Today I’m going to tell you six things that you need to know before your trip to the US Virgin Islands. I recently took a trip to the beautiful US Virgin Islands of Saint Thomas and Saint John. And if you’re thinking of taking a trip down there, I highly recommend it as the islands are gorgeous and we had a fantastic time today. I wanted to sit down and share a few things that I learned during our trip so that I can help make your trip to the US Virgin Islands a little bit easier. Number one is small, but I think it makes a big impact with the Virgin Island locals. Instead of saying hi or hello, the locals are greet you with the time of day. Such as? Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. I think they might like you a little bit more as a tourist if you use the local greeting.
Wouldn’t you agree? My number two tip is to bring mineral sunscreen from home. I say mineral sunscreen because the regular chemical version is actually banned in the US Virgin Islands because of its impact on the coral reef systems. If you’re caught with it, you could face a fine of up to 1,000 USD. They, of course, sell mineral sunscreen on the islands, but you’ll pay dearly for it if you buy on the US mainland and bring it to the islands with you. You’ll pay about half what you would if you buy it there, and you’re basically only going to pack bikinis. So you’ll definitely have room for it in your suitcase, right? Tip number three is that if you decide to rent a car, make sure you’re a confident driver. I cannot stress this enough.
First of all, the driving situation is unique because the cars have the driver on the left side like they do in the US. But you drive on the left side of the road like you would in the UK. Second, the roads are insanely windy, narrow, steep and potholed and see why people recommend a four wheel drive every day. Driving was an adventure for us and it seemed like just when we thought we found the steepest road on the island, the next turn would be even steeper.
You can definitely make do with taxis around the islands, but depending on how long you’re there, that can add up quickly. Plus, if you’re like us, you might like the freedom of being able to explore at your own pace in a rental car. Having said that, make sure that you are very confident in your driving skills and you rent a car that can handle those crazy roads. Preferably something with four wheel drive that sits high up. Don’t go for the minivans that we saw at the rental agency. Bad idea. Also, drinking and driving seems pretty common amongst tourists there.
So although I would always, always, always recommend being a sober driver wherever you are, I want to stress that it seems even more important on the insane roads of the Virgin Islands. Oh, my God. We flew into Saint Thomas, but we also wanted to visit the island of Saint John. And the only way to get there is by boat. There are passenger ferries and car ferries that you can take between the islands. My recommendation is that if you want to take the car ferry to Saint John, don’t make reservations. It sounds counterintuitive because reservations are usually a good idea, but I wouldn’t recommend that here. Barges are required to load all of the cars to show up to the port, and they don’t prioritize those with reservations. If the barge fills up with first come first serve cars, you’ll have to wait for the next one regardless of your reservation. There are several ferry companies, and if you make reservations with one and don’t get on that first boat, you’ll have to wait until that company goes again, which may not necessarily be the next ferry that goes with no reservations. You can just get on whatever ferry comes first. And that’s also a reason we paid extra to buy two one way tickets instead of a cheaper round trip, because we didn’t want to have to wait for one particular ferry on the way back either. Having said all that, I definitely would not recommend trying to take the last ferry of the day because you might end up getting stuck.
Tip number five is about the reason that anyone wants to go to the Virgin Islands in the first place. The beaches. Am I right? All of the beaches and the Virgin Islands are public. There are no private beaches. This is by Virgin Islands law. Some of the more popular beaches can get really crowded, so sometimes you might be searching for an alternative. The best part is that when you’re on the islands, all of the beaches are pretty amazing. So you really can’t go wrong with whichever one you choose. This tip mostly applies to St Thomas, as it has the most beaches where you might find a resort right there.
For me, coming from California, even though our beaches are public, if there’s a nice resort there, I’m always going to assume that I’m going to be charged for parking or at least made to rent a chair, get a drink or spend money in some kind of way. That’s not the case in the Virgin Islands. If there’s a resort at the beach you want to go to. You only have to tell the parking attendant you wish to go to the beach and you can park for free. And there’s no obligation to buy anything. But I have to say, the resort beach bars are always pretty tempting. So I wouldn’t blame you if you purchased a cocktail or two. Oh, yeah. You can drink on the beaches too, which makes vacation mode that much easier. My last tip is about leaving the islands. Not something I really want to talk about because it sucks to go back to reality, but I think this is an important one. When we landed in Saint Thomas, the person who met the flight announced that they recommended arriving back to the airport 3 hours before your departure flight.
At the time I thought that sounded extreme, considering how small the Saint Thomas Airport is. But having gone through the departure process, it definitely makes more sense now. First of all, many of the departing flights are banked around the same time. This means there will be a lot of people at the airport at the same time, so lines to the ticketing counters can get really long once checked in. You’ll take all of your bags? Yes. Even the checked ones into the terminal. There you’ll get into another line, this time for customs.
Well, you don’t need a passport to go to the US Virgin Islands if you’re an American citizen. Since the islands are outside of what’s called the US customs territory, you’ll have to go through customs with all of your baggage on the way home. Not really a big deal, but you have to wait in a long line for it. And as a side note, duty free shopping is really killer in Saint Thomas. So this is the time to stock up, if you like to do that. After we spoke with an agent and made it through the line, those of us with checked bags had to wait in another line to give them to baggage handlers. All in all, it took us a couple hours to get through all that. So I can see now why they want you to be at the airport so early. Normally, I would say, Hey, take that extra hour at the beach, but not this time. So those are my top six best tips for visiting the US Virgin Islands.
