I have stayed a on each island and the two islands are like night and day...

While the physical landscape of St. Thomas is magnificent - the mountains, water, foliage, etc... the actual island, itself is not magnificent., however. If you are into shopping - I suppose it is "the place" to go... but with all of the TRAFFIC, STORES - K-mart, McDonalds, etc... it doesn't look very pretty ... and it is by no means a tropical paradise - at least MY VERSION of what PARADISE IS.

St. John is completely different to what I just described St. Thomas to be... St. John IS PARADISE. Roughly 3/4 of it is owned & maintained by the US Forest Service and is PRISTINE. There are NO K-MARTS or other national chains - except I do think there is ONE Subway or Blimpie in Cruz Bay. There are only 2 Resort Hotels on the island - of course there are condos, villas, etc... but it is not TOURIST-RESORT-WAY. The beaches are DROP-DEAD GORGEOUS. St. Thomas beaches are beautiful - but FILLED WITH VENDORS, PEOPLE - TOURISTS- hardly what I consider paradise. ST. JOHN beaches are far simply, PRISTINE (sorry for using that word again- but that' what best describes it)!

St. John has a few great, well-stocked grocery stores - conveniently located on the island . There are lots of lovely gift shops - quaint & classy - arts, jewelry, clothing, - yes, there are some T-Shirt shops too ;-)... but it's not anything like what St. Thomas is about....

As for weather - both islands are almost identical - May should be fine for any island in the Caribbean.

One other observation - St. John has a friendlier feel to it - people seem happier... I suppose because it is a far less chaotic atmosphere.

Any other questions - feel free to ask!

Lisa

You have a tough decision. I will add my 2 cents worth as my husband and I spent time on St John and St Thomas in late Oct. We found that St John had the casual and laid back atmosphere that we have come to love, plus so many beaches to choose from. (St Thomas had some nice beaches but we felt the ones we saw on St John were more breathtaking-the prettiest in the Caribbean IMHO) We found that it was easier to find dining options on St John than it was on St Thomas, plus you did not have to deal with the traffic that St Thomas has. We stayed at the Westin and did not find the construction to be too annoying. Most of the construction a few months ago was around the pool area so I would not recommend staying in a pool-view room. The pool there is HUGE and the noise did not seem to bother us while we where there. We loved the fact that they passed out popsicles one afternoon. The beach is not much but you will want to spend time on those incredible beaches around the island.

We have decided that we will return to St John someday as it is our #2 Caribbean island. I will not name our #1 because it would be like comparing apples to grapes.

Good luck with your decision.

Thanks Lisa and Lizard Lover for both your responses! They were very informative and kind of confirmed what I had expected about St. Thomas. Sounds great if you want more things going on around you, but I am looking for the most laid back, beautiful tropical experience!

I was leaning more toward St. John but I just wanted to be sure! I guess I can take the ferry over one day to St. Thomas if the desire arises ...but the beaches sound amazing at St. John!

Lizard Lover, I am curious to know what your #1 destination is now...you can't leave me wondering! I LOVE traveling and am always interested in hearing of others' journeys!

I'd pick the Ritz-Carlton over the Westin ANY day. East end of STT & not a K-Mart in sight.

I personally would not stay at the Westin - I know many people love it - but I would not want to stay on the only "man made" beach if I were coming to STJ. Rent a villa, rent a car and visit all the fabulous beaches, book a spa treatment at your villa, hire a private chef for a candle light meal out by the pool to celebrate your special day, "skinny dip" at midnight in your private pool/hot tub while star gazing...you get the picture 🙂

If you really want a hotel, try caneel as it has wonderful grounds, and is on 7 fabulous beaches but no tv/phones/radios etc in the rooms or try Gallows Point - a combination of villa/hotel.

Here are a few links for you to get some ideas 🙂

http://www.destinationstjohn.com/ambiance.htm
http://www.destinationstjohn.com/coral_rays.htm
http://www.destinationstjohn.com/la_papaya.htm
http://gallowspointresort.com/
http://www.bongobongostjohn.com/
http://www.nomadicspa.com/
http://stjohncatering.com/

Happy planning

Pia

When we were on St. Thomas, we'd stayed at the Renaissance Grand - which is no longer open - it was on the east side - away from the K-Mart environment - the east side still has many run down areas... stores, broken down homes, businesses - perhaps if you stay on the hotel property you will not have to see all of that - but what's the point of that?

As for staying on St. John, our favorite place is without doubt, Gallows Point!!! The views are to die for. The convenience of being able to take a 5 minute walk into picturesque Cruz Bay - for dining, shopping, etc- and not have to worry about parking is FABULOUS! Gallows has everything a villa would have: great well-stocked kitchen (not food - but pots, pans, staples), beach chairs and an ice chest to take with you on your beach excursions, beautiful, luxurious pool, great snorkeling right there, etc. BUT, UNLIKE a VILLA, it HAS DAILY MAID SERVICE, a GREAT LITTLE CONVENIENCE STORE on SITE, A FANTASTIC RESTAURANT on SITE, did I say DAILY MAID SERVICE - NEW CLEAN TOWELS WHENEVER YOU NEED THEM!!!!

