If you stay on St Thomas, I can recommend Magen's Bay. Not a hotel beach, but beautiful...also "full service"...i.e., chair rentals, wind surfers, beach bar and food service.

On St John, try Trunk Bay (more crowded usually) or Cinammon Bay. Both are full service as well, but not hotel locations...rather they are part of the National Park. Easy access from ferry to beaches via taxi.

bob

Would you recommend Cinammon Bay over Trunk? We have gone to Secret Harbor in St. Thomas...Very nice but a small beach...Not like Seven Mile in Grand Caymon. Are all the beaches pretty small in St Thomas and St. Johns, as far as walking them??? Thanks Jan

It's St. John, not St. Johns

Have you heard of Morningstar Beach at Frenchmen's Reef Hotel in St . Thomas...Someone recommended this as a place to go if you were in a pinch for time getting back to the ship?

Jan,
If you are looking for something akin to 7 Mile Beach in Grand Cayman you are not going to find that in the USVI. The beaches are generally smaller cove beaches, some smaller, some larger but not any like the long strip on Grand Cayman.
I prefer the types of beaches on St Thomas and St John but everyone has different preferences.

On St John, which beach would you recommend? We have done Caneel Bay and it was lovely...Very nice restaurant there. I'm just not sure if we are tendering into St. Thomas and have the time to travel over to St. John. If we are to stay on St. Thomas, what beach would you recommend? We have gone to Secret Harbor, nice but lots of stones in the water... Hard on the feet. Jan

Each beach has plusses and minuses. Magen's is the longest stretch of beach. Secret Harbour has shoals close to shore, but is a delightful palm fringed beach. Morningstar is close to the cruise ship dock, but can have some surf. A lot has to do with wind and sea conditions, which of course, vary. Brewer's has wonderful snorkeling, but no beach bar. Hull Bay can have great snorkeling or it can be where the surfers are. Sapphire, Lime Tree (Bluebeard's Beach Club), Bolongo, east end beaches...Each one has fans and detractors! To the original question, access to hotel beaches is the law, however they don't have to let you use beach chairs etc.

Your original question was what hotels allow you to use their beaches - all of them do, beaches in the USVI are public the hotel can not prevent you for using the beach. They can prevent you from using their facilities, chairs, pool, umbrella, floats.... things for hotel guest. Having said this most VI hotels allow non-guest to come to the hotel grounds for the day an use their facilities, some want to you to let them know you are there, a day pass type thing - their incentive more then likely you will rent a chair, have lunch at the beach restuarant and drinks at the beach bar - so you are spending money there - and they have no problems with that 🙂 however if you are rowdy and disruptive to guest then they might ask you to leave - particularly if you are in a resort grounds area -like the pool.

Ones I know allow this, Caneel Bay on St. John, Secret Harbor and Sapphire are ok - you can rent chairs there, Ritz Carlton which I was surprised about allow day guest also... many do.

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Cinnamon vs. Trunk Bay - well they are both wonderful, Hawknest is too, and so is Caneel Bay, Honeymoon and Solomon - for different reasons. I dont think you can go wrong with either Cinnamon or Trunk Bay. And yes most beaches in the USVI are smaller in terms of lenght of the beach. Magens is the longest on St. Thomas, Cinnamon on St. John and Sandy Point on St. Croix - I believe.

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Morningstar is a fine beach - very pretty. My dislike of it is that I like to swim and wade in the water and the sand is rocky there sort of like Secrert Harbor, and the water I find is usually not as calm as other beaches - it is more open to the ocean. For wading and swimming Magens Bay is great. It is close to the dock though - Morningstar is.
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If you are staying on St. Thomas; try Magens Bay if you like to walk the beach and have facilities like food, bathrooms...

--Islander

Thank you soooo much for your input...Really has helped us...Great Site!!! Thanks!!!