Best beach on St Thomas

Another question :rolleyes:Holiday getting closer now and we are all so excited, we are all from Scotland so don't have the luxury of cruising the carribean regularly and are trying to make the right choices before we go.

We are having a beach day in St Thomas and are trying to decide on which beach is best.

4 adults 4 children 9 -14, looking for chair and umbrella hire, food and drink outlet, and a beach with a bit of carribean vibe that will help create lifetime memories.

I know I am asking a lot and a lot of it will be up to ourselves(which we will have no problem doing) but would appreciate any advice from CC.

I'll kick off by saying I am thinking of Sapphire beach?

Sapphire Beach is very scenic as is Coki Beach which is nearby. Both are nice for snorkeling right off the beach. I would have taxi driver take you to scenic overlooks of Charlotte Amalie and Megans Bay on your way back to ship. Enjoy

I also would say Sapphire is a great choice.

The best beach isn't on St. Thomas..it's on St. John....do the excursion...it's the most gorgeous beach ever!

I would honestly say Magens Bay is better than Sapphire. I'm foggy on the availability of chairs, I never used them. I holiday in St. Thomas frequently, and Magens is always the beach I go to without a doubt. You wouldn't be disappointed, I can promise!

Coki beach also has a shop that has reasonable rates on snorkel equipment and coral world is right there as well.

The best beach isn't on St. Thomas..it's on St. John....do the excursion...it's the most gorgeous beach ever!

Completely agree!! Skip St Thomas and go to St John. Our first time to St John was as a cruise excursion...since then we've been back for vacations on St John several times and I can't wait to go again.

St John is beautiful & still rather unspoiled. On St Thomas I'd do Honeymoon, Coki, Sapphire then Magen's Bay in that order.

If you have enough time, I'd concur the best memory would be a ferry ride over to St. John. Skip Trunk Bay and go to Cinnammon Bay - the one Kenny Chesney sang about. It will be much less crowded. FYI, I don't remember umbrellas for rent there but that wouldn't stop me - you can sit in the shade if you walk down the beach a bit. You can get something to eat there or in town where the ferry docks. Just don't miss the ferry back!

http://www.cinnamon-bay.com/

really like Sapphire and Meghan's Bay went to Coki last time and didn't care for it too much!

Emerald Bay.

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I would recommend taking the ships tour to St Johns, you will not be disappointed.

Even though we enjoy Emerald Beach and Magens Bay, IMO, our favorite is taking the ferry over to St. John's through RCI and enjoy one the beaches there, St. John's is absolutely beautiful.

Another question :rolleyes:Holiday getting closer now and we are all so excited, we are all from Scotland so don't have the luxury of cruising the carribean regularly and are trying to make the right choices before we go.

We are having a beach day in St Thomas and are trying to decide on which beach is best.

4 adults 4 children 9 -14, looking for chair and umbrella hire, food and drink outlet, and a beach with a bit of carribean vibe that will help create lifetime memories.

I know I am asking a lot and a lot of it will be up to ourselves(which we will have no problem doing) but would appreciate any advice from CC.

I'll kick off by saying I am thinking of Sapphire beach?

You are the only ship scheduled in port that day and you are docked at Havensight which is the port to the east of Charlotte Amalie. So that just puts you closer to the beautiful East End beaches than to Lindbergh Bay (aka Emerald Beach). So you're looking at a $20pp roundtrip taxi to these beaches, or perhaps $12 - 14pp to Lindbergh which is to the west of Charlotte Amalie.

Our first recommendation for an amazing beach day would definitely be Sapphire. Beautiful water colors, sandy swimming area as well as reef and seagrass areas for snorkeling, a couple food and drink options, and a dive center renting whatever you need. Nice island views and abundant shade along the shore, and Sapphire promises to be comfortable, especially with just 1 ship in port. Home to 3 condo properties, Sapphire doesn't typically get as busy as other beaches like Magens and Coki. More a Caribbean beach vibe, with a beach grill (Banana Cabana) serving sandwiches and drinks, and runners taking orders on the beach from BC and the Sapphire Village Restaurant. We love the mahi mahi sandwich at BC when staying there, $14 but so worth it.

Other options are:

Lindbergh Bay, you can rent chairs and get food and drink at the Best Western Emerald Beach Resort. More a hotel experience than Sapphire, with nice restrooms and a real restaurant and beach bar. But not quite that quintessential Caribbean vibe for us. But still Lindbergh would be a very nice day. Island Beachcomber has a little more local vibe and is another option.

