--- title: "Coki Beach, St. Thomas, USVI: Snorkeling, Parking, and Fees · Virgin Islands Villas" url: https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches/coki description: "Coki Beach on St. Thomas: no entrance fee, 20 minutes by car from Charlotte Amalie, very little parking, vendors on the sand, and Coral World next door." updated: 2026-10-16 source: https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches/coki --- [St. Thomas](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas) · [Beaches](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches) · East End · Coki Point # Coki Beach Coki Beach is a public beach on the northeast side of St. Thomas beside Coral World Ocean Park, 20 minutes from Charlotte Amalie by car. As of October 2026 there is no entrance fee, and the park next door charges $29 an adult. The beach's cost is parking, scarce and charged for. Below: the drive, parking, vendors, the reef. **Conditions:** Coki Point is on the weekly testing list of the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, which publishes its beach advisory at dpnr.vi.gov. Read the current advisory before you swim, and stay out after heavy rain or where sargassum has piled up, as the department advises. No lifeguard appears in any source for Coki Beach as of October 2026. *Aerial view of Coki Point and Coki Beach, St. Thomas, with the marine park's piers and the East End beyond.* ## Coki Beach at a glance | | | | --- | --- | | Entry | Free | | Hours | No closing time published; Coral World next door 9 am to 4 pm, as of October 2026 | | Parking | Very little, with a charge for a space; the amount is not published as of October 2026 | | Restrooms | Yes | | Shade | Sparse | | Snorkeling | 4 of 5, Very good | | Crowds | Busy | | Drive from Charlotte Amalie | about 20 minutes by car | | Lifeguard | No | Verified Oct 9, 2026. ## Conditions today at Coki Beach As of 7:00 AM on Oct 16, 2026, island time. Read each morning from the National Weather Service, DPNR and Open-Meteo; the bay opens northwest, by our read from the map. **Sea state** **Sheltered.** The swell is from the east at 0.9 m, period 5 seconds; Coki Beach opens northwest, so the bay sits in the lee. Open-Meteo wave model at the nearest ocean cell; the bay's opening is our read from the map. **Rip current risk** Low. Surf around 3 feet, east winds around 15 mph. National Weather Service San Juan, surf zone forecast for St Thomas, St John and adjacent islands, issued 3:51 AM. **Water test** **Met the standard**, week of Oct 9, 2026 (DPNR's site "Coki Point"). Met it in 64 of 66 weeks sampled since Aug 2, 2024. [The advisory](https://dpnr.vi.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Beach-Advisory-10.9.26.pdf). DPNR samples for Enterococci bacteria and turbidity weekly; a result after heavy rain can change within the week. **Rain** Dry through the day; the chance of rain peaks at 21%. Open-Meteo hourly forecast at the pin. **The day** UV index up to 8; sunset 5:56 pm; sea 30 °C, 85 °F. Open-Meteo. ## Getting there About 20 minutes by car from Charlotte Amalie. How to reach St. Thomas: [Flights to St. Thomas](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/flights), [How to get around St. Thomas](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/getting-around), [St. Thomas airport](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/airport), [St. Thomas cruise port](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/cruise-port), [St. Thomas map](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/map), [St. Thomas weather by month](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/weather), [Things to do in St. Thomas](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/things-to-do). ## Twenty minutes from Charlotte Amalie, nine from Red Hook By car, Coki Beach is 20 minutes from Charlotte Amalie and 9 from the Red Hook ferry terminal, measured to the beach lot. The road in is Route 388, Coki Point Road, off Smith Bay Road, and it ends at the beach and at Coral World Ocean Park. The park's directions say to turn at the Coral World sign above Louie's Market, about 400 feet past the Margaritaville Vacation Club entrance coming from town. Without a car, a taxi is the usual way in. From Charlotte Amalie the fare is $18 for a single passenger and $14 a person for two or more, and from the airport $21 or $15, under the Virgin Islands Taxicab Commission's 2022 tariff, current as of October 2026. The park also names the Red Hook bus from downtown, $2 in exact change as of October 2026, with its nearest stop about a 10-minute walk from the park entrance. ## Where is Coki Point Beach, and is it free? Coki Point Beach is at Coki Point on the northeast, Atlantic-facing side of St. Thomas, at the end of Coki Point Road beside Coral World Ocean Park, and it is free as of October 2026. Public beaches in the territory are under the Government of the Virgin Islands and its Department of Sports, Parks and Recreation, which told the vendors here in July 2019, per the St. Thomas Source, that the entire beach is public. The two names are one place: Coki Point is the point of land, and Coki Beach is the sand on it. ## What to expect: vendors, showers and very little parking This is a serviced beach, and the services come from vendors, not from a resort. There