I call Magen's Bay paradise! One of my favorite Caribbean…read morebeaches and my mother's favorite beach in the world. We have visited several times while cruising. We usually take the group transport offered from port and pay the entrance free. The rest is a day to enjoy the calm waters and a day of relaxation.

Magens Bay , a place so beautiful it feels like a Caribbean postcard come to life…read more This famous crescent beach on Saint Thomas stretches nearly three-quarters of a mile, tucked between green hills that naturally block the Atlantic swells. That's why the water is so unbelievably calm and clear the kind of crystal blue where you can watch fish glide beneath you while you float or stretch out in the sun. But there's a little history beneath all that beauty. Centuries ago the Taíno people lived along these shores, and legend says the notorious sea rogue Sir Francis Drake once used this peaceful bay to hide ships while waiting to ambush Spanish treasure fleets sailing through the Caribbean. Today it remains protected as a public park a perfect curve of white sand and glassy turquoise water where travelers come to swim, sunbathe, and for a moment... live the lifestyle of the rich and famous.

Trunk Bay is an absolute must when you're in the USVI National Park! Took the Red Hook Car Ferry…read moreover to St. John. Talk about a wildly stunning ride! Trunk Bay is home to the only underwater snorkeling trail in the U.S. national park system. The beach is pristine, tucked into the park with soft white sand and crystal blue water. The marine life is incredible! Full of depth, color, and light. Totally dreamy, super chill, and the perfect spot to soak up the sun. Out of all the beaches in VI National Park, this is my favorite. A radiant, sun soaked escape!

absolutely heaven on earth!!…read more clear blue waters, soft sand, snorkeling (lots of fishes and saw a permit fish almost a yard big!!), showers & restrooms, bar with alcohol, food & dessert shacks (get the shrimp burger), rentals (for chairs, canopy, snorkel gear), $5 admission I do appreciate how they don't give out plastic!! Please protect the oceans and be green :) recycle + reusable metal straws

Such a BEAUTIFUL BEACH - highly recommended beach... also with a gift shop with souvenirs and…read moresnacks and more   - - -   June, 2025 Visit   - - -   Short Review,   Cinnamon Bay Beach...   ... has an island you can swim / snorkel to... many fish to see closer to the island   ... has a view of Great Thatch, British Virgin Islands   ... has indoor facilities... gift shop, snack bar (indoors and outside), campsites   ... not crowded       - - - Additional information: - - -   My wonderful wife planned a relaxing trip for us to St. John's, US Virgin Islands (just east of Puerto Rico), in June, 2025; we had a great time... such a beautiful island!     We snorkeled two beaches on St. John, and we enjoyed them both.   Cinnamon Bay Beach stuns you with its beautiful colors... the beach has light tan sand, helping make the water is a light green-blue color... stunningly beautiful!!     - - - Why Cinnamon Bay Beach - - -   Most of St. John is a National Park and most of the northern part of the island provides a nearly continuous beach... nearly continuous because peninsulas that extend into the water separate each beach from the other.    We looked at the map and read the reviews and picked Hawksnest and Cinnamon Bay beaches  because they looked more likely to have slightly smaller crowds, as cruise ships apparently visit other beaches (at least when we visited).  When we visited we were not alone and it was also not crowded.   Both are within a couple miles of each other, so while they are similar in overall look and feel - similar color of the water and sand, similar plants, etc., they are unique in what you can see underwater when you're snorkeling, and unique in the views from the beach.     - - - Taxis to and from - - -   To get to and from Cinnamon Bay Beach, you can drive or take a taxi.  The taxis on St. John, at least the ones we saw, are all trucks, with the driver in the cab, and the passengers sitting, open air, in the back... on benches with a roof over our heads.  The taxis run all day and will stop at multiple beaches to drop off and pick up passengers along the way.      - - - Cell / Mobile service - - -   Cell phone service is present, but the signal is a bit weak - 1 to 2 bars of signal strength.      - - - The beach - - -   Even if you never get in the water, the scene is beautiful... the water color is such a beautiful shade of blue...   Enya's "Caribbean Blue" (from 1991 album "Shepherd Moons") was playing in our heads, and was surely inspired by waters like these...   The sand is light and soft   Beautiful green trees and plants along the beach.     - - - The view from the beach - - -   Cinnamon Bay Beach is a beautiful beach and view of the British Virgin Islands' (BVI's) Jost Van Dyke in the distance and Great Thatch island closer... both BVI; St. John's Whistling Cay is visible, closer to the left, and Mary Point, closer to the right; Cinnamon Brach curbs east, and out into the water to a point that becomes Maho Bay and we stayed within Cinnamon Cay..     - - - The water... snorkeling - - -   On any given day, the water quality and aquatic life are things you cannot control.  The day we visited water quality and aquatic life were both goo -  the water was so clear and we saw so many fish, especially as we snorkeled out toward the island... which is much closer than it looks.. 5-10 minutes of calm to quicker leg kicking should get you there.     - - - Snorkeling - what we saw - - -   While snorkeling we were blessed to see: ⁃            a stingray swam by right as we started out !! ⁃            many more parrotfish-like blue-green-purplish fish and others ⁃            on the way back in, two squid!!     - - - Back on the beach - - -   We enjoy laying back and relaxing... and taking photos of our feet as they point toward the sand + surf... and we captured another one here on Cinnamon Bay Beach.   What a great afternoon!     - - - The surf, the lack of on St. John - - -   We have been blessed to visit the Caribbean a couple times and have noticed that there is not much surf, not many waves. On an early trip someone explained that the Caribbean is just at a position in the ocean that the rides are not small; brief internet searches suggest the tide only varies a few inches to a foot or so... such small changes don't lead to many waves. You'll likely see and enjoy hearing waves "lapping at the shore," but you're not likely to do much body surfing... if you have a boogie board, while you could bring it on your flight, you'll likely be better off leaving it at home. - - - Gift Shop - t-shirts, hat pins and more - - - - - - Thank you - - - Thank you to all the park team members who maintain Cinnamon Bay Beach, and to the taxi drivers getting us visitors to and from the beach! ----- ----- -----