Trunk or Cinnamon Bay on STJ, however you're only in port for 7 hours (12PM - 7PM) and would spend 1.5 - 2 hours getting there and back. So you should definitely stay on STT and enjoy one of the beautiful beaches there. Actually many people head directly to STJ and never have the opportunity to see the beautiful East End of STT.

We would avoid Magens and Coki, and probably Secret Harbor only because that can be crowded.

Here's a map showing the different beach locations -

http://www.virginislandsthisweek.com/st-thomas/maps/st-thomas-island-road-map.html

You're also hitting Cococay, Bahamas and Philipsburg, St Maarten, we haven't been to the private island of Cococay but I assume that's a beach day, and hopefully you can explore St Maarten and St Martin, beautiful island. A great day there is the Golden Eagle catamaran sail -

sailingsxm.com

Thanks to everyone especially Blue water what a fantastic reply many thanks to you. I think it will be saphire for us it sounds perfect. Whatever we do I'm sure we will have a ball sooooo looking forwrd to this , thanks again everyone.:)

Blue water can you confirm that we can rent sun loungers/chairs at Saphire?

Yes lounges are available at $9 each (pricey) and you will have a nice beach day at any of the beaches recommended, we're just partial to Sapphire when on STT :)

You are the only ship scheduled in port that day and you are docked at Havensight which is the port to the east of Charlotte Amalie. So that just puts you closer to the beautiful East End beaches than to Lindbergh Bay (aka Emerald Beach). So you're looking at a $20pp roundtrip taxi to these beaches, or perhaps $12 - 14pp to Lindbergh which is to the west of Charlotte Amalie.

 

Our first recommendation for an amazing beach day would definitely be Sapphire. Beautiful water colors, sandy swimming area as well as reef and seagrass areas for snorkeling, a couple food and drink options, and a dive center renting whatever you need. Nice island views and abundant shade along the shore, and Sapphire promises to be comfortable, especially with just 1 ship in port. Home to 3 condo properties, Sapphire doesn't typically get as busy as other beaches like Magens and Coki. More a Caribbean beach vibe, with a beach grill (Banana Cabana) serving sandwiches and drinks, and runners taking orders on the beach from BC and the Sapphire Village Restaurant. We love the mahi mahi sandwich at BC when staying there, $14 but so worth it.

 

Other options are:

 

Lindbergh Bay, you can rent chairs and get food and drink at the Best Western Emerald Beach Resort. More a hotel experience than Sapphire, with nice restrooms and a real restaurant and beach bar. But not quite that quintessential Caribbean vibe for us. But still Lindbergh would be a very nice day. Island Beachcomber has a little more local vibe and is another option.

 

Trunk or Cinnamon Bay on STJ, however you're only in port for 7 hours (12PM - 7PM) and would spend 1.5 - 2 hours getting there and back. So you should definitely stay on STT and enjoy one of the beautiful beaches there. Actually many people head directly to STJ and never have the opportunity to see the beautiful East End of STT.

 

We would avoid Magens and Coki, and probably Secret Harbor only because that can be crowded.

 

Here's a map showing the different beach locations -

http://www.virginislandsthisweek.com/st-thomas/maps/st-thomas-island-road-map.html

 

You're also hitting Cococay, Bahamas and Philipsburg, St Maarten, we haven't been to the private island of Cococay but I assume that's a beach day, and hopefully you can explore St Maarten and St Martin, beautiful island. A great day there is the Golden Eagle catamaran sail -

sailingsxm.com

Just the info I was looking for, thank you! Wondering about taxi price to Sapphire beach?

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Found my answer upon further reading. Taxi prices are kinda high to any beach there. We have 8 in our group...still sounds worth it though!!

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Yes it's about $10pp each way so it can get pricey...

There is the $2 "bus" option but there's a good chance you'll lose precious time waiting and walking with that one, and some may have tow ait for a bus that's not full...

Agreed, who wants to lose beach time. I believe we are in port either 7-5 or 8-5. I have been to St Thomas before but only on our way to The Moorings and back. We didn't really get to see much of what St. Thomas has to offer. A beach day for snorkelers sounds perfect!

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On my last two visits we went outside the port area and we rented a private taxi and driver for $75 for the entire day. The truck had the bench seats across it and seating for 12+ and we had Daisy.

We felt safe and enjoyed the entire day.

Have fun!!!

Good to know, a tiny bit cheaper and they will take us additional places! Did you pay the 75 upfront?

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When you rented the taxi for the day how many people were there? There will be 8 of us in total do you know if we could get a taxi for 8 ?

The van type taxis can handle 12 people and the safari bus type can take many more.