Hello everyone,

My girlfriend and I will be planning our first vacation together (first vacation I've ever planned as a matter of fact) and I was hoping some of the fodorite experts could offer some of their worldy knowledge of the Caribbean region. We are both young at the ripe age of 23 (recent college grads) so we are on a budget. We are looking for an island that has majestic white sandy beaches but also has places where we can go site seeing and has a great social history we could visit during the day. We are planning on going during the month of April. Thank you all in advance for the tips.

2 perfect places IMHO would be St.John USVI and TORTOLA BVI.!! two terrific,beautiful,laid back,historical islands. both islands have a varied price range of accomodations.i've done high and low priced places and they all have been memorable.i even stayed at Ivans campground(jost van dyke,bvi) last april and it was one of my favorite visits!!and i'm probably your mothers age !!!there are so many beautiful beaches to relax/explore.. a car/jeep should be figured into the budget but without you can still get around..hitching is very normal and safe.for sure on st.john, which i'm most familiar with.april is a great time to go..you'll fall in love with these islands !!

forgot......some really great,infamous,bars and some terric music on st.john and tortola!!!

A great/cheap place to stay in Tortola in Carrot Bay is Coconut Point. Theyu have a small apt, the Orchid, that is very reasonable. We stayed last year and loved the place and the location.

Peace, Greenie

Thanks tess and green for all your help, some friends of mine have also suggested St John s I think that is the place we'll start looking into exclusively. Does anyone know of any great resorts we can stay at? We aren't looking for an all in-clusive b/c we'd like to try out the restaurants on the island. Any one have any thoughts on if that is a good idea or not? Thanks to everyone in advance for the help

Hey now phule18.

See the box just above these posting labeled SEARCH THIS FORUM? Type in St. John and take some time to read through the hundreds of posts. I am sure you'll find what you need to know. For example, St. John is not cheap. You'll read about Caneel Bay and the Westin and they will be described as "pricy". If $500 and up per night your idea of pricy then your budget is larger than any I've ever had!

For St. John think Maho Bay or Concordia Eco-whatever. You can google any of those words and find out a lot.

Have fun. Being 23, with a babe on a Caribbean island is a dream Enjoy it.

mm