-morning in season. Book a rental early in winter: the island's fleet is small.
| To | 1 passenger | 2+ (each) |
|---|---|---|
| Gallows Point | $8 | $6 |
| Caneel Bay | $9 | $8 |
| Hawksnest | $9 | $8 |
| Westin Resort | $9 | $7 |
| Trunk Bay | $12 | $9 |
| Windmill Bar/Neptune Landing | $12 | $9 |
| Cinnamon Bay | $14 | $11 |
| Maho Bay Beach | $17 | $12 |
| Francis Bay | $20 | $14 |
| Coral Bay | $25 | $15 |
| Hurricane Hole | $29 | $20 |
| Salt Pond Bay | $30 | $21 |
| Lameshur | $38 | $25 |
Fares set by the VI Taxicab Commission (rates revised October 24, 2022). Per person; night (midnight–6am), luggage and waiting surcharges apply. Fare calculator for any two stops · Cruz Bay parking · Rent or take taxis?
Most of St. John's beaches are national park: public, protected, unbuilt and free — Trunk Bay, with its day-use fee, is the one exception. Numbers match the map. For which one is calm and uncrowded today, open the beach report.
Photo: Bradley Furlow, CC BY-SA 4.0On Salomon Bay below Lind Point: a 15–30 minute walk on the Lind Point Trail from the visitor center, or the shore walk from the old Caneel Bay road. Gentle water and loungers and kayaks to rent.
Taxi from Cruz Bay (fare to Caneel Bay, then the shore walk): $9 for one rider, $8 each for two or more
The first national-park beach on the North Shore Road, a few minutes from Cruz Bay. A narrow strip of sand with reef right off it and fewer people than Trunk.
Taxi from Cruz Bay: $9 for one rider, $8 each for two or more
Photo: Prayitno, CC BY 2.0The postcard beach — and the one with the National Park Service's marked underwater snorkel trail round Trunk Cay. The only St. John beach that charges a day-use fee; it has lifeguards, showers and a snack bar, and it is busiest when ships are in Charlotte Amalie.
Taxi from Cruz Bay: $12 for one rider, $9 each for two or more
Photo: Gruepig, CC BY-SA 4.0The island's longest north-shore beach, with water-sport rentals, the campground and sugar-mill ruins behind it. Snorkel out to Cinnamon Cay on a calm morning.
Taxi from Cruz Bay: $14 for one rider, $11 each for two or more
Photo: Amaury Laporte, CC BY 2.0Shallow, sheltered and right beside the road: the turtle beach. Green sea turtles graze the seagrass a few yards out, which makes it the easiest turtle swim in the territory.
Taxi from Cruz Bay: $17 for one rider, $12 each for two or more
Past Maho at the end of the road: a long, quiet beach with a salt pond trail for birds behind it. Calm on most days.
Taxi from Cruz Bay: $20 for one rider, $14 each for two or more
Photo: Eoghanacht, CC0Park at Annaberg and walk the flat shoreline trail to Waterlemon Cay — widely called the best snorkeling on St. John: turtles, rays, starfish and a reef ringing the cay. Water shoes help on the rocky entry.
Taxi from Cruz Bay: $20 for one rider, $14 each for two or more
A short trail down from the road near the island's south-east tip. Good snorkeling at both points, and the start of the Ram Head hike. Sheltered when the north swell is running.
Taxi from Cruz Bay: $30 for one rider, $21 each for two or more
Little and Great Lameshur, down a rough road on the south shore: few people, good snorkeling, and the trail up to the Reef Bay petroglyphs.
Taxi from Cruz Bay: $38 for one rider, $25 each for two or more
Photo: Gruepig, CC BY-SA 3.0A flat walk of under a mile from the Annaberg parking area along Leinster Bay, then a swim out to the cay. Turtles in the seagrass on the way, a reef all round the cay. Best on a calm morning; the current round the cay's far side can be strong.
Photo: Farragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0The best-preserved sugar works in the Virgin Islands: the windmill tower, the horse mill, the boiling house and the slave quarters, on a hill over Leinster Bay with the BVI across the Narrows. Free, in the national park, and the start of the Leinster Bay Trail.
Photo: Scott Long, CC BY 3.0From Salt Pond Bay, about a mile each way over a cobble beach and up a dry, cactus-covered ridge to the cliffs at the island's south-east tip. No shade: go early and carry water.
The park's signature hike: 2.2 miles one way, steeply downhill from Centerline Road through the forest to Taíno petroglyphs by a freshwater pool and the ruins of a sugar factory at Reef Bay. The walk back is all uphill — plan for it.
