Best to see and do in St. Thomas

[musicmastimagic]

I will be in St. Thomas from 8:00 a.m to 6:00 p.m.Its my 1st time.Don;t wanna book any expensive tour....may be do-it-self kidda thing.

 

I need suggestions as to what are the best things to see and to do.I can`t swim...so no snorkeling or water activities please.

 

Any suggestions will be appreciated!

[Sundae]

Have you checked out Frommers.com? They give really good self-guided walking tours. And also point out the main attractions.

 

I know you wanted a DIY tour but I'll share with you my experiences last December.

 

I used Sunny Liston Tours ($25) on my first visit to St. Thomas in December. He comes highly recommended on these threads here. Sunny picks you up from the pier at 9am, 10am or 11am, and drops you off at Charlotte Amalie for shopping. Then at noon, he takes you on a sight seeing tour of the highlights with photo stops. At the end of the day, you can opt to return to the ship, return to Charlotte Amalie or your choice of beach (Cokie, Sapphire or Magen's Bay).

[musicmastimagic]

Thanks Sundae!

I m not doing any shopping in St. Thomas.Now.....this what I want to know.....what else is there to see besides beach?If he is going to show me more places then it is worth but if its just beach....I can just pay for taxi or even walk to Emerald (I read somewhere that its 15-20 mins walk from crown bay).

 

Also I want to know from people who have visited both - Meagen Bay and Emerald Bay(Lindberg bay).............which one is better?

[Sundae]

Thanks Sundae!

I m not doing any shopping in St. Thomas.Now.....this what I want to know.....what else is there to see besides beach?If he is going to show me more places then it is worth but if its just beach....I can just pay for taxi or even walk to Emerald (I read somewhere that its 15-20 mins walk from crown bay).

 

Also I want to know from people who have visited both - Meagen Bay and Emerald Bay(Lindberg bay).............which one is better?

 

Have you taken a look at Sunny's website? I think it says where he goes. From what I remember, you get picked up early or later morning depending on how much shopping time you want. But shopping's not your thing so if you do his tour, you can go with being picked up at 11am. The first thing Sunny took us to was an overlook somewhere that looks out to the harbor, the cruise ships and bluebleard's castle. This is not the same lookout as the one Paradise Tram takes you. We stop for a bit for photos and he talks about the geography and the various islands you're seeing. He took us also to Francis Drake Seat and St. Peter Great House. Afterwards, my family and I were the only ones who opted to go to Magen's Bay. Everyone else went to Coki. While driving away, Sunny has the music on and we all sing along. It was really fun and as a first time visitor, I felt I got a good idea of the island.

 

For a list of attractions or what to do ideas, look up St. Thomas in Frommers guidebooks or frommers.com. They are my best sources for travels. There's a DIY walking tour of Charlotte Amalie. If you're looking for attractions outside of Charlotte Amalie, you would need to rent a car or take a taxi as I don't think the public buses get everywhere.

 

I've only been to Magen's Bay so can't help you with the comparison. I would say that Magen's Bay is absolutely gorgeous. We are not strong swimmers so the fact that the water is bath-tub calm, it was a plus for us. There's no snorkeling here, it's just sunbathing and swimming.

[aimers41]

we did not know what to do in st. thomas either--we got off ship, tons of open air taxis waiting. I heard all are same price. We were family of four $100 cash took us up to the highest point on island, drove all around, showed us highlights, took us to megans bay--stayed to take pics, back on taxi, more highlights. dropped us off at shopping in charlotte amalie, about 1 1/2 hours in total. great way to see island

[dcikon2]

We were in St. Thomas over Christmas and will be back in June. There is no need to hire a guide or take a tour, unless you are want to take a catamaran excursion.

 

Ideas:

1. The View - overlooks the city and near the port. You can walk there from your ship. Hopefully there will only be 1 or 2 ships in port when you visit. There is a restaurant and gift shop on top of the mountain.

2. Blackbeard's Castle & Amber Museum - nice overlook of the city and an interesting place to visit. You can easily take a taxi here.

3. Megan's Bay or Coki Beach - take a taxi. We visited Megan's Bay and it got too crowded for us. There were 5 ships in port the day we visited this beach. Luckily we were the first people there before the cruise ship passengers arrived. Though Megan's Bay is beautiful, it was also more expensive than other places that we visited, such as Flamenco Beach on the island of Culebra in Puerto Rico.

[Sundae]

We were in St. Thomas over Christmas and will be back in June. There is no need to hire a guide or take a tour, unless you are want to take a catamaran excursion.

 

Ideas:

1. The View - overlooks the city and near the port. You can walk there from your ship. Hopefully there will only be 1 or 2 ships in port when you visit. There is a restaurant and gift shop on top of the mountain.

2. Blackbeard's Castle & Amber Museum - nice overlook of the city and an interesting place to visit. You can easily take a taxi here.

3. Megan's Bay or Coki Beach - take a taxi. We visited Megan's Bay and it got too crowded for us. There were 5 ships in port the day we visited this beach. Luckily we were the first people there before the cruise ship passengers arrived. Though Megan's Bay is beautiful, it was also more expensive than other places that we visited, such as Flamenco Beach on the island of Culebra in Puerto Rico.

 

What is The View near the port you are referring to? I was only aware of Skyline and the Paradise point overlook and you needed transportation to get to those. Would be nice to know of one that you can walk to from the pier.

 

Flamenco Beach started charging for admission? It was free when I went in 2005.

[The Islander]

The view being refered to is likely Paradise Point Tram: http://www.paradisepointtramway.com/. You can walk to the tram starting point, its not easy to walk to Paradise Point itself and if the gate is closed as it often is during the day then its not possiable to walk at all. The website has photos of the place and the price for riding the tram.

 

As for a nice view that you walk to; you can get lovely views right from Havensight area and Yacht Haven Grande Marina of the harbor, the walk from there to downtown (about 1.4 miles) provides nice views of the harbor too and the hillsides. If you want a view down of the harbor then you have to be up on the hills, so generally need transportation to get there. You can walk to downtown, then walk up 99 steps to Blackbeards, pay the admission to see that location and enjoy the lovely views from there of downtown and the harbor.

 

--Islander