My husband and I are coming to Tortola June 9-16. Looking for a nice place to stay. We have stayed in villas on St. J in past years, but this year it's just the two of us, so trying to cut cost by getting a 1 br. I have narrowed it down to Fort Recovery, Frenchmans Cay and Icis Villas. Did I miss any other good ones? Must have A/C at least in bedroom. Kitchen a must. We are beach bums, love to beach hop. Rather not be in a super busy area with lots of kids. Closer to water the better. Can of you experts out there can give us guidance? Thanks in advance for your help.

I really love Lighthouse Villas in Cane Garden Bay. The penthouse units are one-bedroom with kitchen, sitting area and balcony with amazing views. Probably not quite as 'upscale' as Frenchman's and Ft. Recovery, but it's so close to the beach and nightlife and so wonderfully cozy that it makes up for it. The owner, who is a gem, can assist you with car rental, which you will need to hop to the many wonderful beaches no matter where you stay. Frenchman's is in the West End - they have their own small beach, and tennis courts, but you'll be driving to any other beach. Fort Recovery is off the King's Highway - very nice, but again, not quite the best of the beaches there. Icis in Brewer's Bay has a lovely quiet large beach with great snorkeling. Not a lot of dining choices there, but Nicoles is great for lunch and it's a short (but hairy) drive to Cane Garden Bay. I've heard wonderful things about the hosts at Icis.

Well, I think the best beach locations are along the north shore, so in my opinion that cuts out Fort Recovery and Frenchman's for convenience reasons as well as overall somewhat poor reviews.

Diana, a frequent poster on this board, stayed at the Lighthouse Villas just up a hill from Cane Garden Bay, and as I recall she was quite pleased with the choice. It's in a great location, too, for restaurant and beach bar choices.

Sebastian's now has come condo-style places available, but I can't recall reading any reviews about them.

And of course there are the many villas available on the Long Bay Resort.

Last summer I stayed at the Sugar Mill and loved it. I know they have at least one accommodation with a full kitchen, so perhaps you'd like to check that out.

Do you have a price range in mind? Some larger villas will give you a price break if you only use one bedroom during your stay.

Look into Cane Garden Bay cottages, they are not luxurious, but they are clean and right behind Cane Garden Bay. I have stayed there a few times. Purple Pineapple represents them. Lighthouse villas are nice as well. I really do not care for Fort recovery. Also, definitely consider Sugar Mill. It is great. At the very least have dinner there. GL

To follow up on ejcrowe's posting, I stayed at Sebastian's last November - the rooms were nice and steps from the sand, and the villas were even nicer - perched up from the beach and so a few more steps from the sand. Sebastian's is in Little Apple Bay - the beach is nice, but not as calm as other North Shore beaches and depending on the swell, there's a lot of beach or not very much!

We stayed at Ft. Recovery adn would not recommend it. Beach is not great. Would prefer Sugar Mill or Lighthouse Villas. We also had a ad experience with the staff.

Thanks everyone, for the advise. I had been trying to steer away from Cane Garden Bay area, thinking it's were all the crowds were. Sort of like Trunk bay on St. J, where are the cruise people come. But I am surfing all the spots you guys mentioned,they all look good. Trying not to go over say $175 pn. Thanks so much!

All -

My BF and I just returned (Mid Feb) from a STT/Tortola adventure. We stayed at Icis while on Tortola.

I am very reluctant to say negative things about our stay as Allison was helpful, nice, competent and willing to assist in any way. The rooms were clean and functional. Allison gave us clean towels each day -- both for the bath and beach. Continental breakfast was ready early in the am. and they made accomodations for us when we had to leave two mornings before breakfast "time". (Juice / cereal / fruit / bread.) We had no "problems" at all while staying there. It was a good adventure and will remember the trip fondly for years...

There are a couple of particularities to icis you may wish to consider:

It is one of the cheaper places to stay on the island. There is a reason for this. It isn't high end luxury. The furnishings are fine - the air conditioning was fine - the breakfasts were fine. Coming off a 4 day visit at Marriott STT -- it was a few steps down -- but so was the price. The screen doors and curtains could certainly be upgraded / replaced but I understand the island mentality and waste. I also understand I forked over >$1000 for 6 nights....

Consider carefully the location. My guidebook told me clearly that ICIS was tucked out of the way at Brewers bay over a steep hill. Do NOT underestimate this information.

Unless you plan to hermit and hang out at Brewer's bay and Dine at Icis -- you are going to need to brave the roads ($50+ rental jeep per day or pay taxi's $36+ each way to/from ICIS to West End)

All in all our stay was wonderful and we enjoyed Tortola -- am working on a trip report -- but wanted to answer direct on Icis.

Gidgit-
Were you in the efficiency or one bedroom villa?
They don't have many pics of the rooms, which always makes me nervous. Was it crowded? Long walk to beach? Thanks so much for the info. t

Here's another option - Willow House Villa - represented by the Purple Pineapple - I think it fits your budget. It's a more modest 2 bed villa, just past Long Bay. It's not right on the beach but has lovely views - through the palms - of Jost Van Dyke, the Salt Pond and Belmont point. It's a "3 minute walk to Long Bay beach" - but remember this is hilly Tortola -so its almost straight down on the way to the beach and straight up on the way home -not for those with bad knees! The driveway is pretty steep too - driving here is not for the faint of heart. It's a very short (but bumpy) drive to Smuggler's Cove which many consider to be the nicest beach on the island. For $90 per couple Long Bay Resort will let you use their pool facilities, beach towels etc. We found this useful - it has a nice pool and the one amenity the villa lacked was beach towels. We thought the location was great - close to both the West End and North shore restaurants.

