Roads in Tortola vs. Roads in St. John

[aroobagirl]

I was reading in the travel section of the Washington Post that describes that the roads in Tortola are harrowing. Are they comparable to St. John or worse? I'd love to go there but not interested in scaring myself into complete villa gravity. Thanks!

[DnD]

just came back from 3 days in Tortola and a week on STJ, overall I would say the roads are the same.

We stayed in Cane Garden Bay and drove mainly the north side from Smugglers to Brewers Bay. Since Tortola has taller hills/mountains, you have longer inclines or declines. The road down into Brewers Bay was probably the worst, pretty rough and steep.

[Anthony]

Yes I have driven both and they are similar. I think perhaps on Tortola on the top of the ridge they may have been actually a touch more hairy.

[AquaGirl]

We've been to both islands and as the OP said, they are similar. Both have harrowing spots, but they are very do-able. However, the roads from the upper road down to the shore were longer and a bit steeper on Tortola, so I agree with Anthony's comment. The one to Brewer's Bay was especially steep and we read about a family that had trouble getting their car up that road when it was wet. (I've read that happens on STJ too.) We call them "whoa Nellie" roads.

We were on Tortola for a week, drove our Jeep all around the island and had no problems at all. We loved Tortola and found it to be very beautiful with the mountains and nice beaches. Really nice views from the upper road and a restaurant called SkyTop or SkyView.

[hugo]

The roads are pretty similar, but... Tortola drivers are much more aggressive, which can be a bit intimidating. As a St. Johnian, I'm not used to being passed when I'm going 40, but it happens all the time on the Road Town-West End road!

[aroobagirl]

All:
Thanks for the responses. Not sure I want to trade the beuatiful "known" of St. John for poetentially scarier Tortola. St. John is do-able but there are still some turns I go out of my way to avoid!