Full disclosure I didn't actually swim at this beach but I spent an hour or so here because it's…read moreactually a huge beach! The internet says it's one of the most famous ones and I can see why - the water is crystal clear, bright blue (as are most of the other national park beaches lol). It's spacious though, and in addition to the beach itself, there is a snack vendor area where you can buy lunch (like sandwiches and drinks), and a gear rental place for snorkeling etc. They also have a small restaurant adjacent to the campground cafeteria area which does breakfast and dinner (but not lunch). They have pretty clean bathrooms and showers too, and the most parking of all the beaches that I went to. They even had an info booth; the lady there was fairly knowledgeable about the park although I don't think she was an actual ranger (she wasn't in the ranger outfit). There's also a little area right at the entrance to the beach that is part of some ruins, it's a nice photo op spot. Overall this is a great beach! Def recommend.

Our resort (Margaritaville) had a free shuttle to Coki Beach which was nice! It was a short drive…read moreover and when you get off, be prepared for the tourist trap. A guy met us right off the shuttle to sell chairs and an umbrella. I think both together was under $20. While you're on the beach, there's people selling drinks, food, jewelry, etc. We were approached by a woman who took our order for one fried snapper, a couple of sides and two beverages (one alcoholic, one mocktail). We paid $99 for this. Make sure you have cash because it's easier to pay for things on the beach. We didn't have enough cash to pay so I had to get the establishments Cash App and pay that way. Or you can go to an ATM on site. Now... we had a great time relaxing on the beach, the view is absolutely beautiful plus the clear water BUT if you want something less crowded, I would say to find another beach. There were water activities like snorkeling, taking photos on a clear kayak, and so on so that was nice. There are also surrounding vendors to get ice cream, food, souvenirs, water, etc. Since we took a shuttle, we made sure we caught the last one of the day back to our resort. All in all, it was a beautiful beach day!

Parking is difficult and it's insanely crowded here. This is definitely a tourist trap. They charge…read more$7 per chair and $12 for an umbrella, which is fine if they want to, but then they are very rude when you turn them down. One of the men kept telling us to move so he could put more chairs right where we were and told us we were "in his way." It's a public beach and I should be able to lay on my towel where I'm not in anyone's way and not get this treatment. This behavior also extended to others that didn't pay for chairs. The snorkeling isn't even impressive here. We snorkeled nearly every day for over a week at different beaches and this was bottom of the list. Glad we weren't planning on staying long anyways. I literally enjoyed this place soo little, that I forgot to take pictures of it. Drinks were weak, but the fish we got was tasty and fresh.

