The third-largest of the British Virgin Islands: about 8 square miles, long and thin, with the granite boulders of The Baths at its south-west tip and the sheltered water of North Sound at its north-east end. Most visitors arrive by ferry from Tortola into Spanish Town, the island's small capital — then it is beaches, boulders and boats.
Live schedules, official fares, today's beach and weather reads, cameras and maps — each one opens the full page.
Virgin Gorda drawn from the island's surveyed shoreline, with the roads the taxis drive and the sand of the main beaches. Tap a pin for its page.
Most people reach Virgin Gorda by ferry from Tortola. Fly into Terrance B. Lettsome Airport (EIS) on Beef Island and take the short boat from Trellis Bay, a few minutes' walk from the terminal, or take a taxi to Road Town for the main ferry. Both land at the Spanish Town dock, beside the Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbour.
From the U.S. Virgin Islands there are direct international boats from Red Hook and Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas and from Cruz Bay on St. John on a few days a week — the table shows which. Otherwise cross to Tortola first and change boats. Virgin Gorda's own airstrip (VIJ) takes small planes and charters only.
| Route | Crossing | Adult one way | Resident / senior | Boats a day now | Operators |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trellis Bay, Tortola ↔ Spanish Town | 20 min | $25 | — | 6 | Speedy's Ferry |
| Road Town, Tortola ↔ Spanish Town | 30 min | $25 | — | 13 | Speedy's Ferry, Road Town Fast Ferry |
| Great Harbour, Jost Van Dyke ↔ Spanish Town | 60 min | $80 | — | 1 | New Horizon Ferry |
Fastest: Trellis Bay, Tortola ↔ Spanish Town, 20 min. Children and bag fees vary by route — each timetable page has the full fare table and booking links.
These crossings are international: bring a passport, and clear customs and immigration at both ends.
Every ferry today · EIS airport flights · Do you need a passport? · Flying to the Virgin Islands
Open-air taxis meet the ferries at the Spanish Town dock and charge the official fixed fares below — per person, cheaper each as the group grows. Spanish Town to The Baths is a short ride up the hill; North Sound is the long one, over the ridge past Gorda Peak.
Rental jeeps are easy to find in Spanish Town. Drive on the left; the road to North Sound is steep and winding. North Sound's resorts, the Bitter End and Saba Rock are reached by water taxi from Gun Creek or Leverick Bay.
| To | 1 passenger | 3+ (each) |
|---|---|---|
| Copper Mine | $10 | $5 |
| Savannah Bay | $10 | $6 |
| Spring Bay | $10 | $5 |
| The Baths | $10 | $5 |
| Leverick Bay | $15 | $8 |
| North Sound (Gun Creek) | $18 | $10 |
Fares set by the BVI Road Traffic (Passenger Fares) Regulations (rates revised December 2022). Per person, in three tiers: one rider, two, and three or more. Fare calculator for any two stops · Rent or take taxis?
The Baths, Devil's Bay and Spring Bay are BVI National Parks Trust land; the Trust charges an entry fee at The Baths. The beaches on the north-west coast are free, quiet and mostly undeveloped. Numbers match the map. For which one is calm and uncrowded today, open the beach report.
Photo: Mattes, CC BY 2.0 deHouse-sized granite boulders piled on white sand, with sea pools and grottos between them. A BVI National Parks Trust park with an entry fee; a short, steep trail leads down from the car park, and the Caves trail threads through the boulders to Devil's Bay. Busiest late morning, when day boats and ship excursions arrive.
Taxi from Spanish Town: $10 for one rider, $5 each for three or more
Just north of The Baths: the same boulders with more sand and a fraction of the crowd, also National Parks Trust land. Snorkel along the rocks; the water inside the boulders is sheltered on most days.
Taxi from Spanish Town: $10 for one rider, $5 each for three or more
A long, undeveloped curve of white sand where the island narrows, a few minutes north of Spanish Town. No facilities — bring water and shade. Snorkel the reef off the rocky north end.
