USVI-On-Line

As long as I'm on St. John, I'm happy wherever I am. St. John is not a big island - we can get around fine no matter where we stay.

That being said, I do think each location has its own characteristics, and I'm kind of curious... Do you have a favorite area to stay on St. John, and if you do, why is it particularly appealing to you?
(My apology if this question has been asked many times before.)

We have stayed in different areas on St. John and will be staying in new-to-us areas (Catherineberg and Seagrape Hill) next year. We still have quite a few areas we haven't tried. I am curious to know what you folks like about certain locations, especially about your favorite if you have one (or more than one). Would you mind sharing your thoughts? Thank you very much.

Okay, so here's the long version.

After much thought, we've decided that the perfect location for us is on the South Shore, in the Chocolate Hole or Gifft Hill area, west facing.
Sunrises are lost on us as we sleep through them, but sunsets are critical.
(Allesandra is in what I consider to be the ideal spot. Arc du Soleil in Virgin Grand Estates is very close to Allesandra and shares a similar view, but Allesandra is accessed from the South Shore Road, just past the Westin, and Arc du Soleil is accessed off of Gifft Hill Road.)

We prefer to be facing another island.
While the views toward STX, such as those of Rendezvous Bay, are beautiful with the vast expanse of ocean, I really prefer something besides open water in the line of sight. The lights of STT at night are mesmerizing.

I don't like some of the Bordeaux locations because there is so much land/distance in the view between you and the water.

I would not like to stay in the Salt Pond/Concordia/Lamesure area because of the more arid landscape and the remoteness.
We like being able to pop into town easily and tend not to cook in for dinner, so a shorter drive home is welcome.

We would love to stay at Reef Madness above Coral Bay. It's west facing and very close to the town with a great view.

We have not stayed on the North Shore, but would like to try it because of the lush landscape and the incredible BVI views. I'm not sure how I'd like the sun orientation since I don't really dig afternoon shade/shadows and a cool pool would bum me out.

All that being said, a "crummy" location on STJ is better than a great location most everywhere else.
I'd take any of them, any day.

We've stayed all over the island and I think that each location has different advantages. For instance, I know we wouldn't have explored the points beyond Coral Bay nearly as much had we not spent a week at Concordia. Last trip we stayed in the Bordeaux area (had a beautiful view!) and I really liked the fact that we were halfway between Cruz Bay and Coral Bay and also very close to the North Shore beaches. I think we'll try for that area again next trip (I really have to plan a next trip!). Like you said, I'm happy anywhere on St. John

I really liked our last stay on Contant Point (at Argonauta) because it is so close to town yet you feel like you are no where near town. I like being out on a point so I don't have alot of villas in my views. The sunsets were gorgeous from there too.

I think the best views are of the BVIs from Catherineburg but STT does the trick and you don't have to drive that road. Catherineburg was nice for being close to the North Shore beaches.

Estate Lindholm was GREAT for being close to the beaches.

Gifft Hill had beautiful views but I didn't like that we took Centerline everywhere. I missed the North Shore Road views.

Chocolate Hole North (Ristaba) was an easy location, but I didn't like seeing all of the villas everywhere; it made me feel somewhat claustrophobic. That was the trip that followed our first stay on island (in Catherineburg).

I think I would like anything on any of the bluffs or points where you can look out without the other villas in your view. I like feeling like I have the island to myself.

I do want to stay in Coral Bay sometime and Upper Carolina has some great views (or at least Luminaria does).

I LOVE the Point Rendezvous area...the views are AMAZING...

We've stayed everywhere, but I prefer the North Shore for the views and utter quiet, and then, second, maybe Carolina Ridge area because of its convenience to both towns and to the beaches (and still nice views).

Staying at Francis Bay was great, too. But there isn't much to choose from there.

We have stayed on Maria Bluff 9 Villa Maria) down from the Westin which is convenient and has unobstructed views of the ocean. We have also stayed at Point Rendezvous ( Le Virage) looking out at ditliff point.
I have to say my favorite, for the unbelievable peaceful views is Carolina Ridge (Villa Carolina).
With all the construction going on on the island I just feel that the Coral Bay side of island gives you
everything we look for in a villa location. Not to say that they other sites were not good, just prefer Coral Bay.

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We've been to St. John only once, staying in a villa above Klein Bay (Rendezvous Bay), but we loved the area so much we're going back to the exact same area in January, although a different villa. We enjoyed the access to the beach for snorkeling, amazing sunsets, quiet area and quick trips to Cruz Bay, where we had most of our meals.

We prefer Coral Bay area because of lesser crowds, more laid back feel and just prefer the remoteness of no "town" as we are not shoppers. Coral Bay has great restaurants and all our favorites bars are also in Coral Bay!! Easy to get to north shore beaches like Francis and Maho and also easy access to Salt Pond and Lameshur, two more of our favorites. We stayed in the Fish Bay area our first 2 trips, but we always ended up in Coral Bay each evening anyway, so we have stayed there since!!!

We liked Maria Bluff area because we could walk around the neighborhood in the mornings. I didn't like driving back and forth thru town each day.

North Shore is our favorite because of the beach access. After all these years, we have become lazy (and spoiled) and like to be close to the beach.

I am looking forward to trying Coral Bay.

First ask yourself, and then ask the boss, what do you like - view, solitude, close to town, beaches? We spent may years at Mystic Ridge, about 1/2 mile below Bordeaux. Spectacular views to the east, and 5 min from Maho. Long View is between Hart and Chocolate Hole with views of the sunset and sunrise. A trail leads down to Hart Bay. This is the closest we've been to CB. Sol Inclination is at the apex of Sky Top and offers solitude and incredible views. It's a bit of a hike to get anywhere, but we took the opportunity to spend time at Fish Bay and Ditleff. This year we stayed at Pink Horses above Agua Bistro in Coral Bay, with a south-east view (facing Omar). When in Coral Bay you tend to stay on the east side - it's a long drive to Cruz Bay.

All villas must have a pool, and the hot tub is nice to have. Another consideration is the rental agency and their personnel.

I love all of the locations! Everytime we try some place new I am amazed by how much I like it. I'm just happy to be there.

We stayed in Coral Bay for the first time last trip, and it was a really good fit for us. Relaxed, laid back, quiet....the only thing I missed was the views of St. Thomas at night. Next trip we are going to do a Maria Bluff/Coral Bay/Caneel split to get the best of everything.

I really love the Catherineberg views and I wish I could stay up there more often but most of those villas are out of our budget, since John and I prefer to travel alone.

I've seen some new villas come on line out in the East End that look very intriguing. I would not mind being that far out--there's good snorkeling over there.

I didn't include my favorite location in my original post because I wanted to keep the post/question short, and the fact is that I don't really have favorites (yet?). I like all the locations we have stayed so far and none of them stands out to the point that it really temps me to choose the area over other areas for our stay every time we visit St. John. Maybe that's partly why we are more willing to try new-to-us locations.

As much as I enjoy a sunset view and the twinkling lights of St. Thomas, I've come to realize over the years that I still prefer solitude and having less evidence of civilization around and in my views (it must be a drastic reaction to living in Manhattan). That's one of the reasons we've picked a villa in Catherineberg for a part of our trip next year. We also considered the area of Francis but there aren't many choices of villas around there, which is actually a good thing for anyone who seeks solitude and pristine environments.

I was kind of wondering if anyone would include the area of East End on their favorites list. Although we've visited East End many times, we have never stayed out there, and as much as I seek solitude, I wonder if I would feel too far away (relatively speaking) from a lot of things.