rebeccan

I am still in the process of deciding on a location for some island time hopefully in May. We are now looking at St John or Tortola (or really any of the USVI or BVI) because the cost of renting a house seems much more reasonable than Anguilla (where we are also still debating). The biggest downside to any of the Virgin Islands seems to be that you rent houses that are pretty far from the beaches... so you end up spending a lot of time driving. We are looking for gorgeous beaches (can the Virgin Islands beat Anguilla's beaches?) and lots of relaxing beach time with good food. (4 adults, no kids) We don't really care about shopping, but we do love quaint villages with nice architecture, so that would be a plus, but not a must. We will most likely do at least one day of an excursion to other islands to snorkel. I would love to hear thoughts on all these topics... best beaches, easiest to get around, decent food, etc.

Thanks so much!

RoamsAround

Yes, it's true that there are very few, if any, beachfront rental villas on St. John but that shouldn't stop you. The island is relatively small and you are never more than a 3 to 15 minute drive from any of the beaches. By the way, there are no "beach front" rental villas on Anguilla. I'll agree that Anguilla has some of the best white sand beaches in the Caribbean but the island itself is very arid, scrubby and not very attractive. The Virgin Islands (USVI's & BVI's) have much more character, are lusher and have some wonderful golden sand beaches lined with palm tress and other natural vegetation.

There are a few beachfront villas on Tortola (check out the ones at Long Bay).

Look at beachfront or beach access villas on Virgin Gorda's Mahoe Bay - all upscale, on a secluded 1/2 mile stretch of golden sand beach lapped by gin clear calm water with a great "double" snorkeling reef that begins 100' or so off-shore that runs the entire length of the bay. The houses have western exposures so you get fantastic view of neighboring islands and cays and, in the evening, the setting sun. Quite frankly, it doesn't get much better anywhere in the Caribbean.

mnag

Been to Anguilla, Tortola and Virgin Gorda. For pretty beaches I would pick VG over Tortola (just my opinion.) We found VG to be more quaint than Tortola...it is one of our fav islands...Stayed at Mahoe Bay and loved it. The views from Tortola/VG cannot be beat...We are going to St John in a couple weeks. The reason we initially picked VG over St John was we felt the homes were closer to the beach. Hope this helps.

rebeccan

thanks! this definitely helps.... still debating. i love the beaches on anguilla and i'm finding myself still drawn to their perfect clear blue water!

lauren27

These are all my favorite islands and you can't go wrong with any of them! (I have been to Anguilla, St. John, Virgin Gorda and Tortola, although Tortola is my least favorite, but I only spent the day there.) I think it comes down to what you are looking for in the island. Anguilla is very different from the US and British Virgin Islands but I loved all of them for different reasons.

Anguilla- small scrubby, somewhat flat island. The island itself is not much to look at. But the beaches and water colors are amazing and probably the best in the Caribbean. Many of the beaches are long and wide with soft, white sand. This island has amazing restaurants (better than any island I have visited anywhere!). There are lots of fun beach bars to visit that often have live music. The people are very friendly. The snorkeling leaves a lot to be desired. There is not much of a 'town' and shopping, although we did find a great little gallery with items from local artists. Aside from the beaches and water there is not much to do. We did enjoy our day trip to Sandy Island which was a 15 minute boat ride. While the island is one of the most expensive I have visited, there are some reasonable places to stay that are right on the beach. (Check out Frangipani, Carimar and Turtle's Nest- these are condos, not houses, but are right on the beach.) It was really easy to drive around. Even if you stay on a nice beach, you should get out and explore because there are lots of nice beaches to visit!

Virgin Islands-- hilly, somewhat lush and very scenic. The beaches are beautiful, but different from Anguilla. Most are smaller, cove like beaches. The water color is pretty, but does not compare to Anguilla. But the snorkeling is phenomenal. The people are friendly. It's not too hard to drive around, but it is a little scary until you get used to it because the roads are very curvy and hilly. There are lots of options of boat trips to visit different islands. There are also lots of hiking opportunities. St. John has 2 great little towns with good restaurants and a little bit of shopping. Virgin Gorda is so unique with the baths and the beaches look so exotic with the boulders everywhere. There are more homes on the beach in Virgin Gorda than there are in St. John-- but you can find some. On one of our visits we stayed directly on a rocky beach in St. John which had great snorkeling. But we had to drive to the sandy beaches. The restaurants on St. John were great (but not as good as Anguilla), but we were not impressed with the restaurants on Virgin Gorda. If you stay on St. John or Virgin Gorda, it's easy to take a day trip to the one you don't stay on. If you were to decide on Virgin Gorda, I second the homes on Mahoe Bay, while I didn't stay there, I did see them and they look great.

If you just want to roll out of bed and lounge on the beach all day and enjoy great cuisine, Anguilla is probably a better choice. But if you want to go out exploring, hiking, and snorkeling then the VI's would be better.

RileyD

Virgin Gorda has amazing beaches with soft sand, and pristine blue waters. We stayed at Villa LaVida www.villalavida.com in Nail Bay on Virgin Gorda. It's beachfront and I loved that we had use of the pool or the beach depending on our mood. There were lots of snorkel sets in the villa, and there were also Kayaks for us to use if we wanted to (I didn't). We really like Nail Bay and there were several other villas along the beach, but they are spaced enough so we didn't see very many people. We like Nail Bay for the privacy, the seclusion, and the short drive to town. For travel we sometimes use Blue Escapes http://www.blueescapes.com/ and we work with Hunter who is amazing. In this instance we contacted the owners directly and really enjoyed working with them directly. The concierge staff was super friendly and helpful as well and really made us feel welcome. The downside is that most of the restaurants were ok. Good pup food, but nothing really gourmet. We preferred to cook most of our own meals, though we did venture up to the Nail Bay Resort (you get the resort privileges when you rent any of the villas in Nail Bay). We had one great meal and one mediocre meal.

beachbum1024

Have you considered Turks and Caicos? If you're looking for a Caribbean island with beaches that rival Anguilla...this is it! All the resorts directly on Grace Bay Beach are condo style. This may be just what you're looking for!