Where to stay on St. John
St. John has 13 areas with their own guide here, 1 of them with villas listed by their owners. The table compares each by the drive to Cruz Bay or the Cruz Bay ferry, whether you need a car, how steep the roads are, and the lowest nightly rate, with the live villa count. Pick an area, then read its guide and see its rentals.
Where you stay on St. John decides the shape of your days more than it would on most islands. Almost 58 percent of the island's land, 7,259 acres, is the Virgin Islands National Park, per the National Park Service, so the houses sit in pockets: the town and the hills around it, two private enclaves above the North Shore beaches, the residential bays of the South Shore, the far side at Coral Bay, and the high ground in between. The roads between them are steep and slow, and the ferry lands in one place, Cruz Bay.
There is no right area for everyone, only the one that matches how you want to spend the week. Below: how the island is laid out, each region with its measured drive to town and what it asks of you, and the questions that settle the choice.
Where the neighborhoods sit
Cruz Bay is the only town and the only landing. Every passenger ferry from St. Thomas ties up here, and the car barge lands at Enighed Pond beside it. Two roads leave town. North Shore Road runs east past the Park beaches, Hawksnest, Trunk Bay, Cinnamon Bay and Maho Bay, and carries almost no houses. Centerline Road climbs over the spine of the island to Coral Bay, 28 minutes from the ferry by our measurement, and that drive is why the east side feels like a different island.
South of town the coast folds into a string of residential bays, Great Cruz Bay, Chocolate Hole, Fish Bay and Rendezvous Bay, where most private villas are, seven to twenty minutes from the ferry. Above them, Gifft Hill and Bordeaux Mountain trade the beach for elevation and a view. Beyond Coral Bay, Johns Folly and the East End are close to forty minutes from the dock.
Read the drive times as the island's clock. A house twelve minutes from town is a house where dinner in Cruz Bay is an easy decision; a house forty minutes out is one where you cook.
Areas compared
| Area | Drive to Cruz Bay | Car | Roads | Beach | Villas | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Cruz Bay | 12 min | Car recommended | Rolling hills | Beach on foot | a few | $4,000 |
| Cruz Bay | — | Car recommended | Rolling hills | Beach a short drive | none yet | — |
| Chocolate Hole | 7 min | Car needed | Steep roads | Beach a short drive | none yet | — |
| Rendezvous Bay | 19 min | Car needed | — | Beach on foot | none yet | — |
| Fish Bay | 17 min | Car needed | Steep roads | Beach a short drive | none yet | — |
| Gifft Hill | 11 min | Car needed | Steep roads | Beach a short drive | none yet | — |
| Peter Bay | 15 min | Car needed | Steep roads | Beach on foot | none yet | — |
| Catherineberg | 12 min | Car needed | Rolling hills | Beach a short drive | none yet | — |
| Bordeaux Mountain | 23 min | Car needed | Steep roads | Beach by car | none yet | — |
| Coral Bay | 26 min | Car needed | Rolling hills | Beach by car | none yet | — |
| Johns Folly | 37 min | Car needed | Steep roads | Beach on foot | none yet | — |
| East End | 40 min | Car needed | Steep roads | Beach on foot | none yet | — |
| Lovango Cay | — | No car needed | — | Beach on foot | none yet | — |
Drive times are island estimates from the area guides; the from-price is the lowest nightly rate an owner has listed. Dashes mean the guide has not been verified yet.
St. John areas on a map
The regions of St. John, one at a time
Cruz Bay
The ferry lands here, the grocery and the restaurants are here, and this is the only part of St. John where dinner is a walk. The beaches are still a drive.
Stay in town for the walk to dinner and the ferry at your feet, and accept that the North Shore beaches are a drive or a taxi. The hills just south are the compromise most first visits settle on. Chocolate Hole faces the sunset seven minutes from town, on steep concrete roads that want a jeep. Great Cruz Bay has the Westin's beach at the head of the bay and rolling roads, twelve minutes out. Gifft Hill climbs behind both, twelve minutes up, with the view in place of a beach.
Suits a first visit, a short one, and any group that would rather walk to dinner than drive to it.
North Shore
The coast everyone comes for, and the one with the fewest houses: the beaches belong to the Park, and the villas sit in two private enclaves above them.
Peter Bay is the one place on St. John where a villa stands above a North Shore beach you can walk to, sixteen minutes from Cruz Bay on steep roads. Catherineberg sits on the slopes above, fourteen minutes out on gentler roads, with the beaches a short drive below. The grocery and dinner are back in town, and the drive home is the same road after dark.
Suits a trip built around Trunk Bay, Cinnamon Bay and Maho Bay, with a car and a full fridge.
