--- title: "Blackbeard's Castle, St. Thomas: Open Daily, $15, No Pirate" url: https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/things-to-do/blackbeards-castle description: "Blackbeard's Castle is a 1679 Danish watchtower above Charlotte Amalie, open daily for $15. The pirate was never here; the view over the harbor is real." updated: 2026-10-21 source: https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/things-to-do/blackbeards-castle --- [St. Thomas](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas) · Things to do on St. Thomas # Blackbeard's Castle, St. Thomas Blackbeard's Castle is the round stone tower on the hill above Charlotte Amalie, built by the Danes in 1679 to guard the harbor, and the pirate it is named for was never known to have come to St. Thomas. Today the grounds hold a small hotel, a pool and pirate statues, and the tower is open to climb. The only hard part is the hill. Written by Virgin Islands Villas·Updated Oct 2026 ## What Blackbeard's Castle is, and why the Danes built it For two reasons, by the National Park Service's landmark study. In 1679 Governor Jørgen Iversen had a tower raised on the hill north of the fort so that no enemy could haul guns onto that high ground and pound the fort below, and he built it high enough to peer over Hassel Island to the open sea, an early warning of any ship approaching. The Danes called it Skytsborg. Iversen wrote the next February that since the watchtower went up, he no longer feared a sudden attack so much. It is a squat, round tower of rubble masonry, limestone, volcanic stone and coral, with brick around the door and the gun ports, 20 feet across at the base and 31½ feet high, and in 1688 a later governor had embrasures cut for two cannon to cover the harbor. The landmark study calls it the only unmodified seventeenth-century fortified tower in the Caribbean, and possibly the oldest unaltered structure on St. Thomas. It became a National Historic Landmark in 1994. ## Did Blackbeard ever use the castle? No. The National Park Service's study says the tower gathered three erroneous legends in the nineteenth century, the first that buccaneers built it and Edward Teach, Blackbeard, later used it, and that Blackbeard was never known to have visited St. Thomas. The castle's own site now says the connection is more story than record. Before the pirate's name stuck, the tower went by its owners' names: Fogarthy's Castle around 1800, then Kjaer's Castle, when an observatory sat on its roof. The legend is still the draw, and the grounds lean into it with life-size pirate statues. For the real pirate history of these waters, the [BVI pirate history guide](https://virginislandvilla.com/bvi/guides/bvi-pirate-history) separates what the record shows from what the islands tell. ## Is Blackbeard's Castle open, and what does it cost? Yes. The castle opens every day from 9 am to 5 pm, last admission 4:30, per its own site as of October 2026. A ticket is $15, children under 10 go free, USVI locals free with ID, and seniors 60 and over and the military pay $10. It covers the tower, which you climb on your own up 36 stairs, the grounds and pirate statues, the pool and lounge, and a rum tasting. The castle's booking page also lists guided tours, the tower with the historic homes beside it and a rum tasting among them, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The confusion comes from the Department of Tourism. Its own listing calls the castle a landmark and boutique hotel open daily, but three of its guide pages, undated, still say it is closed. Go by the castle's site, or call its front desk at (340) 715-6199. Jolly Roger's, the bar on the grounds, needs no ticket for a drink; the [Charlotte Amalie eat-and-drink guide](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/eat-and-drink/charlotte-amalie) lists it with the rest of town. ## Climbing the 99 Steps to Government Hill The walk up is the 99 Steps, the brick step-street that climbs Government Hill from the town below. The Department of Tourism calls it an 18th-century street built of brick that came over on Danish ships, and counts 103 steps, not 99. The castle sits at the top, so the climb is the price of the view, and on a hot afternoon it is a real one, with the tower's stairs still to come. Anyone who would rather not climb can, by our read, take a taxi up Blackbeard's Hill, the castle's own address, instead. ## Getting to Blackbeard's Castle from the cruise piers Ships berth at Havensight, east of town, and at Crown Bay to the west, and neither is at the foot of the hill. From Havensight it is 12 minutes by car to the Charlotte Amalie waterfront, and from Crown Bay 9 minutes by car to the waterfront or a 40-minute walk to the center of town, by our measurement. On the Virgin Islands Taxicab Commission's tariff, the ride from Havensight to Charlotte Amalie is $6 a person and from Crown Bay $8 for one rider or $6 each for two or more. The [cruise port guide](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/cruise-port) covers the piers, and the [taxis page](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/services/taxis) the other fares. ## What you see from the top of Skytsborg The harbor, which was the point. The landmark study describes the tower overlooking Charlotte Amalie and St. Thomas