US Virgin Islands

Charlotte Amalie — the capital of the US Virgin Islands (a US territory since 1917, when the USA purchased the three main islands from Denmark for US$25 million — St Thomas, St John and St Croix — population 100,000, with US citizens but no presidential vote) with the 99 Steps (the Danish colonial stairway streets cut into the hillside), Blackbeard’s Castle (a Danish watchtower associated with the pirate Edward Teach) and the Havensight Mall duty-free shopping.

💡 The US Virgin Islands were purchased from Denmark in 1917 for US$25 million (approximately US$570 million in 2024 dollars) — the most expensive territory purchase by the USA per square kilometre. The strategic motivation was to prevent Germany from acquiring the islands during World War I, which would have given a hostile power a naval base close to the Panama Canal. The purchase price included the islands’ archives, which contain some of the most complete records of the Danish colonial and slave-trade period in the Caribbean.

Magens Bay (consistently ranked one of the world’s finest beaches — a heart-shaped bay protected from wind on the north coast of St Thomas, with calm, clear Caribbean water, and the Magens Bay Authority beach park) and the Drake’s Seat (the panoramic viewpoint where Sir Francis Drake allegedly surveyed his fleet before raiding Spanish galleons in the 16th century, with the finest view of the USVI archipelago from a road-accessible point).

💡 Magens Bay (on the north coast of St Thomas, sheltered from the Trade Wind swell by the island’s hills) has been ranked among the world’s best beaches by National Geographic, Condé Nast and multiple other publications since the 1950s. The beach is managed by the Magens Bay Authority (a non-profit organisation) which charges an entry fee of US$5 and uses the revenue to maintain the beach and forest.

45 min ferry. St John (the smallest and most pristine of the three main USVI islands — 60% National Park land, with the Virgin Islands National Park covering most of the island, the finest snorkelling in the USVI at Trunk Bay (an underwater snorkel trail marked with plaques identifying the coral and fish species) and Cinnamon Bay (the longest stretch of white sand in the USVI — the most beautiful island in the US Virgin Islands by wide consensus).

💡 The Virgin Islands National Park (established 1956 on St John, covering 60% of the island plus the adjacent underwater marine area — the most significant conservation achievement in Caribbean US territory history) was created largely through the philanthropy of Laurance Rockefeller, who bought most of the undeveloped land on St John and donated it to the US National Park Service. Without Rockefeller’s intervention in the 1950s, St John would have been developed like St Thomas.

Trunk Bay (the most famous beach in the USVI — a National Park beach on the north coast of St John with the Trunk Bay Underwater Snorkel Trail: a 225m marked snorkel trail with plaques identifying coral species, fish and marine life at 2–5m depth — the first marked underwater trail in the US National Park System and the most visited single site in the USVI) and the Cruz Bay shops and restaurants (the only town on St John).

💡 The Trunk Bay Underwater Snorkel Trail (established 1960s — the first marked underwater interpretive trail in the US National Park System, with plaques attached to the reef identifying coral, sponge and fish species for snorkellers) was a revolutionary concept in marine conservation education. The concept was subsequently adopted by marine parks worldwide. The trail is at 2–5m depth and accessible to any swimmer.

45 min flight or 3h ferry. St Croix (the largest of the three main US Virgin Islands, 217km², with Christiansted (the finest example of Danish colonial architecture in the Caribbean, with the Christiansted National Historic Site — the yellow fort, the Scale House, the Steeple Building and the 18th-century warehouses) and Buck Island Reef National Monument (the finest elkhorn coral reef accessible in the USVI, 5km offshore).

💡 Christiansted (the capital of St Croix during the Danish colonial period, 1733–1917) is the most intact example of Danish colonial urban architecture anywhere in the world — the yellow ochre forts, warehouses, arcaded streets and public buildings of the 18th and 19th century survive in excellent condition. The scale house (where goods were weighed for customs duties) and the Fort Christiansværn (a perfectly preserved Danish fortification of 1749) are the most significant buildings.

Buck Island Reef National Monument (5km northeast of St Croix — the finest elkhorn coral reef in the US National Park System, with an underwater trail at 5–12m and one of the most intact staghorn and elkhorn coral gardens in the Caribbean, designated a National Monument by President Kennedy in 1961 as “one of the finest marine gardens in the Caribbean Sea”) — accessible by charter boat from Christiansted in 40 minutes.

💡 Elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata — the large, branching coral that forms the structural backbone of Caribbean shallow reefs, critically endangered after white band disease killed 97% of Caribbean elkhorn in the 1980s) has partial recovery at Buck Island under National Monument protection. Buck Island holds one of the largest remaining elkhorn coral stands in the Caribbean; it is one of the benchmark sites for monitoring Caribbean coral recovery.

A return to St John for Cruz Bay (the only town, with waterfront restaurants, boutiques and the atmospheric late-afternoon crowd of yachties, divers and day-trippers) and a final dinner of USVI lobster (the Caribbean spiny lobster, Panulirus argus — without claws, all tail meat, typically grilled with butter and garlic — the finest USVI seafood experience, US$30–60 at a Cruz Bay waterfront restaurant) before the ferry back to Charlotte Amalie (STT) for departure.

💡 Cruz Bay on St John at sunset (the ferry dock, the waterfront bars, the returning charter boats and the USVI National Park backdrop of green hills dropping to turquoise water) is one of the most atmospheric departure points in the Caribbean — the combination of a US territory with Caribbean scale and a protected natural park creates a quality of life and visitor experience that St Thomas (5 cruise ships in port) lacks completely.