The Virgin Island National Park is all about the beaches and hiking trails, it has the most stunning beaches in the world with breathtaking views. We are going to share the 6 Best Things To Do In Virgin Islands National Park.
Where is the Virgin Islands National Park?
The Virgin Islands National Park is located on the island of Saint John’s, more than half of the island of St John’s is a national park, the Rockefellers bought this land and then donated it to the National Park Service in 1956 to make it a national park in the tropics.
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Service Options | Picnic tables available · Dogs allowed |
| Description | Virgin Islands National Park occupies the majority of St. John, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands. |
| Address | St John, U.S. Virgin Islands |
| WebSite | www.thevirginislands.com |
| Established | August 2, 1956 |
| Area | 14,737 acres (59.64 km²) |
| Management | National Park Service |
| Visitors (2018) | 112,287 |
| Phone | +1 340-776-6201 |
| Nearest City | Charlotte Amalie |
How do you get to the Virgin Islands National Park?
You have to fly into Cyril E. King Airport (STT) on St. Thomas, this is the major airport near Virgin Islands but there is a smaller airport on St Croix, but mostly people preffer to fly to St. Thomas, and then you have to take a ferry over to Saint John’s to Cruise Bay, If you take ferry from Crown Bay Marina it takes 35 minutes to reach to St. John’s.
You can take your car there on a car ferry or you can take a passenger ferry and get there. To truly explore the national park you need to have a car there so you can rent it in St Thomas, when you get off the passenger ferry the Cruise Bay National Park Visitor Center is only a couple of blocks away easily walking distance.
You May Also Like to explore: For the Love of Nature: The 9 Best National Parks For Non-Hikers
Things to do in Virgin Islands National Park
There are many attractions in the park, the park itself is perfect for a lot of beaches, there are several beaches on the north shore of the park where you can go beach hopping some have better facilities than others.
1. Trunk Bay
Image Credit: Pixabay
Trunk Bay is one of the best-known beaches at the Virgin Islands National Park, you have to come here pretty early to look at the blue waters, it stretches over a quarter-mile of white sand, it is a popular beach in St. Johns and the best place to snorkel.
If you go along from the cruise bay you have Hawks Nest, Honeymoon Bay, and Cinnamon Bay, and if you go further down you eventually will hit Watermelon Bay, some of them are very accessible right from the drive, and others like Watermelon Bay you have to hike about a mile to get there on the other end of St John’s Island. Some of them are very accessible right from the drive and others like Watermelon Bay you have to hike about a mile to get there on the other end of St John’s Island.
2. Salt Point Bay
Image Credit: Google
Salt Point Bay is on the Southeast end of the St. Johns Island. Because it’s on the other side of the island so depending on which way the wind is blowing it could be very calm whereas the north shore is very rough, or it could be the other way around, In the middle of the island is a mountain not very tall but still a Mountain.
3. Caneel Hill Trail
There is a hike in the mountain Caneel Hill Trail, it is a very strenuous hill to climb up, up here they have a nice beautiful platform with views that can go all the way around on both sides of the island, and that makes it very rewarding, you get a nice breeze, and although it’s pretty sunny you can’t get away from the sun.
Footing for the Caneel Hill trail is pretty unsteady got lots of loose rocks and the trail is very steep so it is rated moderate and appropriate so it is short but it is steep, Salt Point Bay is a beautiful tranquil bay on the day for snorkeling, it is very calm and a few hundred yards away on the other side, if you go over there you can see very angry seas such a contrast between two sides of where the wind is blowing versus when the bay and the waters calm. You can see stingrays and turtles over at Salt Pond Salt Point Bay.
4. Hawksnest Bay
Image Credit: Pixabay
Hawksnest Bay is a perfect place if you want to do snorkeling, there are Elkhorn coral reefs that are federally protected, and you can find green turtles and hawksbill. It has a long white sand beach line. This is a spot for snorkeling but not a good place for swimming.
5. Annaberg Plantation
The Virgin Islands were settled by the Dutch in the 1700s and 1600s and sugar plantation became the main industry they imported slaves to work the plantations you’ll still see the ruins of the sugar
plantation one of them being the Annaberg Plantation, which is one of the better-preserved things that you can visit, and take a short walk around.
6. Coral Reef National Monument
Some of the oceans surrounding St John’s are protected by the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument, there are many places where you can moor your boat for the day or overnight if you want to relax on the beach you can go snorkeling, or do some hiking, then Virgin Island National Park should be on your bucket list.
Final Thoughts
The Virgin Islands National Park is a tropical paradise it’s got so many things you can explore, there are a lot of beaches and each one of them is just beautiful and you can go hiking up in the mountains, there’s a mountain range, there are short trails, long trails, you can hike from one end of the island to the other, this is one of two tropical national parks with beaches, this one is a lot closer to the mainland than the other one which is the American Samoa, in the South Pacific.