Best beach on St. Thomas

[Spacemanspiff94]

We are trying to decide on the shore Excursion in st. Thomas. Does anybody have experience with the various beaches? Which one is the best and why?

 

[frostymom]

I recently looked up beaches on Youtube. There were a lot of videos on St Thomas. I am interested in doing it on my own instead of using the organized trip through the cruise line.

Please share your choice!

 

[Cackyschmackers]

We did Morningstar beach by ourselves, quick cab ride from port. Just a beach day with umbrellas, chairs, food from Marriott on beach. Beach access is free but you can rent chairs and get food from Marriott. Low key fun, nice and clean and relaxing .

 

[Evad]

Magens Bay is a must if your in St. Thomas! Beautiful location and calm waters!!

 

[bobbiwoz]

I love to take an excursion to St John and Virgin Island National Park. There's an underwater snorkel trail that's amazing.

 

[Chelley00]

Megan's Bay is beautiful but We love Coki. They sell dog biscuits you can hand feed to the fish that are everywhere. It's great snorkeling.

 

[DIS_Ag]

I've heard Megan's Bay is beautiful but gets really crowded. We are going to try Secret Sands Beach (formally called Lindquist Beach).

 

[DWillowBay]

Magen's Bay is beautiful....I met my first iguana there...it will always be a special place for me! Sapphire Beach ? I was there years ago, so I cannot comment on it presently, but it was beautiful then.

 

[Bettyscruise]

Magen's Bay is very nice especially if you have children as the waters are very calm. Easy to get to and from via taxi. Rentals and food available, shade and picnic tables too. Here's a pic when we first arrived around 10 AM after a 25 minute or so drive.


Rented a float and proceed to.... .... well.... float.



Calm, peaceful, clear water and clean sands. Lots of small fish and sea birds. A most excellent day. Take cash to get in and for the taxi.

 

[dcassetta]

I really recommend looking into taking the ferry over to St. John, Trunk and Waterlemon are amazing

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Magen's Bay is very nice especially if you have children as the waters are very calm. Easy to get to and from via taxi. Rentals and food available, shade and picnic tables too. Here's a pic when we first arrived around 10 AM after a 25 minute or so drive.


Rented a float and proceed to.... .... well.... float.



Calm, peaceful, clear water and clean sands. Lots of small fish and sea birds. A most excellent day. Take cash to get in and for the taxi.

Love the pics! About how much for round trip taxi fare , entrance to the beach, and chair,umbrella, float rentals?

 

[Bettyscruise]

If I recall correctly; taxi was $8 per person, $4 entry fee P.P., chair and float rental was cheap but they hold a "deposit" that you get back when you return the items. Cost may have been $15 for three items but I needed about $30 to cover the deposit. I tipped the taxi driver and the chair guy a couple $. You can pre-arrange to have a taxi return to get you or just get one of the many waiting there.

We didn't eat at the restaurant, so no review on that.

EDIT; See post 15

 

[BWV Dreamin]

If I recall correctly; taxi was $8 per person, $4 entry fee P.P., chair and float rental was cheap but they hold a "deposit" that you get back when you return the items. Cost may have been $15 for three items but I needed about $30 to cover the deposit. I tipped the taxi driver and the chair guy a couple $. You can pre-arrange to have a taxi return to get you or just get one of the many waiting there.

We didn't eat at the restaurant, so no review on that.

Thank you!

 

[schmass]

We did Morningstar beach by ourselves, quick cab ride from port. Just a beach day with umbrellas, chairs, food from Marriott on beach. Beach access is free but you can rent chairs and get food from Marriott. Low key fun, nice and clean and relaxing .

We did this too, and it was our favorite day of the cruise! We actually had asked the cab driver to take us to Magen's Bay and he suggested Morningstar instead.

 

[Bettyscruise]

If I recall correctly; taxi was $8 per person...

That is not the "round trip" taxi fare. The $8 was the one way cost. Sorry for the confusion. Rates for St. T. cabs found here.
http://www.vinow.com/stthomas/getting_around_stt/taxi_stt/

 

[Cackyschmackers]

We did this too, and it was our favorite day of the cruise! We actually had asked the cab driver to take us to Magen's Bay and he suggested Morningstar instead.

I heard Magen's Bay gets crowded, and we wanted to avoid the crowds, so for us, Morningstar was awesome, too!

 

[BuzzLightyearInTampa]

I love to take an excursion to St John and Virgin Island National Park. There's an underwater snorkel trail that's amazing.

Trunk Bay is my favorite beach I've ever been to. It is serenity and beauty to the max.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

I heard Magen's Bay gets crowded, and we wanted to avoid the crowds, so for us, Morningstar was awesome, too!

Could you post a link for Morningstar beach? I'd like to see the rental rates for chairs, umbrellas, etc.

 

[Cackyschmackers]

Could you post a link for Morningstar beach? I'd like to see the rental rates for chairs, umbrellas, etc.

It's just a beach where hotels are situated; in St Thomas, the beaches are free. We just asked the cab driver to take us to Frenchman's Reef & Morning Star Marriott Beach Resort. When you get there, you walk on the beach, and the beach guys ask if you want to rent a chair or umbrella. There is food for purchase from that hotel. I can't remember if there was beach access or we just walked through hotel lobby. There's another Mariott there too down a ways in walking distance, but it didn't look like their beach was as good. We got a glimpse of it as we were leaving port. I would suggest you go on TripAdvisor bc I'm sure that's where we found the info. I also recall on YouTube, people posted videos of their entire cab ride from port including drive there and to beach. It was prob $5/chair and $10/ umbrella or something, bc we would not have paid more than that. It's easy to catch a cab ride back, the porters or bus boys at hotel front will gladly do it for you. We had our 5 yr old and 8 yr old daughters and we wouldn't have done it if it wasn't completely safe. I'll try to post some pix later. We did similar when at St Maarten (not sure of your itinerary). Have fun!

 

[mmouse37]

We did not care for Megan's Bay as much as Sapphire Beach. Main reason was I hated that I had to drag my own rented chair down the beach to where I wanted to sit and then drag it back at the end to return. I also didn't like that I had to trek to their office which was not where you picked up the chairs. Yes, the distance was not far but in the heat it bugged me. We also didn't like that we saw a few very sketchy people checking out everyone's towels while they were in the water. They were slinking around at the back of the beach stopping and looking at people's stuff.

I prefer a beach club where the chairs are already out and I can just rent them and sit down.

MJ