Enjoy 🙂

Where the Renaissance was & where the Ritz is very, very different. No "run down" areas there as I'm quite sure you know.

I have to agree with the Gallows Point recommendation. It is perfect for your first trip to St. John. Hotel amentitieswith the freedom of a villa. You will be within walking distance to town for great shopping and dining and easy to get a taxi to the beaches if you don't want to rent a car.

Trade - perhaps you are correct in stating the area right around the Ritz is not rundown, however, the majority of the island is somewhat rundown - in my opinion. It is true, most islands in the Caribbean have poor areas - some far more than others- that fact is unfortunate and sad. St. John, on the other hand, is quite different in that the majority of the island is not rundown - yes, there are little areas, but, anyone familiar with both islands would know the St. Thomas and St. John are vastly different in that way.

Hands down from past exp ---STJOHN is your choice no matter where you are on STthomas just my op....
To me any place on STJohn is better than anywhere else . Iam very biased!!! Forgive me Yolanda

That's just nonsense that most of STT is run down. The part you get to to go to the Red Hook Ferry has a portion of it that's run down but MOST? No problem with you preferring STJ but let's not get into hyperbole. It's also insulting as heck to those of us who CHOOSE STT to live in. It's our home.

as a local islander on STX the only reason to go to STT is to go to home depot, or go get drunk......STJ is by far a quieter and much more beautiful lay-ed back space to visit.........of course it is only my opinion

I couldn't agree more with Trade, (it's also an insult to those of us that visit STT year in and year out). If people would spend some time exploring STT, instead of driving from the airport to the fairy dock, (and passing judgement based on their 20 min. visit), you would find there are MANY...MANY beautiful areas on STT. I suggest you go back a few months to "Bluwater's" trip report about STT, she paints a totally different (accurate) picture of STT.

You should also qualify that STJ is 2/3rds National Park, if NYC, Chicago, LA, et. were 2/3rds National Park you would not see as many "run down" areas either, if you wish I can post many beautiful pics of STT.....nuf said.

Just got back from STT & STJ. Stayed in a condo on Bolongo Bay STT. Visited the Ritz & it was fantastic. STT is not for us! We spent most of our week in STJ via the car ferry. STT was way too crowded. Our first day we went to StJ and had 10 people on our beach. Next day in STT we went to Megans Beach & there were 1000 people. We just turned around & left. Same for Coki. Everywhere we went on STT we saw abandoned cars & trash. It was disgusting. We went all over the island hoping to find nice places like STJ...never did. Go for STJ & went a villa for the price you will pay for the Westin!

You obviously went the back way to get to Magens or you would have seen a lot of ships in the harbor. Most people know not to go to Magens on a heavy cruise ship day. You obviously went through Nadir & Bovoni near the dump to get there. It's wise to check with the hotel in season as Magens is the most popular beach with cruiseship passengers. And we have a lot of cruise ship passengers since STT is one of the top destinations.

I drive from Frenchman's Bay to the North Side daily & never see abandoned cars or a ton of trash but you will see that when you go by the dump.

First off, this is a message board -the purpose is to be able to come here and be honest about topics posted. Hopefully, what people can express here will be helpful to others. I don't think I would be of any help to anyone if I lied about what I have seen and experienced.

TO: On Island Time - I did state that STJ is 3/4 owned/operated by the US Forest Service.... However, I don't know if a person wanting to choose an island cares so much WHY it is so beautiful (that is certainly part of the reason, however) - the more important fact for a person trying to decide which island to go to is - IT IS MORE BEAUTIFUL and PRISTINE.

For the record, I have stayed on St. Thomas - and have explored it quite extensively- I am not speaking from the standpoint of a person going from the airport to a hotel and a beach or two- or a cruise passenger getting off a ship and shopping for jewelry or t-shirts.

STT a beautiful island as for the foliage, terrain & water- Heck, when we vacationed there - we had a lovely time - but after experiencing STJ, it is evident that it is more pristine and more natural and less tainted by humanity. No one can deny there is far more traffic, many many more poor, broken down areas and many many many more tourists on St. Thomas than on St. John.

Got to agree. We drove all around STT for 2 of our 7 day vacation & it was a disappointment. Could not find a beach to compare to STJ beaches. Bolongo Bay where we had a condo was not crowded at all but an ok beach. Loved Iggies for nighttime entertainment. Maggie Malones in Red Hook was another nice hang out. But could not get into Duffy'd Love Shack. I didn't come to the Islands to sit in a parking lot with no view. Can't understand that. Same with ship wreck downtown. Could have been in some town in Nahville as far as the location or lack there of. STJ just has the charm & beaches. So, we just went to STJ the rest of the time on the auto ferry or people ferry to stay later & hit the bars. People are real friedly on STJ...how can you not be when it is soo beautiful.