We will be at Tortola off Westerdam for a day. Would like to go to beach, but am very afraid of those mountain drives. Brandywine looks like closest beach to Roadtown... any suggestions about what I can do? Thanks.

First, Road Town has good roads and is flat along the southern part of the island.. You can take a cab to the West End and ferry over to Jost Van Dyke...really nice. Or, you may want to ferry to Virgin Gorda to the Baths and that area. No mountains. If you took a cab over to Long Bay or the adjacent Smuggler's Bay, you only have to go over some not bad hills.

Thanks, I heard smugglers bay is a nice beach. I'd love to go there but am afraid... but you say not too bad??

No, not bad. My hubby and I honeymooned in Tortola and drove a jeep everywhere.There are some switchbacks on certain parts of the island and you can go "up" to certain spots, but we stayed on the west end at Long Bay resort and it's not a bad drive there at all...really nice roads.

Jodylee,

Brandywine Bay is a very muddy location and that sometimes mucks up the beach.

There is a small tourist office set up at the shore end of the cruise boat pier. It is inside a tent-like structure where they will check your cruise cards coming and going.

The staff there will be more than happy to suggest a beach that you can reach on without crossing the center spine of the island and will also tell you what to expect to pay for a taxi.

jodylee....do you have Google Earth? If so, it has a wonderful look at Tortola. You can zoom in and see that the road to the west part is flat and there are no mountains in the area around Long Bay/Smugglers cove, just small hills.

Thank you to all, we will consider Smugglers Beach because as I am finding out, that is THE place to go.

THE place to go when in Tortola is The Baths in Virgin Gorda!!! Huge bolders on the beach and in the water and decent snorkling. The ship should have a tour here or you can take the ferry over to Virgin Gorda. But last time there the ship had chartered the ferry so we had a wait for it to come back. We've been to the Baths so we found another beach. Go to cruisecritic.com and look the Baths up. Or I can email pictures.

I love that area as well...and the Top of the Baths has a great eatery with music. However, when cruise ships are there the place is wall to wall people. I guess it depends on what kind of experience you want.....a quiet, secluded beach or party central.

Yes, thanks for your info. I know the Baths is (are?) fabulous, but we thought we would avoid all the people and head to a beach. Plus, we're not really able to climb very well. Thanks again!!