My wife and I just returned from a week on Virgin Gorda - 3 nights at Biras Creek and 3 at Little Dix Bay. We loved both places, but they are very different in many ways. Here are my thoughts on the two resorts:

Location: Biras is located on the North Sound of Virgin Gorda. The resort itself is on 140 acres, but the land surrounding it is undeveloped, so it seems like it's much larger. It's only accessible by boat, which gives it the feel of a private island. The guest cottages and common buildings are all located on a ridge in between the Atlantic and the Caribbean, providing breathtaking views of both. There are 3 different bays on the Biras property: 1) Berchers Bay, which is where all the cottages are located, is rocky, but has beautiful views of the ocean and the island; 2)Deep Bay, which is the "swimming beach," has soft, white sand and very pretty water; and 3) the bay where Biras' marina is located, which has great views of other small islands, like Eustatia and Prickly Pear.

At LDB all of the rooms, common buildings, etc. are located along a crescent-shaped beach that I'm told is a half-mile long. That beach itself is very beautiful, but is the only real scenic focal point to the resort.
Advantage: Biras Creek

Accommodations: All of Biras's accommodations are "cottages" - either Ocean View or Garden View - which each have at least 2 rooms and outdoor showers. The Ocean View cottages cost about $100 more, which is well worth it, in my opinion. They're located right on the ocean (at high tide, the water was almost directly below our balcony) and give you amazing views of both the water and the sky, as well as the sound of the waves right out your door. The cottages themselves could use a little renovation. The decor is somewhat rustic and a little dated - which is not a big deal. But the A/C in the bedroom doesn't cool the room down quite enough. Also, the bathroom and den are not air conditioned at all, and remained uncomfortably hot and humid all the time.

At LDB, all the rooms - with the exception of the hillside villas - are located along the main beach. They're all pretty comparable in terms of proximity to the beach - I'm guessing between 30 and 50 feet from where the sand starts. We stayed in a "Premium Room." It was very nice - large and attractive with very nice sheets, towels, robes, etc., and a very cold air conditioner. There were no marble sinks or gold faucets (which we didn't care about anyway), but for a Caribbean "feel" it was a very nice room.

Advantage: Little Dix

Atmosphere: Biras Creek has only 30 rooms, so the maximum number of people the resort can hold is only 60 (there were about 20 guests while we were there). The guests tend to socialize a lot together, which was really nice. The grounds are in a very "natural" setting - very spread out with lots of greenery and flowers everywhere. There are no paved roads - only small dirt paths (I don't think we saw a car the entire time we were there). Each cottage comes with 2 bicycles which the guests use to get around the resort. There is a wildlife sanctuary on the grounds and several hiking trails around the North Sound. The overall atmosphere is laid back, natural beauty.

Little Dix is much larger - I think about 100 rooms. The other guests were very friendly, but there was not the same sense of cameraderie as at Biras. Also, LDB encourages kids, which Biras does not. LDB has a much greater emphasis on pampering, while Biras seems to focus more on adventure, outdoor fun, and seclusion from the rest of the world.

Advantage: We preferred the Biras Creek atmosphere.

Service: We thought the service was great at both places, but again somewhat different. At Biras, the feeling is of being a guest in someone's home. At LDB, there's a little more of a flourish to the service. At both places, everyone was extremely nice.


Food: The Biras Creek rates included food (but not drinks), whereas LDB's do not (although you can add on a pre-paid food plan if you like). Beware that the a la carte prices at LDB are pretty high ($35 to $50 for a dinner entree and $4 for a can of Coke). I noticed that if you added LDB's 3-meal plan to our room rate, it was exactly the same price as our all-inclusive rate per day at Biras. Biras's menus are on a 9-day rotation to ensure that guests don't have to order from the same menu twice. The food was great at both places, but you get a bit more variety at LDB, since they have 3 restaurants. Even so, we enjoyed eating with all the other guests every night at Biras. It seemed to foster the collegial atsmosphere we enjoyed so much.


Activities: Both resorts have similar water activities - snorkeling, scuba, sailing, trips to other islands, etc. At Biras you can check out a Boston Whaler at no extra charge and go explore the North Sound on your own. LDB has complimentary "beach drops," where a driver will drop you off on the nearby beach of your choice. Of the two we preferred the freedom of just taking out the boat ourselves at Biras. If you like diving, LDB has a branch of Dive BVI located right on-site, which was very handy. Also, the snorkeling right off the beach at LDB is pretty decent, which was nice. Biras has pretty good hiking right on and around the resort, whereas LDB did not have any nearby hiking that we could see.

Advantage: Slight edge to Biras because of the hiking and the Boston Whalers.

Conclusion: We loved both places. If we had to pick just one for a week-long stay - knowing what we know - it would be Biras Creek. If Biras were to upgrade their cottages with better A/C, nicer linens, and little more comfortable beds, it wouldn't even be close.