Taxi from Spanish Town: $10 for one rider, $6 each for three or more
A calm, sheltered bay on the north-west coast below the road to North Sound, with clear water, a few moorings and villas on the hill above. Quieter than Savannah Bay.
Photo: Mattes, CC BY 2.0 deFrom the beach at The Baths the trail squeezes through and under the boulders — ladders, rope handholds and knee-deep pools — and comes out on Devil's Bay, a small beach in the rocks. Allow about 20 minutes each way, wear shoes that can get wet, and keep your phone in a dry bag. Go before 9am or after 3pm to have it to yourself.
Photo: Legis, Public domainThe stone chimney and engine house of a 19th-century copper mine, worked by Cornish miners, on the cliffs at the island's south-east end. A National Parks Trust site with the sea breaking on the rocks below; a short taxi ride from Spanish Town.
Photo: Jerrye and Roy Klotz MD, CC BY-SA 3.0Gorda Peak National Park covers the top of the island. Trails climb from the North Sound road through dry forest to a lookout near the summit, with North Sound and the islands down the Sir Francis Drake Channel below. Short but steep: go early and carry water.
Photo: kansasphoto, CC BY 2.0The big sheltered sound at the island's north-east end, ringed by Mosquito Island, Prickly Pear and Eustatia — one of the most popular anchorages in the BVI. Take a taxi to Gun Creek or Leverick Bay and a water taxi across to the Bitter End and Saba Rock, whose live camera shows the sound right now.
A 1940 U.S. Navy fuel barge sunk off the north-west coast in 2017 as the BVI Art Reef, inside the steel mesh of an 80 ft kraken sculpture that Hurricane Irma damaged the same year — the mesh now carries coral and reef fish. Shallow enough to snorkel the top; dive shops at Leverick Bay and the Bitter End run trips.
North Sound and the moorings off The Baths are stops on almost every BVI charter week, and Anegada is a short sail north. Our chart table has the anchorages, the mooring balls and the week's wind and swell.
A ferry links Spanish Town with Great Harbour on Jost Van Dyke, but not on a fixed daily timetable — check the route page before you plan around it. It is a long day there and back; a day charter is the more flexible way.
Spanish Town is where most visitors eat: the bars and restaurants round the Yacht Harbour, the boulder-set tables of The Rock Café and the beach bar at Fischer's Cove. Two places sit right at the entrance to The Baths. North Sound has its own scene by boat — Leverick Bay, the Bitter End, Saba Rock — and several resorts there close for part of the autumn; the list below says who, from our seasonal-closures tracker.
From our tracker of 11 Virgin Gorda spots. Every island's off-season closures
Shopping: Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbour Shops — Cluster of boutiques, provisioning stores and gift shops at the Spanish Town marina. Good for souvenirs, local art and charter boat supplies.
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 several North Sound resorts close and the island is at its quietest.
| Day | Sky | High / low | Rain | Wind | Seas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Today | Drizzle | 86° / 84°F | 31% | ESE 19 mph | 3.5 ft |
| Tomorrow | Thunderstorms | 85° / 80°F | 76% | ESE 19 mph, gusts 27 | 4 ft |
| Wed, Oct 7 | Showers | 83° / 80°F | 77% | ESE 20 mph, gusts 26 | 3.7 ft |
| Thu, Oct 8 | Thunderstorms | 85° / 79°F | 58% | ESE 17 mph | 3.1 ft |
| Fri, Oct 9 | Drizzle | 85° / 83°F | 57% | E 18 mph | 3.2 ft |
| Sat, Oct 10 | Drizzle | 83° / 78°F | 65% | ENE 14 mph, gusts 22 | 2.6 ft |
| Sun, Oct 11 | Showers | 82° / 79°F | 70% | ESE 14 mph, gusts 22 | 2.1 ft |
Open-Meteo forecast for Virgin Gorda, refreshed every half hour. Live weather map · BVI sailing weather & marine zones
Daily-mean sea-surface temperature, averaged 2021–2024 (Open-Meteo marine reanalysis): warmest in Sep (86.3°F), coolest in Feb (79.5°F). Hurricane history map
Virgin Gorda has no cruise pier. Small ships — sailing yachts, expedition and small luxury vessels — anchor off Spanish Town and tender guests to the Yacht Harbour for The Baths, or anchor in North Sound off the Bitter End and Saba Rock. The crowds at The Baths come mostly from the big ships in Road Town, whose excursions ferry across for the day.