A hilltop bar above Cruz Bay looking west over Pillsbury Sound to St. Thomas, built round an old windmill. Taxis run up from town; the bar's live camera is on our webcams page if you want to check the sky first.
A taco bar on a barge in Coral Harbor that you can only reach by boat — kayak, shuttle, or your own charter. Closed for part of the off-season; the Lime Out page has every ride, the menu and whether it is open today.
Jost Van Dyke's White Bay and the Soggy Dollar are a short hop from Cruz Bay by ferry or a day charter; Norman Island and The Baths make a long, spectacular day. Passport required, plus BVI entry fees.
Cruz Bay is where most of the island eats and drinks: the waterfront at Wharfside Village, the courtyards round Mongoose Junction, and a few blocks of open-air bars between. Coral Bay, a 25-minute drive east, is quieter and more local. Many places close for some or all of August to October — the list below says who, from our seasonal-closures tracker.
From our tracker of 80 St. John spots. Every island's off-season closures
Shopping: Mongoose Junction — Stone-and-wood open-air shopping village. Local artists, Bajo el Sol gallery, Pink Papaya, Bamboula Caribbean. Wharfside Village — Waterfront Cruz Bay plaza with boutiques, beach bars and restaurants right next to the ferry dock.
Warm all year: highs in the mid-80s °F, a steady easterly trade wind, and short tropical showers rather than all-day rain. December to April is the dry, busy season. June to November is hurricane season, with the peak from mid-August to mid-October — when many restaurants close and the ferries run an off-season timetable.
| Day | Sky | High / low | Rain | Wind | Seas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Today | Drizzle | 85° / 83°F | 44% | ESE 19 mph | 3.4 ft |
| Tomorrow | Drizzle | 85° / 80°F | 76% | ESE 19 mph, gusts 26 | 4 ft |
| Wed, Oct 7 | Drizzle | 83° / 79°F | 76% | ESE 19 mph, gusts 27 | 3.7 ft |
| Thu, Oct 8 | Thunderstorms | 84° / 80°F | 61% | E 16 mph | 3.1 ft |
| Fri, Oct 9 | Drizzle | 84° / 83°F | 43% | E 18 mph, gusts 24 | 3.4 ft |
| Sat, Oct 10 | Drizzle | 83° / 81°F | 67% | ENE 14 mph, gusts 24 | 2.8 ft |
| Sun, Oct 11 | Drizzle | 83° / 79°F | 63% | ESE 15 mph, gusts 24 | 2.2 ft |
Open-Meteo forecast for St. John, refreshed every half hour. Live weather map · NWS alerts & marine forecast
Daily-mean sea-surface temperature, averaged 2021–2024 (Open-Meteo marine reanalysis): warmest in Sep (86.3°F), coolest in Feb (79.7°F). Hurricane history map
No cruise pier was ever built on St. John: ships anchor off Cruz Bay and tender passengers to the dock beside the ferry terminal. Calls are small — expedition ships, sailing yachts and small luxury vessels — so a ship day here is a few hundred people, not a few thousand. The crowds St. John feels come from the big ships in Charlotte Amalie, whose excursions ferry over to Trunk Bay.
2 calls at the Cruz Bay anchorage in the next 30 days. Next:
6 live cameras on St. John — check the water, the ferry dock or the sunset before you go.
Seventeen Spanish ships anchor at Salt River, St. Croix. A landing party fights the Kalinago there — the first recorded battle between Europeans and Native Americans. Columbus names the chain Las Once Mil Vírgenes and claims it all for Spain; Spain never settles any of it.
Sir Francis Drake leads 27 English ships through the passage between Tortola and St. John on his way to attack Spanish San Juan. The channel has carried his name ever since.
Planters from St. Thomas raise the Dannebrog at Coral Bay and lay out the first estates. Britain, which also claimed the island, protests and lets it go.
Enslaved Akwamu people seize the fort at Coral Bay and hold St. John for six months — one of the earliest and longest slave revolts in the Americas. French troops from Martinique end it in May 1734.
Two hundred soldiers from Martinique retake the island for the Danes.
With Denmark drawn into Napoleon's wars, a British fleet takes St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix without a shot. They are handed back the following February.
The Peace of Amiens returns the three islands to Denmark.
Denmark sides with France after the bombardment of Copenhagen, and the Royal Navy returns. The Union Jack flies over the Danish islands until April 1815.
After Napoleon's fall the islands go back to Denmark, which keeps them for another century.
Denmark agrees to sell St. Thomas and St. John for $7.5 million. Within weeks an earthquake, a tsunami and a hurricane hit the islands, and the U.S. Senate never ratifies the treaty.
