Covers 25 islands from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to Aruba, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Cozumel and Roatán, with prices, flights and entry rules checked at the source.
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The Virgin Islands split into two countries a short ferry ride apart. St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix are US territory: no passport, US dollars, US law. Tortola and Virgin Gorda are in the British Virgin Islands, where you need a passport and clear immigration at the dock or airport. St. Thomas ranks first at 7.8 out of 10, then Tortola at 7.5 and St. John at 7.4.
All five islands share almost the same weather, scored 9.2 to 9.4, so the ranking is decided by flights and price. St. Thomas has nonstops from 16 US airports and a $93 room on both our dates. Virgin Gorda, last at 6.8, has beaches scored 8.5 but no US nonstop and a cheapest January room of $780. The best trip often uses two islands: sleep on the cheaper one and take the ferry to the prettier one.
Score = the weighted average of six factors. How we score
| # | Island | Score | Weather | Beaches | Things | Access | Value | Crowds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. Thomas | 7.8 | 9.2 | 7.5 | 6.5 | 8.8 | 8.3 | – |
| 2 | Tortola | 7.5 | 9.3 | 7.0 | 8.0 | 8.3 | 6.5 | – |
| 3 | St. John | 7.4 | 9.2 | 9.0 | 6.0 | 7.3 | 3.4 | – |
| 4 | St. Croix | 7.2 | 9.4 | 6.5 | 7.0 | 8.8 | 7.4 | – |
| 5 | Virgin Gorda | 6.8 | 9.3 | 8.5 | 5.0 | 7.3 | 1.5 | – |
1St. Thomas is #1 because it is the easiest island to reach and the cheapest to sleep on. It has nonstops from 16 US airports, no passport, and a $93 room in Charlotte Amalie on both our dates. Magens Bay is calm and good for kids. Things to do score 6.5, but St. John is 15 minutes away and ferries run to Road Town four times a day, so it works as a base for both. The catch is cruise traffic: on ship days the town and Magens Bay fill up.
2Tortola scores 8 for things to do, the highest of the five, because it is the BVI's boat base: day sails to Norman Island and Jost Van Dyke, ferries to Virgin Gorda and Sage Mountain's forest trails. It is also the only BVI island with a US nonstop, American Eagle from Miami. Beaches score 7, since Cane Garden Bay and Smuggler's Cove are small and reached by steep roads, and its page gives a conditional verdict, worth 0.4 points. Rooms in Road Town started at $158 in January. Sailors and teens who snorkel fit it best.
3St. John has the best beaches of the five, scored 9: Trunk Bay's snorkel trail, Maho Bay's turtles and Cinnamon Bay, all inside Virgin Islands National Park. It ranks third on value, 3.4, and access, 7.3. The cheapest 3-star hotel was $382 in January, and there is no airport, so every trip ends with the 15-minute ferry from Red Hook. The park itself charges no entrance fee, only $5 at Trunk Bay. Couples and snorkelers who can pay should rank it first.
4St. Croix has the best weather score here, 9.4, and good value at $108 a night in Christiansted in January. Buck Island's snorkel trail and the Cane Bay wall make it the diver's island. It ranks fourth because beaches score 6.5, most of the good ones need a boat or a drive, and its page gives a conditional verdict. It is also the hardest to combine: no quick ferry, just the QE IV to St. Thomas, about 2 hours 10 minutes. Five US airports fly nonstop, several seasonally.
5Virgin Gorda has the second-best beaches of the five, 8.5: the boulders and pools of the Baths, Devil's Bay, and long, calm Savannah and Mahoe bays. A $3 park pass covers the Baths for the day. It ranks last on value, scored 1.5: the cheapest 3-star-plus hotel we found was $780 in January, and only three hotels showed prices. There is no US nonstop either. Things to do score 5. The smart way in is a day trip from Tortola, $40 round trip on Speedy's, unless you are renting a villa or sailing into North Sound.
In this guide
Each island gets six scores: weather (20%), beaches (25%), things to do (25%), getting there from the US (10%), value (10%) and crowds (10%). Beaches and things to do are our editors' calls; the rest come from climate data, distances from four US hubs, nonstop counts and the cheapest 3-star-plus room we found for January 13 and July 14, 2027. None of the five has a crowd score, because neither territory publishes clean island-level visitor counts, so each total is averaged over five factors.