No ship calls at Spanish Town and Gorda Sound in the next 30 days.
One live camera on Virgin Gorda — 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.
In the Third Anglo-Dutch War, Colonel William Stapleton's force from the Leeward Islands takes Tortola. Virgin Gorda and Anegada follow by 1680 — the British Virgin Islands begin here.
Separated from the Leeward Islands, the BVI becomes its own colony, and on November 15, 1960 raises the flag it flies today — the Blue Ensign with the badge of St. Ursula and her lamps. A 1967 constitution brings elected government; today it is a British Overseas Territory.
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.
Arriving from St. Thomas or St. John is an international crossing: bring a passport and expect to pay the BVI entry fees at customs.
The Baths fills with day boats and ship excursions from mid-morning. Before 9am or after 3pm it is a different place.
The Caves trail means wading, ladders and wet rock. Water shoes or sandals with a strap, and a dry bag for the phone.
Keep left, especially on the steep, blind bends of the road to North Sound. Rental companies arrange the temporary BVI permit.
Taxis and small bars prefer cash in U.S. dollars. Spanish Town has banks and ATMs; North Sound has few.
A big north swell makes The Baths rough, and swimming in from a moored boat can be unsafe. Our beach report reads 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 IslandsSt. JohnFerries, taxis, beaches, hikes and a true map of St. John — two-thirds national park — with today's weather and the next boat from Red Hook.
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 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 Tortola's Terrance B. Lettsome Airport (EIS) and take the ferry from Trellis Bay beside it, or take a taxi to Road Town for the main ferry — both land at Spanish Town. From the U.S. Virgin Islands there are direct ferries from St. Thomas and St. John on some days of the week; otherwise go via Tortola. Virgin Gorda's own airstrip takes small planes only.
Yes. Virgin Gorda is in the British Virgin Islands, a British Overseas Territory, so arriving from St. Thomas or St. John is an international trip: you clear BVI customs and immigration and pay entry fees on arrival, and U.S. customs again on the way back.
Yes. The Baths is a BVI National Parks Trust park and charges an entry fee, which also covers Devil's Bay and the trail between them.
Allow two to three hours: the walk down from the car park, time on the beach and in the grottos, the Caves trail through the boulders to Devil's Bay (about 20 minutes) and the walk back up. Go before 9am or after 3pm to avoid the day-boat and cruise crowds.
Taxis wait at the Spanish Town ferry dock and charge the official per-person fare — Spanish Town to The Baths is $10 for one rider, $5 each for three or more. It is a short ride up the hill; the same fare table covers Spring Bay, Savannah Bay, Copper Mine and North Sound.
The Baths for its granite boulders and grottos; Devil's Bay at the end of the Caves trail; Spring Bay for the same boulders with fewer people; Savannah Bay for a long, empty beach with reef snorkeling; and Mahoe Bay for calm water on the north-west coast.
Not for The Baths and the beaches near Spanish Town: taxis meet every ferry, and even North Sound is a fixed fare ($18 for one rider, $10 each for three or more to Gun Creek). A rental jeep makes it easier to explore the north-west coast, Gorda Peak and North Sound in one day. Drive on the left.
December to April is the dry season with the most reliable weather and the busiest anchorages. May, June and November are quieter and still warm. August to October is the peak of hurricane season, when several North Sound resorts and restaurants close for a few weeks.