sbean

Hello all! I am planning a honeymoon for next April and we'd like to try some place new (we love St.John but have vowed to try someplace else). So, we're looking into Tortola. I've read past posts but I'm getting confused about which places are best. In the past we have stayed at Gallow's Point and various rental villas in St. John. This time we're interested in a nice hotel with a nice beach, but in an area where we can go into town (is there one?!) and beach hop. We don't need anything lavish, but as it is our honeymoon, we'd like the ability to be pampered- massages, excursions, horseback riding etc. Any info would be greatly appreciated

lovethecape

I've been to both islands and enjoyed them for different reasons. St. John is tough to beat in beauty and is more upscale. Tortola is less Americanized and has more of its own culture (if that makes sense). It also a good base for island hopping. We took the ferry to Jost.

Long Bay Beach Resort is probably the nicest resort on a beautiful beach. Still it's not really luxury. We stayed there but it was a quick get away. The Sugar Mill is more of an inn with a very good restaurant. The property is charming - we had dinner there. The beach is small and a short walk aross the street.

These are the 2 places I'm familiar with. There are some casual places to stay at Cane Garden Bay.

For upscale you might want to consider Guana Island for a few days. You could do both Tortola and Guana which is a private island.

Little Dix Bay is on Virgin Gorda and it is the sister resort to Caneel on St. John.


Or... you can look else where. St. Kitts and Nevis and two fairly undeveloped islands. The only large resort on St. Kitts is the Marriott, which is very nice, we stayed there. The island was very uncrowded when we went in April and the beaches are very private. Some great restuarants and neat beach bars.

Nevis seems really cool (visited briefly). They have a Four Season for upsale but many Inns Plantations that look very romantic and are much more reasonably priced. The snorkleing isn't as good as the Virgin islands and the beaches don't have the beautiful white sand, more volcanic.

blue_water

We really enjoyed our stay at Myett's in Cane Garden Bay, others have posted excellent reviews for other small inns on the bay. CGB is a great spot for dining and entertainment, and is also the spot for a water taxi to Jost Van Dyke (Soggy $ Bar and Foxy's along with many other spots.
We looked at the Sugar Mill and that was just a little uppity for our taste. We went there for dinner one night and decided to take the short walk to Sebastian's for dinner - we were wonderfully surprised with the best steaks we've had in the islands. And the people were real. The Long Bay Beach Resort is probably the only resort-style property on Tortola. We prefer the smaller, more casual spots where you meet a variety of people. Good watering holes in Road Town and in CGB.
Unfortunately some of the amenities you're looking for - horseback riding at least - may not be available there. The previous replier noted that there are some very nice (and expen$ive) resorts on Peter Island and on Virgin Gorda.
The BVI are a great place for boating and for limin' - we enjoyed a week of quiet on Tortola in early May after a week in St Martin. Tortola is a great place to relax.

mah1980

I will say that although we didn't spend the night in Tortola, we did travel there from St. John this summer and didn't care for it.

By all accounts, if you love St. John (like we did), you will love Virgin Gorda.

Kool_Aid_Salesman

Although pricey, Peter Island is frequently a top rated resort in the BVI. They have free boat shuttle that can get you back and forth to Tortola.

Probably has everything you want.

blue_water

Tortola is quiet like St John, and within a short ferry of St John as well as STT. Jost Van Dyke, Virgin Gorda, and Anegada are all great day trips or alt stays in the BVI also.The BVI and Turks and Caicos are the islands of choice for me because they're beautiful and not yet overly developed. My wife on the other hand would enjoy St Martin or another more developed island more, I'm sure...

EmilyMB

Just came back from a trip that involved St Thomas, St John, Tortola, and side trip to Virgin Gorda. Far and away, St John and Virgin Gorda were our favorites. We're planning a honeymoon in October- a favorite conversation is where in the world we should go and tossing around all of the options. We aren't going to go to the VI's in October, but if it were an option, I don't think we would go to Tortola. We stayed at Myett's in Cane Garden Bay and it was fine, only major complaint was noise- REALLY thin walls and the room is set up to be all open air so the bathroom isn't its own room. We could hear every word our neighbors said, and I'm sure they could hear us too. Though we weren't the ones partying at 2 and 4 am

We loved St John too and the place I've been that had a similar feel- beauty, relaxation, food- was Kauai. Maui, Honduras, and Panama are all on our short list.

GapYear2009

I like the Sugar Mill.

burnsie

There are several villas to rent available on Tortola. Easy to google. We've stayed in the Cane Garden Bay Cottages (which are run by Myett's, but separate) and they were quite nice. I'd also recommend the Sugar Mill, It really doesn't have a beach, but it is very nice. I've met people who go back to Long Bay every year, so they must like it, but I've never stayed there. I would seriously consider staying on Virgin Gorda. It's beautiful.

blue_water

Virgin Gorda is a nice day trip, and you could stay there understanding there is little to do other that enjoy the beauty, which is enough if that's what you're after.

