Peter Bay, St. John
Peter Bay, St. John, is the private hillside between Trunk Bay and Cinnamon Bay on the North Shore, where a villa stands above a beach you walk to. It suits a trip built around the Park beaches, with a car. From Peter Bay, Cruz Bay town is 15 minutes by car.
Estates and places here: . These are the names on addresses and deeds; a villa in any of them is listed under Peter Bay.
Staying in Peter Bay
The houses sit on the hill between Trunk Bay and Cinnamon Bay, 15 minutes by car from Cruz Bay town and 16 from the ferry by our measurement from the middle of the area, with the sand at the bottom of the road about 5 minutes on foot. There is no shop, no bar and no restaurant here, so a week is shaped by the car: the beaches in the morning, the drive back to Cruz Bay for the grocery and for dinner, and the road home in the dark. The houses in Peter Bay, St. John, are private, listed by the owners who hold them, and the owner is the one who says how their guests reach the water.
Whether the beach at Peter Bay is public is the question to settle before you book, and the answer has two parts. The sand is public: the Department of Planning and Natural Resources says the public has the right to be on the territory's beaches, under the Virgin Islands Coastal Zone Management Act of 1978, and that beaches cannot be fenced off, as of October 2026. The way to the sand is a different matter. The department's public access page lists no access point on St. John, Peter Bay included, and the land between North Shore Road and the water is private houses, not park. The estate publishes no rule we could read, so ask the owner how guests reach the beach from their house, and report a blocked beach to the department's Division of Coastal Zone Management. No authority publishes facilities for the beach either; Trunk Bay's restrooms and showers are 4 minutes away by car.
The North Shore beaches are the reason to pay for this hill. By our measurement from the middle of Peter Bay, Trunk Bay is 4 minutes by car, Cinnamon Bay 5, Maho Bay 6, Hawksnest 7, Caneel Bay 11 and Francis Bay 17. Trunk Bay charges $5 a person aged 16 and over and has taken card or mobile payment only since October 1, 2026, per the National Park Service fees page updated September 29, 2026; its restrooms, showers and snack bar run 8 am to 4 pm and no lifeguard is on duty, per the park's hours page as of October 2026. Cinnamon, Maho and Hawksnest charge nothing. Cinnamon Bay has the park's one campground behind the sand, closed every September and October per NPS as of October 2026. From here you reach Hawksnest before its lot fills, which NPS says is often by mid-morning as of October 2026.
Rent a jeep in Cruz Bay, and ask the owner whether the driveway needs four-wheel drive. The roads here measure steep by our survey. Shop at Starfish Market in The Marketplace on Route 107, open 7 am to 9 pm every day by its own listing as of October 2026, on the way out of town. The only shop past town is the general store at the Cinnamon Bay campground, 10 am to 6 pm in its season by the operator's listing as of October 2026, and it closes with the campground in September and October.
The tradeoff: the beach is on foot and everything else is a drive, with a steep driveway at the end of the night and the grocery 15 minutes behind you. A trip built on dinners in town belongs in Cruz Bay itself. Catherineberg, the hillside above the same beaches, is 12 minutes from town on roads that measure gentler, with the sand a short drive below rather than a walk; for a pool and calm water, Great Cruz Bay is 12 minutes from town on the other side. Leave Cruz Bay with the fridge full.
Suits a trip built around Trunk Bay, Cinnamon Bay and Maho Bay, with a car, a full fridge and a driver who does not mind the hill.
Getting around
Peter Bay needs a car: the ground measures steep, so ask the owner about the driveway, the beach is on foot and Cruz Bay is 15 minutes by road.
| Drive to | Minutes |
|---|---|
| Cruz Bay ferry | 16 |
| Cruz Bay town | 15 |
| Peter Bay Beach | 1 |
Measured on the island's roads.
How to get to Peter Bay from St. Thomas
The usual way: a taxi to the Red Hook ferry terminal (36 min), then the ferry to Cruz Bay (20 min, $8.15 a person), then 16 minutes by road from the dock to Peter Bay. About 72 minutes from Cyril E. King airport to the villa, more on cruise-ship days. Six other ways across are below, with times and fares.Every route
The boat if you are stepping off a cruise ship or staying downtown: it leaves from the waterfront terminal, twice a day each way.
- Ferry, Charlotte Amalie to Cruz Bay45 min
Plus $4 a bag; $3.50 child; $6 for residents 60 and over with the elderly IDTwo a day each way: 8:45 and 11:15 am from Cruz Bay, 10 am and 12:30 pm from Charlotte Amalie (Transportation Services of St. John)Varlack Ventures lists its own Charlotte Amalie run as suspended for the off-season, as of October 2026; check its page before you plan on that boatNo reservationTimes (Transportation Services of St. John and Varlack Ventures)
45 min$13 a person$12 resident
The closest boat to the airport and the fastest door to dock, but two sailings a day, four Friday to Sunday. It lands at Cruz Bay Creek, not the main ferry dock.
- Taxi to Crown Bay Marina8 min
- Boat to Cruz Bay Creek35 min
Boat only; $15 senior, $10 child 3 to 11. The taxi to Crown Bay is $8 for one rider, $6 each for two or more.3:30 and 5:30 pm daily; 9:45 am and 2:15 pm Friday to SundayCheck in 30 minutes before departureTimes (Inter Island Boat Services)
43 min$20 a personThe route most guests take. The taxi is the long part; allow extra on cruise-ship days and at school-run time.
