What is the best beach in St.Thomas

[oraf7]

I like a calm clean see your toes beach. We go to Aruba every April and have been to St. Thomas wasn't impressed with the beach we were on near the Marriot. I really like St Maarten orient Beach also. Any suggestions?

[barbels]

We love Coki. It's next to Coral World which feeds the fish so there are large schools of fish in the crystal clear water. Because the surf breaks on the hills which almost surround the beach it is always very calm. I love to snorkle there. It's like hanging in a large aquarium.

[TropicalSnowflake]

I really liked Magen's Bay, but I don't snorkel. I have two kids and just want to relax and build castles with them. The bay is shaped like a horseshoe so the water is really clear and calm. If I remember correctly, the taxi is $6 (may have changed in the last couple years) and entrance fee $3. Get there in the morning as it gets crowded in the afternoon.

 

I went to Coki last time becasue we went with friends who like to snorkel and I regretted it. It's a longer drive to get to and the seas are rougher (than Magen's bay, comparatively...not to say that Coki beach is rough seas, generally) However, everyone did say the snorkeling was good.

[JLC@SD]

.....we like Trunk Bay....at St. Johns.

[Colo Cruiser]

Sapphire Baech. :)

[crissyp]

Can I ask why you like Sapphire Beach over Megans Bay??? Our first time in St. Thomas coming up in July....What does Sapphire offer...any jetskiing, water sports, restaurants....How far is this from the port???

I'm sooo confused on which beach to pick, they all sound beautiful...

We'll be with older teens. Which beach would be best for our group??

Thanks for any advice

Crissy:D

[willysgrandma]

I second Trunks Bay on St. John's. There is an excursion to it that leaves right from the dock next to the ship, or you can take a ferry over. It is one of th prettiest beaches I've been to, and has snorkling equipment available too.

[dennbr9]

We like Magen's Bay- when it's not too crowded. Calm, clear blue water, good drinks at the open air Bar. Can get crowded there at times, but it is a very large Beach area so you can get away from the crowd if you want.

[ohCanada]

In February we tried Coki Beach in the morning and Magens Bay in the afternoon. Both were nice but very different from each other. Next time we are going to try Sapphire Beach for the day. Take a look at this thread http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=498073

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Sapphire Baech. :)

 

I like Sapphire best too.

here is a short video we took while there.

http://www.cruisingthecaribbeanprincess.com/2004_0702Image0032.avi

 

Bill

[Casshew]

I've been to St Thomas a few times, I prefer Sapphire to Magens mainly because Magens was packed with people.

 

Having said that, Trunk Bay is wonderful.

[txflyer]

Trunk Bay on St John gets my vote. Megans is very nice too, but would prefer Trunk Bay even though it takes a bit of effort to get there. Its beautiful.

When we were there in September, we went as soon as we were off the ship. By arranging our own transportation and were there by mid morning, ahead of the regular tourists and groups. It was definitely worth the effort. ..>>jack

[Colo Cruiser]

Can I ask why you like Sapphire Beach over Megans Bay??? Our first time in St. Thomas coming up in July....What does Sapphire offer...any jetskiing, water sports, restaurants....How far is this from the port???

I'm sooo confused on which beach to pick, they all sound beautiful...

We'll be with older teens. Which beach would be best for our group??

Thanks for any advice

Crissy:D

 

 

While on the Crown we hit Sapphire Beach in October on a tour with Sunny Liston, after touring the Island he dropped us off there for 2-3 hours in the afternoon.

Sunny stopped at the Mountain Top Restaurant before we went to Sapphire.

It was great, as said, no crowds beautiful location. I am not sure about the jet skis etc.

If you take a taxi it is probably a 20 minute ride from Crown Bay.:)

[vitaminz1990]

.....we like Trunk Bay....at St. Johns.

 

Yes I agree. Trunk Bay is a great beach. I would recommend it. Funny story, when i was there when i was about in 4th grade, I was running along the beach and the side of my head clipped a large tree branch. Next thing i know, my head is dripping blood. Yep, busted it right open. Brings back great memories :rolleyes:

 

Haha, i hope that doesnt scare you. Be sure to check that beach out though... its BEAUTIFUL

[mdmomof7]

We also did Godfrey's tours and he did stop at each of the beaches. He explained the water clarity for snorkeling and Sapphire was in the middle - 1 step down from Coki for clarity, one step above Magen's. Several in our vehicle wanted Coki. They hopped out at Coki, but as we were pulling away, ran back to the bus and wanted to go to Sapphire. Coki was crowded and the entrance area was really junky. Sapphire was beautiful!

 

Next year (last year) we went to St. Thomas again and did the junket over to St. John's and went to Trunk Bay. Amazing! We did it on our own and saved maybe $20 but it was fun to have the experience of getting there on our own. For snorkeling, definitely Trunk Bay. For a beach, Sapphire is beautiful and easy to reach. It would definitely be more relaxing for a beach day than getting to St. John's.

