Why go to St. John?

I love St. John for the following reasons. Since 2/3 of the island is a national park, most of it is in its natural state and is not back to back hotels which would spoil its beauty. The water is clear with a variety of shades of blue, the snorkeling is excellent, and the marine life is relatively safe the beaches are soft sugur white sand with little or no rock at water entry. Sitting on the beach offers vistas only of what nature has placed with a sprinkeling of boats dotting the sea. It is soooo relaxing giving one the feelof being in a place afar.

Cruz Bay is a lovely small town with lots of interesting botique shops and restaurants, all within walking distance of each other. St. Thomas shopping is only a half an hour away for duty free shopping.

Since it is less commercialized it is very easy to have a car and drive around the island to all of those fabulous beaches.

Renting a villa is also very easy with a huge choice of properties in all price ranges. We prefer the Cruz Bay end of the island for ease of going to many restaurants for dinner, but many prefer the quieter Coral Bay end of the island.

That said, having a villa with a pool and gorgeous views day & night is wonderful, but having to drive to the stunning beaches (as it is 2/3 National park) instead of being right on them is a bit of a drawback.

I enjoyed the island one trip (many moons ago) combining St Thomas/St John, but it's not a place I would rush back to. It's beautiful certainly, but very small and simply not a lot 'going on' to my viewpoint.

I've enjoyed pretty much any other island/beach destination I've gone to so far more (uncluding DR, Jamaica, La Paz, Cabo, PV, Maui, Oahu).

Thank you for your detailed responses. This is what I was hoping to hear! Some beaches that look beautiful in photographs have such rocky water entry that they can't really be enjoyed. And we'd much prefer seeing more nature and fewer big hotels. So far, St. John sounds just about perfect for our anniversary trip!

We just returned from a 10 day trip to St John.
I'll tell you the number one reason not to go to St John. Because it is so difficult going home after being there! I'm still suffering from the St John blues 2 weeks after returning home. I've done a lot of traveling around the world, and very few places come close to the natural beauty of St John. It is unique. Luckily the national park prevents the developers of making to much of a mess of the place.
We stayed at Maho bay, great experience and I would go again, my sister rented a house in Coral bay, and that was great too, but required more travel time over the mountain roads to get to the best beaches on the north shore (cinnamon bay and hawksnest our favorites). Either place really requires a rental car for the duration. We rented our car on St Thomas at the airport, and took the car ferry from Red Hook. Worked out well, and we didn't have to subject ourselves to the highway robbery that is the taxi service are on St Thomas. Ridiculous prices to go anywhere on St T in a taxi, plan on a car while there as well, unless you are staying put at a resort. The disadvantage of St John is coordinating with flights in and out, we had to stay the last night on St T for an early flight out; the ferry's don't run until about 6:30 from St John.

Soboyle, where did you rent your car? Like you, we plan to rent a car on St.Thomas and use it on St.John. I am wondering which vendor you used and if it was satisfactory.

We love St John because it is beautiful and relatively quiet. Here the link to a website with a wealth of information on St John.

http://seestjohn.com/

Thanks, soboyle and brenadndg! I'm bookmarking and taking notes.

I go to St. John every year and love it (for all the reasons others have said). Last year, we did rent a car for a day and used Varlack in Cruz Bay. All the people we dealt with were great and the price included the pick up at Caneel and return trip. The parking in Cruz Bay was the only downside to having the car!

MP07950, If you don't mind my asking since you are a frequent visitor there, where do you stay on St. John?

We also love St. John. It is the only island we have found that has both spectacular and varied snorkeling right from shore and lush beautiful above-ground scenery. We love the luxurious private villa accomodations and the fact that most of the island is preserved by National Park. It does have its drawbacks - it's a little time consuming to get to, you do have to drive to the beaches unless you are staying at one of the two resorts, there are a lot of mosquitos(at least in April when we've been there)that mysteriously don't seem repelled by the bug spray we apply religiously, the restaurants tend to range from expensive to super-expensive (and the merely expensive ones are generally mediocre at best - you need to to go with super expensive if you really want a good meal) and the grocery store selections (if you decide to cook in) are sometimes a bit limited. But all that being said it is our favorite island. We rent a jeep and drive around with the top off and the Bob Marley on, to different snorkel spots every day where we see turtles and stingrays and nurse sharks and parrot fish and starfish and anemones and more, then come home and sit on our private deck with our spectacular view while our children splash around in our private pool, and we sip our "frozen concoctions" from our own blender and dream about retiring there. Aaah...

Saige --- we stay at Caneel and have been doing so for years. It would definitely be more economical to rent a villa, but then that opens up the issue of renting a car, driving to the beach, cooking, etc. The resort's not perfect and is expensive but there's something to be said for walking out of your unit and onto the beach (although we stay in tennis gardens so it's a little bit of a walk)!