I live here on st Thomas and this is probably my number 1 beach. It has great snorkeling, and has a…read morelittle something for everyone, in the middle of the beach is great for just sitting in the water or on the beach as there are not many rocks. The left has big rock as and coral all along in the water where you can find octopus, crabs, fish, stingrays. If you are more adapt at snorkeling you can go out towards the left and past the university dock and there is some great snorkeling there with sea cucumbers, giant pufferfish, eagle rays, some have reported lion fish over in that area even. The right of the beach is filled with rocks, coral and sea glass on the sand. I will leave some photos of all the creatures Ive got on my GoPro. Also tons of sea turtles

Exceptional out of the way beach with a local vibe…read more What we loved: * accessible from the terminus Jitney cab university stop (just a short walk up over a hill) * shaded areas to put out your towels * clear calm water perfect for snorkeling * bathrooms with shower to rinse off * cool handmade signs to promote maintaining the environment Loved visiting Brewers Bay Beach which felt clean safe and family friendly. We felt 100% safe leaving our backpack on the shore while snorkeling and swimming. Saw plenty of fish! There were food trucks as well as a kayak rental option but we did not partake of either.

spectacular! Wish I could've gotten more pics - can hardly wait to return…read more Found myself planning the next return before we even left ha

This is a great little beach without the crowds and noise. Since the large hotel at the point was…read morenot yet open, we had this beach almost all to ourselves. It has great views of the St Croix on the horizon, and is located on a part of the island that has slightly bigger waves than many of the other nearby beaches. Snorkeling on the left (east) side of the beach is pretty good, with some decent aquatic life. We went out beyond the point to the east, and saw lobsters, squid, urchins, and plenty of fish. For the beach, I'd recommend water shoes did you have them. The entry to the beach is pretty rocky with shells and coral. After getting in a few feet past the beach, it's very sandy. The Sandbar and Salt Shack are nice places located along the beach that have food and drinks. We were able to get parking in the kit behind the Sandbar, but with all of the construction, parking was limited. I believe taxis will drop off and pick up from the area behind the Sandbar. This has been in of our family's favorite beaches for years. We're glad it's still maintained and business is coming back to life after the hurricanes a few years ago!

Hull Bay Beach is a quieter but no less beautiful beach on the north side of St. Thomas. The roads…read moreare a little trickier to navigate to get here, but there is ample parking. The Shack at Hull Bay is here as a great option for food but otherwise there are no restroom amenities. My pups enjoyed it here as a dog-friendly beach.

Before Abi Beach came along Hull Bay was the only beach that you could bring your dogs to. I…read morehonestly didn't like it that much because on the weekends EVERYONE living on this island with a dog would set up tents, grill and camp out all day. Positives are that your fur baby will have a blast with dog friends and come home tired. Downside is that it's noisy, crowded, and you have to come early to get a good spot and parking. Waking up on weekends early is not something I do. This is a locals beach, I haven't really seen the tourist groups come out here (they stick more so to Magen's Bay next door) so when cruise ships are in, this beach won't get over crowded. It is very rocky in the water and on the beach so watch out, but there is no charge to access this area. The big bonus with this beach is Hull bay Hideaway restaurant, which serves up awesome affordable grilled beach grub and a shaded eating area that your fur baby is allowed, in order to get out of the blazing sun in the early afternoons. If you have a boat there is also a ramp to lower it into the water in the parking lot area. Overall if you're only here on St.Thomas with a cruise ship stick to Magen's Bay if you live here and have dogs this is a beautiful beach to spend the day. #St.Thomas #USVI

Beautiful beach with crystal-clear, lovely water and breathtaking scenic views. The atmosphere is…read morepeaceful and perfect for relaxing or enjoying nature. However, the bathrooms were a bit scary and could definitely use improvement.

We tried Trunk Bay first but parking was a nightmare so we headed on down (up, down, up down) the…read moreroad to Maho Bay. We found a parking spot in a lot and only had a short walk to set up our camp in some nice sun/shade. There are a lot of kids and families here, so expect playing, screaming, etc. but eventually they have to eat something so you'll get some nice quiet. We snorkeled right in front of where we were sitting and saw sea turtles munching on the sea grass. So cool. The beach is not super wide but it's enough to plunk down a chair and have a little shade. Perfect. Water is calm. It's the first place we saw donkeys on the island. We loved it.