Harbor, and the castle sells it as a view over the town and the cruise ships. Hassel Island lies across the mouth of the harbor, the line the Danish lookouts watched past for ships, and Havensight's cruise piers sit on the eastern side of the same water. ## Fort Christian and the old town below the castle The castle is the top of a walk through the oldest part of St. Thomas. [Fort Christian](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/guides/fort-christian), the red fort on the waterfront that Skytsborg was built to guard, is at the foot of the hill, with Emancipation Garden beside it and the St. Thomas Synagogue a few streets up. The shops of Main Street fill the lanes in between, which the [shopping guide](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/things-to-do/shopping) sorts out, and the [Charlotte Amalie guide](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/areas/charlotte-amalie) covers staying in town. The rest of the island's sights are on the [St. Thomas things to do page](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/things-to-do). Questions people ask ### Is Blackbeard's Castle open? Yes, every day from 9 am to 5 pm, with last admission at 4:30 pm, per the castle's own site as of October 2026. Some Department of Tourism guide pages still describe it as closed, but its own listing and the castle's ticket page say open daily. ### How much is Blackbeard's Castle? $15 a person, per the castle as of October 2026. Children under 10 and USVI locals with ID go free, and seniors 60 and over and the military pay $10. The ticket covers the tower, the grounds, the pool and lounge and a rum tasting. ### Did Blackbeard live in Blackbeard's Castle? No. The tower is Skytsborg, a Danish watchtower built in 1679, and the National Park Service's landmark study says Blackbeard was never known to have visited St. Thomas; the pirate story attached itself to the tower in the nineteenth century. ### How many steps are the 99 Steps in St. Thomas? 103, by the Department of Tourism's count, despite the name. The brick step-street climbs Government Hill in Charlotte Amalie to Blackbeard's Castle at the top. ### How far is Blackbeard's Castle from the cruise port? From Havensight, 12 minutes by car to the Charlotte Amalie waterfront, then the climb up the 99 Steps; from Crown Bay, 9 minutes by car to the waterfront or a 40-minute walk to the center of town, by our measurement. A taxi from Havensight to town is $6 a person on the Virgin Islands Taxicab Commission's tariff. At a glance · checked Oct 2026 **Open** Daily, 9 am to 5 pm Last admission 4:30 pm, per Blackbeard's Castle's own site, checked 2026-10-21. Some of the US Virgin Islands Department of Tourism's guide pages still say it is closed. **Admission** $15; under 10 free USVI locals free with ID; seniors 60 and over and military $10. Covers the tower, the grounds, the pool and lounge and a rum tasting (the castle's ticket page, checked 2026-10-21). **Built** 1679, by Governor Jørgen Iversen As Skytsborg, a Danish watchtower, per the National Park Service's landmark nomination. **Landmark** National Historic Landmark, 1994 Designated October 12, 1994, per the National Park Service. **The tower** 31½ feet high, 20 feet across Rubble masonry of limestone, volcanic stone and coral, per the landmark nomination; 36 stairs inside, per the castle. **From Havensight** 12 min by car to the waterfront Measured from the West Indian Company dock to the Charlotte Amalie ferry terminal, 2026-10-09; the hill is above that. **From Crown Bay** 9 min by car or 40 min on foot The drive measured to the Charlotte Amalie ferry terminal, the walk to the center of town, 2026-10-09. **Taxi from the piers** $6 a person from Havensight To Charlotte Amalie on the Virgin Islands Taxicab Commission's tariff of October 24, 2022; from Crown Bay $8 for one rider, $6 each for two or more. [Open Blackbeard's Castle, St. Thomas in Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps?cid=16210442565304705298) Villas on St. Thomas Every villa on the island is listed by its owner on [St. Thomas vacation rentals](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/vacation-rentals). See rates and dates, then write to the owner. More on St. Thomas - [Things to do in St. Thomas](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/things-to-do) - [Coral World Ocean Park, St. Thomas](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/things-to-do/coral-world) - [Duty-free shopping in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/things-to-do/shopping) - [Hiking in St. Thomas from the Magens Bay trailhead](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/things-to-do/hiking) - [How to get to Jost Van Dyke from St. Thomas](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/things-to-do/jost-van-dyke) - [Kayaking and paddleboarding on St. Thomas](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/things-to-do/kayaking) Facts checked against [the National Park Service](https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/5d1ae26e-55d6-42be-8c9c-12e40df22066), [Blackbeard's Castle](https://tickets.blackbeardscastle.com/) and [the US Virgin Islands Department of Tourism](https://www.visitusvi.com/experience/best-things-to-do-in-charlotte-amalie-on-st-thomas/). Checked October 2026.