MPO7950, Thank you for sharing this information.

CGS, I appreciate all your details so much! I have just started looking for restaurant information. Do you have favorite spots and menu items?

Zozo's is excellent;( Try to go at Sunset, and make reservations at railside for a lovely view) Equator at Caneel is very good; ambiance is great as it is atop an old sugar mill, surounded by masses of tropical flowers.. I also enjoyed the buffet lunches at Caneel.

There is a bar-b-que shack across from the post office in Cruz Bay - really good bar-b-que, and ample servings. There is also a cool outdoor bar at the end of the wharf next to Low Key watersports shop,( a terrific dive shop). It has a real Caribbean feel, and they also serve burgers and lunch food.

I Lived in the Virgin Island two years ago.And practiced law there...Having travel the caribbean for 25 years..You cannot go wrong with St John..two-thirds of the island is a national park.the jewel of the caribbean..A couple of five star resorts..Caneel Bay is a nice five star resort, but for a the price consider a private home or condo..all are nice and have great view..rent close to the small town Cruz Bay to shop and dine....rent a jeep and explore the Dutch ruins and the many beautiful beaches..one day just drive east along the north shore to Coral bay,,have lunch at Ship Wreck landing .Ferry one day to the "Baths" at BVI Virgin Gorda.the views will amaze you..ferry to St Thomas to shop one day...you can not go wrong with St John.. For more local insight on St John and the Virgin Islands, just go to this website:
http://www.travelaskthelocals.yolaasite.com ..Have a great trip...d burlison,JD

Sorry the website is: http://www.travelaskthelocals.yolasite.com

If you want to be close to Cruz Bay which is a little "busier", have a look at Gallow's Point Resort and The Grande Bay Resort. Both are condos, Gallow's Point is run like a hotel. We love it there but it is getting our of our price range. Grande Bay has units listed on vrbo and the rates are really good because construction is finishing up on the complex. The pool and hot tub are now open. The other plus (for us anyway) is that it is literally steps from town. If you are looking for more quiet and seclusion, then these probably wouldn't be right for you.

You can also click on my name and read my trip reports and many recommendations for dining there.

saige, we loved La Tapa - fabulous! One of our favorites closed - Chateau Bordeaux. Read somewhere it reopened with new owners and is no longer good. Maybe others can say if this is true. We also like Paradiso and, for an open air burger and a mango Pain Killer in a plastic cup (gotta love it!) over by Coral Bay we like Skinny Legs.
Many other places were pretty disappointing, so last year when we went we mostly cooked in, which worked out great and was very relaxing (see prior post about private deck, spectacular view and frozen concoctions...)
What anniversary are you celebrating?

CGS, It's our tenth. We were married on St. Croix.

We rented at budget at the airport on st thomas. We were traveling with 5 people, so we ended up with a brand new explorer, very nice vehicle, worked out well, a bit more expensive than other off airport rentals - but heres the deal. My sister rented from an off airport rental agency, the agency had rented her car before they arrived, so there were no cars left when they arrived, and they were stuck at the airport with 3 children, 2 of them 1 year old twins. They then had to pony up $100 to the crook taxi drivers to red hook, and then rent a car on st john, with a $600 cash deposit on it. Take my advice, rent at the airport, and call and confirm that they are holding the car for you, or it could be a really big and expensive hassle.

For restaurants, the coral bay area has a couple places we tried, for burgers head to skinny legs, great local atmosphere, and the burgers are great. We also ate at shipwreck landing, out of coral bay heading toward salt pond. excellent food, and a great jazz band playing on wednesday evenings.

I agree with soboyle - rent your car at the St. Thomas airport. But make sure the rental company allows you to take the car to St. John - some don't.

The problem with renting the car in St Thomas is that you have to ride the car ferry to St John,and the ferry is on the opposite side of St Thomas from the airport.Also, the car ferries cost are much higher and also run less often.And you really do not want to drive yourself all the way across St Thomas to the St John Ferry after a long plane ride...there are several care rental co's on St John in Cruz Bay just a couple of hundreds yards from the ferry dock,,ck with Conrad Sutton..excellent cars and when in town you can park in his lot..and as cheap as the St Thomas lots..tell him burlison,lawyer from Memphis sent you..for more insights on Virgin Islands travel go to:
http://www.travelaskthelocals.yolasite.com

Thanks for the great car rental and food tips! We're still in the planning stage, but appreciate all your input.

We love St John and prefer Coral Bay. We have friends that live there and have spent some wonderful vacations on St John. The beaches are the BEST and it is a quiet, relaxing place.

http://www.vrbo.com/162906 is where we stay. It is a perfect little cottage with everything you could need or want.