We stayed with two teenagers in Coral Bay. We used Windspree vacation villas, www.windspree.com. The kids seemed to have a nice time. We had our own pool and plenty of space. We would drive into town for some "excitement" and drive to the beaches for exploring. The drive to Cruz Bay from Coral Bay was about 30-40 minutes, and the scenery was wonderful. We did not have air conditioning, and it seems most villas don't. I found this of some concern before we left. However, once there and we felt the tradewinds come up at night, we realized why air conditioning was not necessary. There was a beautiful nightly breeze that kept us cooled, along with ceiling fans. Have fun!

Our family of 4 stayed in Reef Bay (Second Wind, www.caribbeanvillas.com) and loved it.
Where you stay depends upon what you want and are willing to deal with. The closer to Cruz means less driving (sometimes on dirt roads) but less privacy while Coral offers more remote locations with less conveniences unless you are willing to make the drive into Cruz fairly regularly.
We loved Reef Bay as it is located next to the National Park so it is private but only a 10 minute drive to Cruz Bay. We found ourselves going to or through Cruz Bay nearly every day to visit shops, catch ferry to STT or on the way to various beaches. This was convenient as it gave us an opportunity to refresh any forgotten groceries when necessary. Following advice from this and other boards we brought frozen meats, shrimp, etc. in a soft sided cooler with dry ice and added fresh groceries in STJ to keep cost down. It really worked great
Concerning the AC, we come from Houston so ability to adjust is all relative. That said, when the air is still and if your villa is not open or located as well, you will want AC. Otherwise, the island breeze and ceiling fans were more than enough for us. The location of our villa was high enough to get steady breezes and we never used the AC. It was also close enough to the water that we did not have to get in the car to get wet.

Hope this was helpful more than confusing. You'll have a good time wherever you stay.

hello mary,about your question on villa location.....we just returned from a two week stay at the palm villa in gift hill.....we rented through "caribbeanvilla.com"...our third time staying there.....we like gift hill because it kind of puts you in the middle between cruz bay and coral bay and the east end.....so nothing seems to far away......if you get the chance go to ....www.caribbeanvilla.com and check out their website,take a look at the palm villaits a great bargin for the price,has a great view and the garden were very cool and the bedrooms have ac if you wish to use.......check it out I think you'll like......feel free to email me if you have any questions..........we already planning our next trip back

We went through the same questions earlier this year for our trip in a few weeks. We settled in on Pocket money near Cruz Bay. We went through vivacations.com. They've been very easy to work with so far.

PM has a pool and AC in the bedrooms. I had seen good reviews of it and think we're going to have a great time.

We were there last week. We did not expect to use AC, but the humidity was brutal and we did use it at night. We stayed on Bordeaux Mtn and it was great. Location is not too important as long as you have a car and a pool.

During my research, I was told that having a pool in your villa during the summer is more important than AC, as you will want to do more activities in the early morning and late afternoon to miss the brutal sun.

With that said, we rented The Retreat on the far east end. Check it out at www.vivacations.com and select The Retreat by name. Looks to be a perfect villa for 4 people. Each of the separate bedroom buildings have AC for the evening, but the center building as no air. It has a private pool and hot tub. We're going there in about 10 days...can't wait!

Good luck! If you want to know how The Retreat was, write back. [email protected].

Regards from Colorado,
Rick