South Shore
The residential bays east of Chocolate Hole: private, quiet, and eighteen to twenty minutes from the ferry.
Fish Bay is the larger of the two, its houses on steep hillsides with the beach a short drive down; Rendezvous Bay is smaller, and its houses sit close enough to walk to the water. Neither has a shop or a restaurant, so Cruz Bay is the town for both. What they offer is a house with nobody passing and a coast with few houses on it.
Suits second visits and longer stays that want privacy without giving up the town.
East End and Coral Bay
The far side of the island, 28 minutes from the ferry over Centerline Road, where the pace drops and the drive is the whole decision.
Coral Bay has a handful of bars and restaurants on the harbor rather than a town, and the villas spread around it and up the valleys behind. Johns Folly runs south along the coast toward Salt Pond, 38 minutes from the dock; the East End road ends at Hansen Bay, 41. Both put houses on the water on steep roads. Shop in Cruz Bay before you drive east.
Suits a return trip, a stay of a week or more, and a group that would rather cook than drive to dinner.
Interior and hillside
Bordeaux Mountain is the high ground on the road to Coral Bay, 25 minutes from Cruz Bay, and every beach is a drive.
What the mountain gives is elevation: the view across the island, the breeze, and evenings cooler than the bays. The roads are steep and the nearest sand is a drive in either direction, so it is a house for people who plan their beach days rather than wander into them.
Suits a group that wants the view and the quiet and does not mind the wheel.
Lovango Cay
A private island off Cruz Bay, reached by boat rather than road.
Lovango Cay is its own arrangement: the resort's ferry crosses from Cruz Bay in about ten minutes, there are no roads, and the villas, treehouses and beach club are reached on foot from the dock. Cruz Bay is an evening out on the water rather than a drive.
Suits a couple or a small group that wants the water at the door and no car at all.
Choosing where to stay in St. John, USVI
The right area depends on how you want the days to unfold. Four questions settle most choices.
Do you want to walk to dinner?
- Cruz Bay is the only area where dinner and the ferry are on foot.
- Everywhere else a car is needed or recommended; Great Cruz Bay is the one area where the beach is on foot without one.
How much driving will you accept?
- St. John's roads are steep and winding, and the drive home from Cruz Bay is in the dark.
- If you would rather not drive much, stay within fifteen minutes of the dock; the buckets below sort the areas by that clock.
Which beaches matter most?
- For Trunk Bay, Cinnamon Bay and Maho Bay, the North Shore enclaves are closest; from town, Trunk Bay is a thirteen minute drive.
- For a small beach at the bottom of the road, the records mark Great Cruz Bay, Peter Bay, Rendezvous Bay, Johns Folly and the East End as beach on foot.
How long are you staying?
- Four nights lose the least to the road within fifteen minutes of the dock.
- A week or more can absorb Coral Bay's half hour and is the stay it was made for.
By the clock from the dock
- Under 15 minutes: Great Cruz Bay, Chocolate Hole, Gifft Hill, Catherineberg, and Lovango Cay on foot
- 15 to 30 minutes: Rendezvous Bay, Fish Bay, Peter Bay, Bordeaux Mountain, Coral Bay
- Over 30 minutes: Johns Folly, East End
Featured villas on St. John
All villas on St. JohnListed by their owners. See rates and dates, then write to the owner.
Questions about where to stay
- Which area of St. John has the most villas listed here?
- Great Cruz Bay, with 1 listed by their owners.
- What is the best place to stay in St. John, USVI, on a first visit?
- Cruz Bay, or the hills within fifteen minutes of it, Great Cruz Bay and Chocolate Hole. The ferry, the grocery and the restaurants stay close, the North Shore beaches start thirteen minutes from town, and a first trip loses the least time to the road.
- Is it better to stay on the North Shore or the South Shore of St. John?
- North for the Park beaches, on foot at Peter Bay or minutes below Catherineberg, with the grocery and dinner a drive back to town. South for private residential bays eighteen to twenty minutes from the ferry with smaller beaches and fewer visitors. Most first visits pick the hills just south of town, which sit between the two.
- How far is Coral Bay from Cruz Bay?
- About 28 minutes by car from the Cruz Bay ferry dock over Centerline Road, measured on island roads. There is no bus or boat between the two.
- Do you need a car on St. John?
- Yes, wherever you stay, Cruz Bay included. Town is walkable, but the North Shore beaches, the far side of the island and most grocery runs are a drive, and most owners recommend a jeep for the driveways. Rental cars from St. Thomas usually cannot cross on the barge, so rent in Cruz Bay. Lovango Cay, reached by boat, has no roads.
Every rental here is listed by its owner. See the real nightly rate, then ask them about your dates. No service fee.