Thanks for the great report. It really helps when detail like this is given. Both properties are great, you are right. I think I would go with Biras over Little Dix as well.

Wonderful, illuminating report! Such good detail that I feel funny even asking more questions, but here goes:

Did you do any of the beach drops at LD? I can't imagine how they'd be much fun unless it was to a place where the snorkeling was spectacular. We can easily spend many happy hours face down in the water-- but wouldn't enjoy being on a beach without comfortable beach chairs and good shade. Which islands did you go to? Did you hear from any other folks on this subject? Similarly, I'd be interested in hearing where you found the best snorkeling from North Sound because perhaps we'll rent a dinghy from Bitter End or wherever.
As I mentioned on your other post-- I'm still mighty confused abt the price of meals at LD, esp the breakfast buffet. I wish it were around $10, but I'm getting reports from the resort that breakfast is $25-- which seems crazy to us. I'd be interested to hear what you did for meals for the 3 nights you were at LD. I do so wish they had a la carte at breakfast and lunch (mainly so that we could do our usual thing of splitting meals).
Thanks so much for your great report (and for your special patience with my bombardments).

Do you happen to know whether there's a LD ferry to Caneel for the day? I know that it can be done in the opposite direction, but I have a feeling that one can't go for the day from LD to Caneel (alas).

To poss - the "beach drops" from LDB will be at one of a number of different beaches around the island and (weather permitting) neighboring cays. Some locations are very secluded while on others you may encounter a few other people - the choice is really yours. LDB will supply you with an umbrella for share (no beach chairs), a picnic lunch and they will pick you up at a pre-determined time (again your choice). Many of the beaches will have very good to excellent "off-beach" snorkeling, just tell the boat staff what you'd like and they will do their best to accomodate you. The whole idea of these beach drops is for you and your partner to be "alone" - you make your own fun, if you get my meaning.

Sorry, don't recall actual food prices at LDB but am certain it was not inexpensive (after all it is an upscale resort so expect upscale prices). You can probably get specific information on their web-site.

Traveller: Thanks for replying, but---
I know from Rosewood's website (and other forums) that there are a number of diff beaches LD uses for drop-offs. My point is that I'm not interested in doing that unless some of the beaches are on cays etc where the snorkeling is especially good. I've learned to trust other travellers with info like that much more than the folks at the resort.

Similarly, I'm aware from the info that Rosewood puts out what they say meal costs are. But the report from brenki was considerably different. I'm just trying to get a reading on what actual cost is-- and other ways folks who stay at LD might do meals. (E.g. we've stayed at Caneel many times-- and very rarely do meals there.)

For what it is worth, you'll fing very good to excellent "off beach" snorkeling at the following locations (all of which were on the list of "drop-off" beaches when we stayed at LDB): Savanah Bay, Spring Bay, Pond Bay and the Dogs (the latter are off shore cays and they will only do drop-offs if the weather is perfect and the seas are calm). There's great snorkeling at Mahoe bay (not on thr LDB drop-off list) but I think you already know about that location from the research you've done on Virgin Gorda rental villas.

You might consider a day snorkel trip to the Caves at Norman island or the Indians - both are excellent locations but you will need to get their by boat. LDB, as well as other operators have regularily scheduled trips to those locations. There's also very good snorkeling on the reef off of Necker Island. You'll need a rental boat or private charter to get you there. Again when we stayed at LDB they offered a day sail to Necker. We went with another couple found it a very enjoyable trip. Sorry, I don't recall price but do remember thinking it seemed reasonable given that I was at LDB.

Thanks a bunch, Traveller! (I remember the Caves and the Indians well from when we bareboated in the Virgins many decades ago-- would be tickled pink to go back.) (Would not be tickled pink to pay $25 each for breakfast given the fact that neither of us eats a whole lot. I can go along with the buffet deal for lunch-- tho even there I think there should be a choice-- but a $25 buffet for breakfast is just plain rip-off imo.)

Poss: We did one beach drop and it was to Valley Trunk Bay. We loved it. The beach was beautiful and we were the only 2 people there. The snorkeling was also quite good there. However, it would have been nice to have a couple of chairs.

On the North Sound, we took a Boston Whaler to both Oil Nut Bay (on Virgin Gorda) and Eustatia Island. Again, we were the only 2 people on both beaches and they were both beautiful. Pretty good snorkeling, but not as good as Valley Trunk, near LDB.

Re. breakfast, I think we must have gotten a really good rate because of our travel agent or something. We only ate breakfast one day there, and I was VERY surprised to find that they'd only charged us $10 each, because everything else is so expensive there.

For dinner we went into town 2 nights (Chez Bamboo and the Rock Cafe) and ate the Monday night buffet at LDB once. The buffet was excellent, but very expensive (I think it was $70 per person). Both restaurants in town were good, but not as good as LDB, in my opinion. But beware - Chez Bamboo is almost as expensive as LDB.