St John

Beaches are why people come. The north shore road runs past a string of white-sand bays, most of them inside the national park and free of development: Trunk Bay with its underwater snorkel trail, long Cinnamon Bay, Hawksnest close to Cruz Bay, and Maho and Francis Bays, where the water is calm and shallow and turtles graze the seagrass. On the drier east and south sides, Salt Pond Bay and the coves around Coral Bay are quieter and more rugged.

The sea is warm enough to swim all year, from about 26°C in winter to 29°C in late summer, and it is usually clear and calm on the sheltered north shore. Popular beaches fill by late morning in the winter season, so arrive early. Most have little beyond sand and shade trees, so bring your own snorkel gear and water.

Eating out happens almost entirely in Cruz Bay, with a small second cluster around Coral Bay. For an island this size the choice is decent: open-air restaurants with grilled fish and Caribbean-inflected menus, beach bars serving burgers and rum punch, food trucks, and a few West Indian kitchens where you find johnnycakes, pâtés, saltfish and stewed goat. Painkillers and other rum drinks are the local ritual.

The limits are real. Almost everything is shipped in, so the produce is rarely local, the fine-dining tier is thin and there are no real markets. Many visitors in villas cook for themselves, stocking up in Cruz Bay or on St Thomas.

The island's history is the story of the Danish sugar plantations and the enslaved people who worked them, and you see it mostly as ruins in the forest. The Annaberg sugar mill on the north shore is the best preserved, with a windmill tower and boiling house overlooking the sea. The Reef Bay Trail leads past more estate ruins to a set of Taíno petroglyphs carved beside a freshwater pool, and Coral Bay keeps an old Moravian church and the hilltop remains of the fort where the slave revolt of 1733 began.

Together these fill a morning or two. There is no museum of note, and Cruz Bay itself is a small, practical harbour town.

Going out means a few open-air bars around the Cruz Bay waterfront, where visitors, boat crews and island residents mix over rum drinks until late evening, and a couple of easy-going spots in Coral Bay. It is friendly and relaxed, but there are no clubs, and most nights wind down not long after dinner. People who want a later night take the ferry to St Thomas.

Roughly two-thirds of the island is protected as Virgin Islands National Park, so the landscape is mostly steep, dry forest falling to bays, reefs and headlands with almost no building. Much of the best nature is underwater. Waterlemon Cay, the reefs off the north shore and the seagrass at Maho Bay are full of fish, sea turtles, rays and coral, and kayaking and stand-up paddling among the sheltered bays are easy.

On land, a network of trails crosses the island: the Reef Bay Trail down a forested valley, the short climb to the bare cliffs of Ram Head, and the walks around Lameshur on the south side. Day sails to nearby cays are a staple. Summer and early autumn are hot, and this is also hurricane season.

Outings mean crossing water. St Thomas is about twenty minutes by ferry from Cruz Bay, and its capital, Charlotte Amalie, has Danish colonial streets, old warehouses, a fort and a harbour lined with duty-free shops. The British Virgin Islands lie just across the channel: Jost Van Dyke with its beach bars, Tortola's harbour town and, further on, the giant granite boulders of The Baths on Virgin Gorda.

These trips are most often made by day charter boat, which also stops at uninhabited cays for snorkelling. Crossing into the British islands means a passport and customs, and ferries run less often than a visitor might hope.

For families whose children love the water, the island works well. The north shore bays are calm and shallow, Maho Bay is known for turtles in water where a child can stand, and Trunk Bay's marked snorkel trail is a gentle first try. The pace is slow and the island feels safe.

Beyond the sea there is very little made for children: no zoo, aquarium or attractions, and few beaches have lifeguards or facilities. Reaching the island takes a flight, a taxi and a ferry, the roads are steep and winding, and many villas are up long hills. It suits families who are happy to spend most days on the beach.

St John has no airport, so arrival means flying into St Thomas, taking a taxi to the Red Hook dock and then a short ferry, or a car barge if you are bringing a vehicle. Once there, distances are short, but the roads are steep, narrow and full of switchbacks, and traffic drives on the left.

Most visitors hire a jeep or similar, which makes reaching the south shore and the trails much easier. Open-air safari taxis run from Cruz Bay to the north shore beaches, and Cruz Bay itself is walkable. Parking at the best-known beaches fills by mid-morning in the winter season.

Shopping is limited to Cruz Bay, where a couple of small shopping courtyards near the ferry dock hold galleries, jewellers working with local motifs, resortwear boutiques and island craft such as hand-painted pottery and hook bracelets. It is enjoyable for an hour. Anyone after more goes to the duty-free streets of Charlotte Amalie on St Thomas.

This is an expensive island in the winter high season. Villas and the few resorts charge high rates, restaurant meals cost well above mainland prices because nearly everything is shipped in, and hiring a jeep and paying for ferries and taxis adds up quickly. Groceries are pricey too.

What helps is that the beaches and trails in the national park are mostly free, and the campground at Cinnamon Bay offers a simpler and cheaper way to stay. Rates drop in summer and autumn, which are the hurricane months.

There is no theatre or concert hall. Live music means singer-guitarists and the odd steel pan or reggae band at waterfront bars in Cruz Bay and Coral Bay. The one big occasion is the St John Festival, the island's carnival in early summer, with parades, calypso and quelbe music and food fairs.

St John has no bathing tradition, thermal springs or major spa. What it offers is calm. With most of the island under park protection, there is little traffic, no high-rise building and nights that are quiet apart from tree frogs. A typical stay is a hillside villa with a view over the water, early swims and early evenings.

Massage therapists who come to villas, a few small studios offering yoga, and treatments at the island's resorts make up the rest. It suits travellers who want to switch off, not those looking for a spa programme.