 

Orient Beach - We did a tour on St. Maarten and it ended w/ Orient Beach. I found the beach crowded, windy, and more "touristy" than Sapphire. The sails on the rental boats were pretty. I did feel that French Marigot was a BIT European, but loving France as I do, it still didn't sway me to St. Maarten. I found I didn't care for the beaches or scenery on St. Maarten even though our tour guide was very personable and informative. I found St. Thomas much prettier. We asked to go back to the cruise port and shopped and then relaxed on the ship instead.

[jenjes3]

Hi.. we have been all three beaches in St. Thomas. Sapphire Beach will be where we visit for the second time when we are on the Crown in May. The beach and the scenery were very pretty.

 

We enjoyed going to Magens Bay but it was crowded and the beach not very wide.

 

Trunk Bay at St. John was beautiful. I am glad we went but it does take time to drive to Red Hook.. then wait for ferry.. then another cab ride.. and repeat the entire process for the way home. That said.. I am glad we did it once but would hesitate to spend all the time again..

 

Good luck with your decision. they are all beautiful!

 

Karen

[bobbycruiser]

im actually going to st. thomas for my first time in may. ive done a lot of research about the beaches and its almost unanimous that the best beach on the island (not st. johns) is megans bay. we like a fun beach atmosphere. drinks, watersports, food and a beautiful beach. i plan on a cab ride there on my own and then enjoying the day:)

[cruiseapril]

We've enjoyed Palm Beach in Aruba many times and also like Magen's Bay Beach- on a day when there are not too many cruise ships in port. Magen's is great for swimming, but not a snorkel beach.

[sueandkent]

Can I ask why you like Sapphire Beach over Megans Bay??? Our first time in St. Thomas coming up in July....What does Sapphire offer...any jetskiing, water sports, restaurants....How far is this from the port???

I'm sooo confused on which beach to pick, they all sound beautiful...

We'll be with older teens. Which beach would be best for our group??

Thanks for any advice

Crissy:D

 

We went to Coki beach when on the CB last fall and loved it. Dh and friend rented jet skis. They are not available directly on Coki but across the street in the other bay. The price was not negociable and was $50 for a half hour. The snorkelling was fantastic, the water gets deep really quickly. Don't know if this is the only beach with jet skis or not. Lots to do though if you have kids. I also recommend having your own snorkel equipment (mask and snorkel only, fins not needed).

[ohCanada]

im actually going to st. thomas for my first time in may. ive done a lot of research about the beaches and its almost unanimous that the best beach on the island (not st. johns) is megans bay. we like a fun beach atmosphere. drinks, watersports, food and a beautiful beach. i plan on a cab ride there on my own and then enjoying the day:)

 

I will be interested in you impression of Magen's Bay when you come back. We too are beach lovers. We loved our time at this beach but 2 hours was enough. It is like a huge pool (no waves) and very busy. There are no motorized watersports (thats a good thing), and the life guards do not let you swim out very far. We wished we would have spent more time at Coki beach over Magens Bay as the snorkeling was great at Coki. As I said in a previous post, on our next visit we will spend the day at Sapphire Beach. This beach is supposed to be a combination of both (great snoreling and beautiful beach). Oh well, as I have not yet been to Sapphire, only time will tell if it is as good as people say it is.

[ldoc31]

Sapphire was beautiful--Megans was nice too but Sapphire was better.

[brbjam]

Went to Meagans Bay last Thursday and the beach was packed. No place you could get away from the crowd even at the very end! There were 4 ships docked that day. Carnival Vicory, Royal Caribbean Explorer, Carribbean Princess(the one we were on) and Norwegian and I believe Costa. It took us 45 minutes to get beach chairs standing in line and another 45 minutes in line for food. The beach was beautiful but with the crowd and the restaurant/gift shop overflowing with probably 3,000 people (just guessing), it was not enjoyable as you stood in line most of the time there not to mention being very close to your neighbors. There was even a line to use the rest room the entire stay.

 

We had a similar mob scene situation at Orient Beach but not quite as bad.

[fozzy]

Maybe it's because I live on the coastline, but I was very unimpressed by Meagans Bay. The beach is not wide. The day we were there it wasn't very crowded but we ended up sitting under trees/bushes. The waves were quite large (probably due to weather though) My next trip I'll try Sapphire beach.

[cnmiranda]

My parents just returned from Emerald Bay, which I believe is the beach closest to the pier, and they said they could see the beach in those waters.

[pg.]

We have gone to Magens and to Sapphire.

No contest, we prefered Sapphire.

No snorkling at all a Magens, plus you pay an entrance fee, concession food over priced, totally crowded, and quite frankly just overrated.

We love the quieter feel of Sapphire, especially if you walk left when facing the water down the beach ,, there is trees for shade so you don't have to pay for an umbrella.

We haven't done St Johns and would like to , but, the expensive for a family of five, plus the extra travel time has deterred us.