- Taxi to the Red Hook ferry terminal36 min
- Ferry to Cruz Bay20 min
Ferry only, plus $4 a bag. The taxi to Red Hook is $23 for one rider, $17 each for two or more.Ferry hourly, 5:30 am to 10 pmNo reservationTimes (VITRAN, run by Transportation Services and Varlack Ventures)
56 min$8.15 a person$6 residentRarely the best choice from the airport: the terminal is closer than Red Hook, but the crossing is twice as long and only two boats a day leave Charlotte Amalie.
- Taxi to the Charlotte Amalie ferry terminal12 min
- Ferry to Cruz Bay45 min
Ferry only, plus $4 a bag. The taxi to the terminal is $11 for one rider, $9 each for two or more.Two a day from Charlotte Amalie, 10 am and 12:30 pm (Transportation Services of St. John)Varlack Ventures' Charlotte Amalie run was suspended for the off-season in October 2026; it usually sails again from about November, so check its page firstTimes (Transportation Services of St. John and Varlack Ventures)
57 min$13 a person$12 residentYour own boat on your own schedule, any hour with notice. Priced by the boat, from $695, so it makes sense for a full house arriving together. The operator does not publish the crossing time, so no total is shown.
- Taxi to Crown Bay Marina8 min
- Water taxi to Cruz Bay
The boat, not the seat; the operator quotes from $695 from Crown Bay and from $495 from Compass Point Marina. The land taxi to Crown Bay is $8 for one rider, $6 each for two or more.By reservation; 24-hour service with notice
from $695 a boat
- FerryThe Red Hook ferry
The default way over: hourly until 10 pm, no booking, and it lands at the main dock in the middle of Cruz Bay.
- Ferry, Red Hook to Cruz Bay20 min
Plus $4 a bag. Varlack adds a fuel surcharge from June 12, 2026.Hourly, 5:30 am to 10 pm from Red Hook, 6 am to 10 pm from Cruz Bay; an off-season timetable runs from late July, usually to the end of October, so check the operator's current scheduleNo reservation; buy at the windowTimes (VITRAN, run by Transportation Services and Varlack Ventures)
20 min$8.15 a person$6 resident - Car bargeThe car barge
Only with your own car, or a rental whose company allows the crossing: National and Discount Car Rental say theirs may go (their own pages, 2026-10-09), so ask yours first. Most people rent on St. John. The crossing time is not published, so no total is shown.
- Car barge to the Theovald Moorehead terminal at Enighed Pond
Times (Big Red Barge, Love City Car Ferries and Global Marine)
$65 a car one way, $80 round trip, on the Big Red Barge and Love City Car Ferries rates pages (checked 2026-10-09). Each company sells its own tickets.
Fares change; the operator's page has today's. Road legs measured on island roads. Taxi fares are the Virgin Islands Taxicab Commission's tariff, in force since October 2022: per person, less each for two or more traveling together, plus $3 a bag. Checked 2026-10-09.
Most Peter Bay villas list an automatic whole-house generator, by our read of their listings, and each stores its own rain in a cistern. Phones are the weak point: trip reports find no signal at Peter Bay and a patchy one at Trunk Bay, where a phone can latch onto a British Virgin Islands network, so plan on wifi calling at the house.
Beaches near Peter Bay
- Trunk Bayabout 4 min
- Jumbie Beachabout 5 min
- Cinnamon Bayabout 5 min
Questions about Peter Bay
- Where is Peter Bay in St. John?
- Peter Bay is a hillside of private houses on the North Shore of St. John, US Virgin Islands, between Trunk Bay and Cinnamon Bay, reached off North Shore Road. It is 15 minutes by car from Cruz Bay town and 16 from the ferry dock by our measurement, with Trunk Bay 4 minutes away by car and Cinnamon Bay 5.
- Who lives in Peter Bay, St. John?
- The owners of its private houses, many of whom rent them for part of the year, and the guests who stay in them. We print no names and no count. Every claimed villa on this site is listed by its owner or manager, who is named on the page, and the grid on this page is who is renting a house in Peter Bay this season.
- Do you need a car in Peter Bay?
- Yes. The beach is on foot, but there is no shop or restaurant here, Cruz Bay is 15 minutes by car and the roads measure steep by our survey; whether you need four-wheel drive comes down to the driveway, which the owner can describe, and the car is rented in Cruz Bay.
- How far is Peter Bay from Cruz Bay?
- 15 minutes by car to the middle of town and 16 to the ferry dock, along North Shore Road, by our measurement. No Peter Bay stop appears on the Virgin Islands Taxicab Commission's tariff, in force since October 2022, so a taxi from the ferry is charged to a neighbor: $12 for one person or $9 each for two or more to Trunk Bay, and $14 for one or $11 each to Cinnamon Bay, plus $3 a bag.
- Is the beach at Peter Bay public?
- The sand is. The Department of Planning and Natural Resources says the public has the right to be on the territory's beaches under the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1978, and that beaches cannot be fenced off, as of October 2026. Its public access page lists no access point for Peter Bay, and the land above the beach is private houses, so ask the owner how guests reach the water from their house.
Written by Virgin Islands Villas.
No owner-listed rentals in Peter Bay yet. See every villa on St. John, or list yours.