are restrooms, showers and picnic tables, restaurants on the sand that bring food to your chair, and stands renting chairs, umbrellas, towels, floats and snorkel gear. No vendor publishes a price, so ask before you sit down. You do not have to rent to stay: at that July 2019 meeting the department reminded the vendors that a chair goes on the sand only once it is rented, that nobody may be told where on the beach they cannot sit, and that staff wait to be asked rather than approaching the taxis. The tradeoff is company. Taxis run here from the cruise piers, and a Coral World day is a beach day too, so the middle of a ship day is the crowded part. Shade is mostly the rented kind: the accounts we read describe little natural shade, so an umbrella is a line item. The second tradeoff is the parking: very little of it, a charge for a space, and no amount published by a source we can cite, as of October 2026. Coral World's lot is not the answer. The park says its free parking is for ticket holders, with a permit on the dashboard, and tells visitors to buy admission first to avoid being booted. If the day includes the park, buy the ticket first and the parking is solved. Coral World Ocean Park is a separate, paid attraction: $29 an adult 13 and over and $17 a child aged 3 to 12 as of October 2026, under 3 free, open 9 am to 4 pm with the ticket booth closing at 3 pm. It posts closed days on its own site, nine of them in October 2026, so check the date before building a day around it. ## What time does Coki Beach close? No closing time is published for Coki Beach, and there is no gate, as of October 2026. The only posted hours nearby are Coral World's, 9 am to 4 pm with the ticket booth closing at 3 pm. Plan lunch and rentals for the middle of the day. ## Snorkeling at Coki Beach, St. Thomas, off the sand The reef begins a short swim off the sand, in shallow water, and that is what makes this a first snorkel for a family; it scores 4 of 5 here. One change to know about: Coki Dive Center, which ran beach and boat dives here for 36 years by its own count, says on its home page, as of October 2026, that it has sold its business assets and no longer operates at Coki Beach, and names Aqua Action Dive Center as its successor. Aqua Action's own site places that shop at the Secret Harbour Beach Resort, 6 minutes from Red Hook, and says nothing about Coki. For a guided dive, call ahead instead of counting on a shop on the sand. Coki Point is on the weekly testing list of the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, which publishes the result at dpnr.vi.gov; its standing advice is to avoid water after stormwater runoff and where sargassum has piled up. No source lists a lifeguard for Coki Beach as of October 2026, so work on the basis that nobody is posted. Suits a first snorkel, a family that wants rentals, showers and lunch on the sand, and a day paired with Coral World; less so a driver who needs a certain parking space, or anyone after an empty beach. ## Questions people ask about Coki Beach **Is Coki Beach free?** Yes, as of October 2026 Coki Beach has no entrance fee. It is a public beach under the Department of Sports, Parks and Recreation, which told its vendors in July 2019 that the entire beach is public. Parking is the cost: there is very little of it, and a space is charged for. **What time does Coki Beach close?** Coki Beach has no published closing time and no gate. The stands and restaurants keep their own hours, and no vendor publishes them. Coral World Ocean Park next door is open 9 am to 4 pm as of October 2026, with its ticket booth closing at 3 pm. **Where is Coki Beach located?** Coki Beach is at Coki Point on the northeast side of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, at the end of Coki Point Road beside Coral World Ocean Park. By our measurement it is 20 minutes by car from Charlotte Amalie, 9.6 km, and 9 minutes from the Red Hook ferry terminal. **Do you need a car to get to Coki Beach?** No, and the parking is a reason to go without one: the lot is small and charged for, with no amount published as of October 2026. Coral World names the Red Hook bus from downtown, $2 in exact change, with its nearest stop about a 10-minute walk from the park. A taxi is the other way in, $18 for one rider or $14 apiece from town. Written by Virgin Islands Villas. Facts verified Oct 9, 2026. Updated Oct 16, 2026. Facts checked against [Coral World Ocean Park](https://coralworldvi.com/plan-your-visit/), [Coki Dive Center](https://cokidive.com/), [Aqua Action Dive Center](https://www.aadivers.com/about.php), [the Department of Planning and Natural Resources](https://dpnr.vi.gov/beach-advisory/) and [the St. Thomas Source](https://stthomassource.com/content/2019/07/11/sports-parks-and-recreation-addresses-coki-point-complaints/). Checked October 2026. ## Nearby beaches - [Lindquist Beach Smith Bay · 1.6 km away · closed](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches/lindquist) - [Sapphire Beach Sapphire Bay · 2.3 km away · free entry](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches/sapphire) - [Vessup Beach Red Hook · 3.6 km away · free entry](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches/vessup) [Every beach on St. Thomas, compared](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches)