--- title: "Sapphire Beach, St. Thomas: 4 Minutes from Red Hook · Virgin Islands Villas" url: https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches/sapphire description: "Sapphire Beach on St. Thomas: free, 4 minutes by car from the Red Hook ferry, a reef on the right, and a beach bar open 10 am to 8 pm as of October 2026." updated: 2026-10-16 source: https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches/sapphire --- [St. Thomas](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas) · [Beaches](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches) · East End · beside Red Hook # Sapphire Beach Sapphire Beach, St. Thomas, sits on the island's East End, 4 minutes by car from the Red Hook ferry terminal. It is free and public, per the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, and the Sapphire Beach Club rents a chair for $15 a day as of October 2026. Below: the drive, the parking, what is open, the reef. **Conditions:** The reef is on the right side of the beach, facing the water, toward the point and the marina. Walk in over the sand nearer the middle and swim right, and keep your fins off the coral. *The curve of Sapphire Beach, St. Thomas, with palms and sea grape along the sand and swimmers in shallow water.* Photo: Skellig2008, Flickr, CC BY 2.0. ## Sapphire Beach at a glance | | | | --- | --- | | Entry | Free; a public beach, per the Department of Planning and Natural Resources (as of October 2026) | | Hours | No beach hours are published; the beach bar is open daily 10 am to 8 pm and the coffee shop 7 am to 2 pm (their own pages, as of October 2026) | | Parking | On site, with no fee or count published (as of October 2026) | | Restrooms | Yes | | Shade | Some | | Snorkeling | 4 of 5, Very good | | Crowds | Busy | | Drive from Charlotte Amalie | about 23 minutes by car | | Lifeguard | No | Verified Oct 9, 2026. ## Conditions today at Sapphire 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 east, by our read from the map. **Sea state** **Exposed.** The swell is from the east at 0.9 m, period 5 seconds; Sapphire Beach opens east, straight into it, so expect surf on the sand and stirred-up water. 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. Met it in 70 of 70 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 23 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). ## Four minutes from Red Hook, 23 from Charlotte Amalie Sapphire Beach is 4 minutes by car from the Red Hook ferry terminal and 23 minutes from Charlotte Amalie, by our measurement to the lot nearest the sand. The road is Smith Bay Road, Route 38. From Cruz Bay, the passenger ferry docks at Red Hook, and this is the first beach north of the terminal, 1.4 km up the road, close enough for an hour on the sand before a boat back to St. John. Without a car, the Virgin Islands Taxicab Commission's tariff prices Charlotte Amalie to the Sapphire Beach Resort at $21 for one person or $15 each for two or more, unchanged since October 2022. As of October 2026 the parking is on the resort's property, with no fee or count published; the map shows several lots along the resort road, the nearest about 150 meters from the sand. No source says which spaces are public, so read the signs on the way in. The beach itself is public whoever owns the buildings behind it. The Department of Planning and Natural Resources says the public has the right to be on every beach in the territory and that beaches cannot be fenced off, and its Division of Coastal Zone Management on St. Thomas takes reports of refused access at (340) 774-3320, as of October 2026. ## Where is Sapphire Beach in St. Thomas? Sapphire Beach is on the East End of St. Thomas, facing St. John across Pillsbury Sound, directly in front of the Sapphire Beach Resort and Marina on Smith Bay Road, one bay north of Red Hook. The Sapphire Beach Marina sits on the south side of the point: a private marina of 65 slips for yachts up to 65 feet, by its own site, less than 5 miles from St. John. Its information page lists jet skis as available, as of October 2026. ## What is open on the sand, as of October 2026 A beach bar, a coffee shop, a pizza kitchen and a dinner restaurant are trading at the beach as of October 2026, all under the Sapphire Beach Club, which describes itself as open to the public. The Sapphire Beach Bar, on the sand since the summer of 2016, lists daily hours of 10 am to 8 pm as of October 2026 for fish tacos, burgers and frozen drinks, with happy hour from 4 pm to 6 pm, live music on Sundays from 3 pm to 6 pm and a full moon party each month. The Beach Buzz serves coffee from 7 am to 2 pm with food until noon, Paradise Pie is open from 10 am to 8 pm, and SeaSalt opens for dinner from 5 pm to 10 pm and for brunch on Saturdays from 10 am