Fortuna, St. Thomas

Staying in Fortuna

Fortuna is the western end of St. Thomas, and almost every decision about a stay here follows from that. On our area map, built on the US Census Bureau's estate boundaries, it takes in Estate Fortuna and Estate Botany Bay on the point to its west. The ground around the middle of the area measures steep, so the first question for any owner is how their driveway runs and what car manages it. Charlotte Amalie is 23 minutes away by car, which is close enough for a dinner in town and far enough that you will want to decide which nights those are before the week begins.

Getting around starts and ends with a rental car. Here the airport is the short errand: Cyril E. King Airport is 21 minutes from the middle of the area, nearer than town, so a late landing or an early flight costs little. A taxi from the airport is $15 to $19 for one person and $12 to $16 each for two or more, from Fortuna Mill out to Botany Bay, on the Virgin Islands Taxicab Commission's tariff in force since October 2022, plus $3 a bag. Brewers Bay, the nearest beach with a guide on this site, is 11 minutes by car, and Hull Bay, where boats launch from a public ramp on the north shore, is 20. Every other drive heads east, toward and past Charlotte Amalie, and grows with each mile. Magens Bay is 34 minutes from the middle of the area, where the Magens Bay Authority charges $7 a visitor and $2 to park as of October 2026. Sapphire Beach, on the East End, is 46 minutes, a day in itself.

The nearest water is the shore at Fortuna Bay, 4 minutes by car from the middle of the area by our measurement, or about 13 on foot down a slope that is the harder way back. The Virgin Islands Coastal Zone Management Act gives the public the right to use the beaches, per the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, but the department's page names no public access point at Fortuna, so ask the owner how guests reach the shore and where they park. For sand with a guide on this site, Brewers Bay comes first and Hull Bay second, and both are short enough to do before lunch.

St. John is where Fortuna asks the most. The Red Hook ferry terminal is 52 minutes by car from the middle of the area, at the opposite end of the island. Boats to Cruz Bay run hourly and take 20 minutes; the last one back leaves Cruz Bay at 10 pm per the Department of Public Works as of September 2026, which puts you home after eleven. The shorter start is Charlotte Amalie, where Transportation Services of St. John sails to Cruz Bay twice a day each way as of October 2026; Varlack Ventures' sailings on that route stop for the off-season, so check the schedule; at any other hour Red Hook is the way to St. John.

So weigh the trip before you weigh the house. One day on St. John from here is nearly an hour and three-quarters on the road before the boat is counted, and a week built around the national park's beaches would spend much of itself in the car. If St. John is the reason for coming, choose a house on the East End instead. If the plan is St. Thomas, an easy airport and one long day across, Fortuna asks for that one early start and little else.

Suits a couple or family who fly in late or leave early, spend most days on St. Thomas, and keep St. John to one long day.

Getting around

Fortuna needs a car: the ground measures steep, so ask the owner about the driveway, the nearest sand is 4 minutes by car and Charlotte Amalie is 23 minutes by road.

Fortuna, past the airport, is off the public water mains like the rest of the west end, so the house's cistern is its whole supply and a long dry spell can mean a water truck. Signal on the far west point comes and goes with the hills, by our read, so ask the owner about wifi calling and whether a generator backs up the house.

Beaches near Fortuna

• Brewers Bayabout 11 min
• Hull Bayabout 20 min
• Honeymoon Beach, Water Islandabout 23 min