Tortola is situated in a prime spot:

You can water taxi 1/2 hr to Jost Van Dyke which is an excellent day trip (you could also stay on JVD if you want seclusion and also partying at Soggy $ Bar and Foxy's).

You can ferry to Virgin Gorda and enjoy the baths and the Mine Shaft restaurant - what a beautiful view, and the Cave-In - "It's in the juice!!!"

You can ferry to St Thomas and on to St John in less than an hour.

And Tortola has beautiful people and great beaches and excellent food - paradise for us. Stanley's in CGB is the home of the Cheeseburger in Paradise, of course, and also the home of the original palm tree swing postcard. Say hello to Tony!
It really is a great island because of all these great attributes...
Mongoose is a nice quiet spot on CGB, Myett's is wonderful, Val is a great hostess. We spent a week there and loved every minute. Quito's provides great entertainment just a stroll down the beach, and many great restaurants right there.

We felt Sugar Mill a bit stuffy for our tastes and enjoyed Sebastian's a short stroll from Sugar Mill and past Bombz's Shack. Many excellent restaurants in RoadTown area, see Tripadvisor.com for reviews.

If St John is your kinda place then look at Tortola or VG. Or even better Grace Bay in Turks & Caicos - the high-rise condos are going up quickly in Grace Bay but you can still see this great island before it gets busy. I've left trip reports at tripadvidsor and other sites. The Royal West Indies is an excellent choice, see this topic here.
Enjoy!

Nina_novicetraveler

Check out Surfsong Villa Resort at www.surfsong.net. My family of 14 will be travelling there in May of this year for the first time. The pictures are gorgeous, and the reviews that I have found, especially by honeymooners, state that it is quite lovely. The "Treehouse" 1 bedroom villa seems to be most popular with honeymooners. The owners and staff have been wonderful in helping us plan our vacation. They can arrange excursions, dinners, etc. as well. Check out some of the details under their "packages" tab to get a feel for the types of things they can do. There website is strange to navigate, so you might want to read their tips on navigation. There is lots of info and picture on there sight once you know how to find it.

mah1980

The beaches on Tortola are not supposed to be as good as Virgin Gorda's.

We went to two beaches on Tortola last year, Cane Garden Bay and Long Bay, during a day trip from St. John, and were not that impressed.

mah1980

And I would disagree that St. John is like Turks and Caicos. We've been to both, and while Grace Bay beach on T & C is out of this world, the rest of the island is flat, scrubby, and was more like Florida in my opinion, than a Caribbean island.

St. John, on the other hand, is lush and has hills, and more cove like beaches (the longest beach was Trunk Bay, I think).

I liked St. John a lot more than Turks and Caicos because the landscape was so different than the U.S.

ishkribbl

Have any of you ever stayed at Pusser's Marina Cay off of Tortola? It looks very interesting to me but I can't find anyone who has stayed there for comments. We like very laid back, small, out of the way spots if that helps.

olesouthernbelle

If you don't get a response here, try traveltalkonline.com

ishkribbl

Thanks- love the screen name (guess that fits me, too).

olesouthernbelle

Oh yeah? Are you going to the ATL GTG? There's a real 'line up' forming!

seasweetie

I've stayed at Marina Cay twice, only for one night - both times, it hasn't been enough so in May, I'm staying for two before heading to Anegada. They offer a few rooms and a few 'villas', which are larger with a small kitchen, two bedrooms and a living room. All the accommodations have private balconies and are just gorgeous. It's exceptionally peaceful. The restaurant is fine, better some nights than others, and the short ferry to Tortola leaves frequently, so you can explore that lovely island. The beach on Marina Cay is small and right by the restaurant, but it's a perfect place for unwinding and decompressing. The manager is one of the most dear women I've ever met. Can you tell I highly recommend it?

olesouthernbelle

I've also read some good reports about staying on Virgin Gorda & day tripping to Tortola.

joan

It has been awhile, but we loved Tortola. Just the right mix of beautiful coves, and stuff to explore. Did you know there's a "mini rainforest" on the island?

We stayed once by ourselves in a wonderful pool villa on Brewer's Bay, and once in a villa at Long Bay with our two daughters.

Both times we spent our days tooling around to the different beaches in our rental car. Road Town is a very neat boater's town, there is some excellent snorkeling on the island, and there are some unique restaurants. We daytripped to the Boulders on Virgin Gorda also.

The beachfront bungalows at Long Bay would be great for honeymooners, they are right on the water.