Reading Gidget's post about Icis, agree with her "not to underestimate" the drive to get to Brewer's Bay. Had I stayed there - not likely that I'd drive to/from CGB in the dark.

Man that is an understatement about Brewers Bay! That road is harrowing at least the first time. It's still harrowing the second time, but by then you're so used to the hills, it's not that bad. The smell of the brakes is scary too!

I second all the recommendations for the carrot bay/long bay area. We stayed at Coconut Point which is run by Uschi, the mgr @ Sebastians. We loved it! and very reasonable.

I would personally stay in CGB because it just feels like you're in a hole! well, I guess you are! That was the most touristy part of the island for me and IMO the restaurants were tourist trappy! I liked palms delight and sebastians in carrot bay. There's was another great place on zion hill, but I can't remember the name. OH well...have fun. Tortola's a great place to visit.

Make sure you go to smugglers cove, sopers hole, and take the ferry to Virgin Gorda!

Peace, Greenie!

Figured out the name of the other restaurant we loved in carrot bay...cocoplums! devine!

Sorry for the delay.

From icis to the beach is a very short and flat walk. The beach seems to be very long on sand and beautiful water and short on tourists. Due to our day tripping mentality, we only enjoyed the beach for one late afternoon. There is also a beach bar right there - so getting beverages and lunch would be very convenient.

We did stay in the efficiency and really the only thing we used was the fridge, toaster and the coffee maker. Again, as Allison accomodated our need to leave early a couple of times she provided us with coffee, bagels and jam for those early morning departures.

I assume more folks stay there with families due to the larger units and the cooking potential.

I also agree with the previous post re: driving and familiarity. The first couple of times the hills are VERY scary (I agree about the smell of the brakes!). After a week or so, you are getting more comfortable and beginning to understand how to take the switchbacks at something more than 5 mph...

Also -- the locals did recommend dinner at cocoplums (near sabastians) but we didn't make it. Our dive master said he'd eaten there a couple of times and with appetizer, drinks and dinner the cost wasn't more than $30 usually.

One last thing: My BF and I did happen to venture out to see smugglers cove. I think this was on day 3 or 4... so we'd been driving on the island a couple of days. I think that is the only area on the island that actually has more scary driving than brewers: IE going above the east end going towards smugglers and long bay. (I am not talking about the paved road between east end that dumps you out at Sebastians and takes you past cocoplums.)

We just got back from Tortola. We stayed at Fort Recovery. I had narrowed our choices down to there or Sebastian's in their oceanfront rooms with A/C. We ate breakfast several times at Sebastian's and I regretted not staying there. The rooms were so close to the ocean with a beautiful view from the balcony. While it is not a swimming beach, we drove to many other beaches for swimming and snorkeling so it would not have mattered. I would not worry about the cruise ship traffic; we did not notice it much. The food at Sebastian's was very good and it is centrally located. Long Bay was very expensive considering we would have had to rent 2 rooms. Sugar Mill was not oceanfront. Icis is very isolated. We stayed at Fort Recovery in a 2-bedroom villa. If you do not intend to cook, I would definitely look elsewhere. We loved Tortola and would go back. There is much to explore with many other islands close by.

Thanks to all of your for your help. Now, of course, I am more confused than ever! We will pick a spot off one of these entries for sure.

Though the rooms themselves at the Sugar Mill aren't ocean front, the hotel does have beachfront property with chairs for its guests and there's a restaurant and beach bar open for lunch right there as well. YOu have to cross a small road to get to the rooms, but all of the rooms have beautiful views of the water and look out to Jost Van Dyke.

Also wanted to add that I, too, found the road to Brewer's Bay the most harrowing of any drive we did on the island. Had to ride the brakes most of the way down, even in the lowest gear, and we kept our fingers crossed that we wouldn't meet any cars. Thankfully we did not! It was a beautiful beach, however, with a nice little beach bar and small amounts of natural shade in the afternoon. Snorkeling was decent but not wonderful.

In June the beach returns at Little Apple Bay (where Sebastians is located). It's in good shape and is very suitable for swimming.

Little Apple Bay is a nice area with Cocoplums, Ceta's, Bombas, the Thurs Fish Fry.

Sebastian's is well within your budget but I wouldn't wait much longer to book anywhere for June.

As a side note, June is a generally slower month and there may not be much Cruise Ship activity, if any. They can ruin a day at CGB but not likely in June.

I can highly recommend Mongoose Apartments in Cane Garden Bay. Attractive, spacious, A/C, and kitchen. Sandra and Elroy are excellent hosts who will help with any of your needs. There is more information on their website at www.mongooseapartments.com and http://bvi.wheretostay.com/property/877-reviews.html

Cane Garden is really touristy on the wrong day.....Also rented through purple pineapple and rented Sugar Apple...AWESOME VIEW, two bedroom, like new, open air living room overlooking the ocean about 200 feet above Little Apple Bay.. ac, I could have stayed there a month. Its right above Little Apple Bay, but the beach at Smugglers Cove is fantastic and just a bit down the road.

Also at the other end, Josiah's Bay has a great beach.

USE 4 wheel on the hills, its worth it..

Thanks to everyone that posted. I decided on Sebastions for price and prox to beach. Also rented a car for the entire trip. Think I should upgrade to a jeep, or will a car work? C'mon June, get me out of this cubicle!