We are planning a trip to St. John in mid to late July, but don't know where to stay! We were looking into The Westin and Gallows Point, thinking that would be easier than staying in a villa for first time goers. Does anybody have any advice on where to stay? We will be traveling with 3 kids, 13, 16, and 18 and mostly want to spend time on the beach and maybe go to the BVI's for a day. Any advice would help! Thanks!

If you do a "search" for both those places on this website, you'll find an abundance of information/opinions. As you read the various reports, you can refine your questions and get even more feedback. Neither the Westin nor Gallows has a very nice beach, by the way. But the island itself is loaded with great beaches, and with kids the age of yours, it should be no trouble exploring them.

We love to stay at Gallow's Point for the convenience to town. I'm just thinking that for sleeping 5 people, it's going to be cramped. There is a bed and a sofa bed. Maybe they will bring a rollaway bed or something for the 5th person. I think there will be an extra charge also. If you end up at Gallow's, I would definitely get an upper unit so you would have 1 1/2 bathrooms. The upstairs bathroom is tiny, but it is an extra bathroom. Sorry, not familiar with the Westin other than a short visit.

You might try a 2 or 3 BR villa at the Westin. We stayed in a 1 BR with a pullout and a cot for our two sons (ages 9 and 13) last year. You can rent the villas directly from timeshare owners and it is much cheaper than going directly through the resort. We used the following but there are other sites you can find:

http://www.stjohncondos.com/

It really hepls to rent a jeep and explore all the beautiful beaches on the island.

The plus to the Westin is that there are a lot of families and your 13 and 16 year olds would probably love it. The 18 year old might like Gallows to be able to walk around Cruz Bay.

Hope this helps!

I personally think the Westin is a very nice resort. You mentioned hesitation regarding a villa rental, but we rented through http://www.caribbeanvilla.com/ for our first trip and couldn't have been more pleased. I'd suggest renting a vehicle so you can explore all the great beaches in your own time. And a trip to the BVI's is a must as well! Have fun!

Thanks so much for all of the advice! We began looking into staying at a villa and I was wondering if anyone has ever stayed at the Myan Sky, Adeste, or Great Turtle Villa. Also if you know of any reasonably priced villas at Peter's Bay or any other nice villas you have stayed at. Thanks so much for all your help!

sorry its Mayan sky!

I'm not sure what 'reasonable' is to you, but Peter Bay is an exclusive area so the villas there are generally more expensive.

I remember that Adeste was on our short list. We ended up staying at Southern Cross, near Chocolate Hole. We absolutely loved it.

There is a duplex in Peter Bay called the Gatehouse. Each unit is a one bedroom. You can rent both of them for $3900 a week low season. I think this is as "reasonable" as Peter Bay gets.

http://www.destinationstjohn.com/gatehouse.htm

-Bill

Thanks for all the help. The only problem with the Peter's Bay is that there are five of us. We have decided to stay at a westin 2 bedroom villa...thanks for the advice from lovethecape, we went through that website! Has anybody else ever stayed there or have info about it? thanks again!!