We are plannig a trip to St. John and considering a day trip to Tortola or Jost Van Dyke. Which of the two would you recommend for the best beaches and which beach in particular? Thanks!

White Bay on Jost Van Dyke is one of the prettiest in the Caribbean. It's much better than anything you'd find on Tortola. Don't forget to bring your passport, you'll need it if you plan on visiting the BVI's.

If you are basing your choice mainly on the beaches, I agree with A_Traveller. White Bay Beach is gorgeous with some great little beach bars. You can take a taxi from Great Harbor to White Bay for $5pp each way.

Another vote for White Bay on JVD. One of the most breathtaking beaches I have seen. And serveral places to pull up a bar stool on the sand and have a Painkiller!

After spending a week in St Joh, we went to Tortola for four days. I suppose it depends on when you go, but we were there in January and the surf was up on all of the north shore beaches and very few people were in the water.

Tortola is a much more developed island than St John and has lots of big cruise ships stopping there.

Although I haven't been to either, I would go to JVD or Virgin Gorda rather than Tortola.

Agree with White Bay. The water is a color that you rarely see. Last time I saw the sea so pretty was on Provo in Turks and Caicos. And it's FUN - if you are so inclined - to PARTY! It is a young crowd and drinking is the main event, so if kids are involved I would forgo it - otherwise, it's absolutely the most fun day trip!

Just like everyone else said...White Bay!!

We did the day trip to White Bay....and now we've already made our plans to STAY there for 3 nights (at the Sandcastle) since we loved it so much. (I could easily stay longer, but we're hitting a few other islands that we love too!)

A great way to see some of the other islands, is to take one of those day trips from St. John. We did the BVI tour on a boat called Breakaway, which to us to the baths, white bay, and a few other spots. Funnest thing we did there.

Here's the link:

http://www.visitbreakaway.com/

Oil Nut Bay has the best it gets around Breatish Virgin Islands now.