$25 million in gold — the most the United States has ever paid for territory. At 4 p.m. in Charlotte Amalie the Dannebrog comes down and the Stars and Stripes go up, with the USS Hancock in the harbour and a U-boat war on in the Atlantic.
St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix and Water Island are the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Jost Van Dyke and Anegada are the British Virgin Islands. Cruise ships and ferries cross the line every day.
The U.S. Virgin Islands ban sunscreens with oxybenzone, octinoxate or octocrylene. Bring a mineral (zinc or titanium) one, or buy it in Cruz Bay.
Keep left — especially on blind switchbacks, and when pulling out of a beach lot. Hoot before a blind corner the way the locals do.
Beach lots on the North Shore are busy and remote; take valuables with you or leave them at home.
Taxis and some beach bars prefer cash. Cruz Bay has ATMs; Coral Bay has fewer options.
Feral donkeys wander the roads and beach lots. Do not feed them, and secure your lunch.
In winter, big north swells can close the north-shore beaches to swimming for a day or two; the south shore stays calm. Our beach report and finder read it daily.
U.S. Virgin IslandsSt. ThomasThe airport, the cruise docks, the Red Hook ferries, taxi fares and the best beaches on a true map of St. Thomas — with today's weather and the next boat to St. John.
U.S. Virgin IslandsWater IslandThe ferry from Crown Bay, Honeymoon Beach, Fort Segarra and a true map of the smallest U.S. Virgin Island, with today's weather and the next boat.
U.S. Virgin IslandsSt. CroixGetting from St. Thomas to St. Croix by seaplane or ferry, the airport, taxi fares, Buck Island, Christiansted, Frederiksted and every main beach on a true map.
British Virgin IslandsTortolaFerries, taxis, beaches and a true map of Tortola — the BVI's capital island and charter base — with today's weather and the next boat from St. Thomas.
British Virgin IslandsVirgin GordaThe Baths, Spring Bay, Savannah Bay and North Sound on a true map, with the next ferry from Road Town, the official taxi fares and today's weather.
British Virgin IslandsJost Van DykeHow to get to Jost Van Dyke, what the taxis cost, White Bay and the Soggy Dollar, Foxy's in Great Harbour, the Bubbly Pool and Sandy Spit — with today's weather and the next boat.
British Virgin IslandsNorman IslandThe boat-only island: day sails and charters from St. Thomas, St. John and Tortola, the Caves at Treasure Point, the Indians, the Bight and its floating bar.Fly into Cyril E. King Airport (STT) on St. Thomas, take a taxi to the Red Hook ferry terminal (about 30–40 minutes), and take the passenger ferry to Cruz Bay — about 20 minutes, roughly every hour. A slower ferry runs from downtown Charlotte Amalie (about 45 minutes), and vehicles cross on the car barge from Red Hook to Enighed Pond. St. John has no airport.
Not if you are a U.S. citizen: St. John is in the U.S. Virgin Islands, a U.S. territory, so it is a domestic trip. You do need a passport to take a ferry from Cruz Bay to the British Virgin Islands, and non-U.S. visitors need the same documents as for the mainland United States.
About 60 percent of the land is Virgin Islands National Park, created in 1956 after Laurance Rockefeller gave some 5,000 acres to the United States. The park also covers the waters and reefs around much of the island, and the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument protects more of the sea beyond it.
Trunk Bay for its marked underwater snorkel trail and the classic view; Maho Bay for sea turtles in calm, shallow water; Cinnamon Bay for a long beach with water sports; Leinster Bay and Waterlemon Cay for the island's best snorkeling; Honeymoon for an easy walk-in from Cruz Bay; and Salt Pond Bay on the south shore when north swells are running.
Not necessarily. Open-air safari taxis meet every ferry and charge fixed per-person fares to the beaches — Cruz Bay to Trunk Bay is $12 for one rider, $9 each for two or more. A rental jeep makes it easier to reach several beaches in a day and to get to Coral Bay and the south shore. Remember to drive on the left.
Yes. Trunk Bay is the one St. John beach where the National Park Service charges a day-use amenity fee, which pays for its lifeguards, showers and facilities. The other park beaches are free.
No. St. John has no cruise pier. Only small ships — expedition ships, sailing yachts and small luxury vessels — anchor off Cruz Bay and tender passengers to the dock beside the ferry terminal. Big ships call at Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas, and many of their passengers come over on excursions to Trunk Bay.
December to April is the dry season with the most reliable weather and the biggest crowds. May, June and November are quieter and still warm. August to October is the peak of hurricane season, when the island is quietest and many restaurants close for a few weeks.