Two islands, Tortola and St. Croix, lose 0.4 points because their own pages give conditional verdicts: Tortola is worth it as a boat base more than a beach stay, and St. Croix suits divers more than beach loungers. The full method is in how we score islands.
St. Croix is the odd one out. It is across open water to the south, linked to St. Thomas by the QE IV ferry Thursday to Monday ($60 one way, about 2 hours 10 minutes) or by short flights. It is a trip of its own. Our US Virgin Islands ranking compares the three US islands in more depth.
St. Thomas (16 US airports) and St. Croix (5) have the US nonstops. Spirit Airlines' shutdown on May 2, 2026 cut Fort Lauderdale and Orlando service to both. For the BVI, American Eagle flies Miami to Beef Island (EIS), joined to Tortola by a bridge; the BVI government says service rose to five daily flights from December 2025. Virgin Gorda has a small airstrip with no US flights; most visitors fly to Beef Island and take Speedy's ferry from Trellis Bay, $30 one way.
For the US islands, you need a REAL ID or a passport to fly, and you clear CBP and USDA inspection on the way home, so carry a passport or a birth certificate with photo ID. For the BVI, you need a passport, proof of onward travel and the online Immigration and Customs form, which replaced the paper card on January 1, 2025. See the passport rules guide.
Ferry timetables shrink in the off-season. Speedy's St. Thomas to Virgin Gorda run is suspended from September 1 to October 31, 2026 and resumes November 7, and the BVI's low-season ferry schedule runs to November 1, 2026. Check the day before you travel.
December to April is the dry, breezy season and the best sailing weather. In our scores, December reaches 9.9 on all five islands. May and June are the value months, before hurricane risk rises. The Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30, peaking around September 10 according to the NOAA National Hurricane Center. September is the weakest month in our data on every island, from 5.6 on St. Croix to 6.2 on Virgin Gorda. Hurricane Irma hit the BVI hard in 2017; the BVI government says overnight visitors have now topped 300,000 again. See our hurricane season guide.
The cheapest 3-star-or-better rooms we found, with tax, for January 13 and July 14, 2027:
| Island | January | July |
|---|---|---|
| St. Thomas (Charlotte Amalie) | $93 | $93 |
| St. Croix (Christiansted) | $108 | $128 |
| Tortola (Road Town) | $158 | $139 |
| St. John (Cruz Bay) | $382 | $263 |
| Virgin Gorda | $780 | $268 |
St. John and Virgin Gorda are mostly villa islands, and Kayak showed only a handful of rated hotels on each. If you are not renting a villa, staying on the cheaper neighbor and taking the ferry saves hundreds a night. For the wider region, see the Caribbean ranking.
It is expensive and the extras add up: $85 per person in BVI immigration and customs fees in cash, plus a customary 20% crew tip, and a passport is required. It does not start on Virgin Gorda.
Rating as shown on Viator
Gear, water and gratuities are included. Most of Virgin Islands National Park has no entrance fee (Trunk Bay charges a beach fee), so you can snorkel the north-shore beaches yourself; the tour adds the guide and the kayaks.
Rating as shown on Viator
Food, drinks, transport and gratuities are included. The stated meeting point is the Road Town cruise pier; hotel guests get directions after booking.
Rating as shown on Viator
Booking through these links supports this site at no cost to you. Prices move by date, so we do not print them here; the official prices we checked are in the page above.
On our scores, St. Thomas, at 7.8 out of 10, for its flights, $93 rooms and the ferry to St. John. For beaches alone, St. John and Virgin Gorda are better; for sailing, Tortola.
The US side is easier: no passport, more flights and cheaper rooms on St. Thomas and St. Croix. The British side is better by boat, with the Baths, Jost Van Dyke and North Sound, but you need a passport and most trips connect through Miami or St. Thomas.
Yes. The British Virgin Islands are a separate territory. You clear BVI immigration at the ferry dock in Road Town or West End, and you clear US inspection again when you come back.
Only from Miami. American Eagle flies nonstop to Beef Island (EIS) on Tortola. Otherwise fly to St. Thomas and take a ferry, or connect in San Juan.
St. John, scored 9 out of 10, for Trunk, Maho and Cinnamon bays inside Virgin Islands National Park. Virgin Gorda follows at 8.5 for the Baths, Devil's Bay and Savannah Bay.
Further reading