to 2 pm, each by its own page as of October 2026. Chairs are rented, not included. The club's price list has a chaise lounge at $15 a day, a snorkel and mask set at $15 a day, a snorkel board at $15 for two hours and a cabana at $275 a day or $50 an hour, through Naia Boutique at the club, as of October 2026. Boards are the open question. Older pages describe windsurfers, kayaks and paddle boards for rent here, and the club's own list, the only one that comes from the operator, has none of them, so ask before counting on one. The tradeoff is company. This is the East End beach with the longest list of places to eat, and it draws the crowd that comes with that; by the accounts we read it is busy most days. Restrooms are at the beach, by every guide we read, though none says where. As of October 2026 no source we opened states whether a lifeguard is on duty, so assume the stand, if there is one, is empty. ## Is Sapphire Beach, St. Thomas good for snorkeling? Yes, on the right side. The reef is to the right of the beach as you face the water, toward the point and the marina. The Virgin Islands Department of Tourism describes sea turtles grazing the sea grass, rays, and brain coral on the shallow reef sheltering parrotfish and angelfish. We score it 4 of 5: good reef from the sand, kept off 5 because the coral is shallow and the best of it is a swim to the far end. Walk in over the sand nearer the middle and swim right; the club rents a snorkel and mask set for $15 a day as of October 2026, and the coral is the reef's, so keep your fins off it. Among the East End beaches on this site it is 4 minutes from Red Hook by car, against 3 for Lindquist Beach, which the Magens Bay Authority has kept closed for sargassum since Jul 9, 2026, with no reopening found as of October 2026. That leaves Sapphire as the reef with a bar and a bathroom on the same sand, the shortest drive from the ferry. Suits a snorkeler who wants lunch within a few steps, a family that needs restrooms and rented chairs, and anyone with an hour to fill before a ferry. Less so someone after a quiet beach. ## Photos of Sapphire Beach *Sapphire Beach, St. Thomas, from above the sand: palms and sea grape, shallow water over reef and a moored sailboat.* The reef shallows off Sapphire Beach, 2024. Photo: anoldent, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0. *The east end of Sapphire Beach, St. Thomas, from above, with a pool deck, palms, the rocky point and cays beyond.* The east end of the beach and the cays beyond. Photo: Koichi Shibata, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. ## Questions people ask about Sapphire Beach **Where is Sapphire Beach?** Sapphire Beach is on the East End of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, in front of the Sapphire Beach Resort and Marina on Smith Bay Road. It faces St. John across Pillsbury Sound and is the first beach north of Red Hook, 4 minutes by car from the ferry terminal and 23 from Charlotte Amalie. **Is Sapphire Beach in St. Thomas open?** Sapphire Beach is open, and it is public: the Department of Planning and Natural Resources says the public has the right to be on every beach in the territory. The Sapphire Beach Club, which runs the bar and restaurants on the sand, says it is open to the public, and as of October 2026 its beach bar lists hours of 10 am to 8 pm daily. As of October 2026 no source publishes hours for the beach itself. **Is Sapphire Beach in St. Thomas good for snorkeling?** Yes, on the reef at the right-hand end of the beach as you face the water, toward the point. The Virgin Islands Department of Tourism describes turtles, rays and brain coral there, we rate it 4 of 5, and you swim to it from the sand. The Sapphire Beach Club rents a snorkel and mask set for $15 a day as of October 2026. Written by Virgin Islands Villas. Facts verified Oct 9, 2026. Updated Oct 16, 2026. Facts checked against [the Sapphire Beach Club](https://www.sapphirebeachclubvi.com/about/), [the Sapphire Beach Bar](https://www.sbbvi.com/location/sapphire-beach-bar/), [the Department of Planning and Natural Resources](https://dpnr.vi.gov/coastal-zone-management/public-access-viczmp/) and [the Sapphire Beach Marina](https://www.sapphirebeachmarina.com/marina-information). Checked October 2026. ## Nearby beaches - [Lindquist Beach Smith Bay · 0.8 km away · closed](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches/lindquist) - [Vessup Beach Red Hook · 1.4 km away · free entry](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches/vessup) - [Secret Harbour Beach Secret Harbour · 1.9 km away · free entry](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches/secret-harbour) [Every beach on St. Thomas, compared](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches)