Virgin Islands National Park

A crescent beach on the North Shore Road (Route 20) and the one park beach with a lifeguard. It carries an underwater snorkel trail, submerged interpretive plaques set roughly 6 to 15 feet deep, one of the few of its kind in the NPS system. There is no park-wide entrance fee, but Trunk Bay costs $5.00 per person ages 16 and up, sunrise to sunset ($2.50 with a Senior or Access Pass, free under 16). Restrooms and snorkel rental are on site. Snorkel it early, before the afternoon tour boats.

Taino carvings on a rock face above a freshwater pool at the foot of the Reef Bay valley. NPS describes them as representations of past Caciques, the chiefs the living Taino sought to commune with for guidance, and calls the valley a sacred place. The carvings were made by the Taino and remained known to later residents; they were documented, not discovered. They sit at the end of the Reef Bay Trail, about 3 miles one way, with roughly 900 feet to climb on the way out.

The longest beach on the North Shore and the home of the park's only campground, which fully reopened August 16, 2024. A short nature loop runs through plantation ruins on a Taino village site; its first 0.09 mile is a 4-foot-wide concrete-and-wood boardwalk with very little slope, friendly to wheelchairs and strollers, while the rest is packed earth with roots and rocks. The archaeological record here layers Taino occupation with plantation-era artifacts.

On the drier south shore off Route 107, with a salt pond behind the beach and tide pools at neighboring Drunk Bay, where visitors build small figures from coral rubble and driftwood. A footpath continues past the salt pond toward the Ram Head point, a cliff headland at the southern tip of the island. Less crowded than the North Shore, with no facilities and no lifeguard. Per NPS, this is the quieter counterpoint to the busy North Shore bays.

A Danish-era sugar plantation worked from the 1720s into the mid-1800s, on a hillside above the North Shore off Route 20. The standing ruins include a windmill tower, a horsemill, the factory, and a cookhouse. NPS interprets it as the park's primary site for the labor of enslaved West and Central Africans and for the 1733 Akwamu insurrection, centering enslaved labor and resistance rather than the planters. On scheduled days, rangers and culture-bearers demonstrate African cooking, fire-making, and basketry. The light is best in late afternoon, when the crowds thin.

A separate piece of the park in the harbor at Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, and the reason the park spans two islands. It holds 19th-century British military ruins and a Danish steam-powered marine railway, reached only by boat. Per NPS, it is a different visit entirely from St. John's beaches, a half-day for families drawn to ruins and harbor history rather than swimming.

The only NPS-area lodging in the park since Caneel Bay closed: bare tent sites, eco-tents, and cottages, with an on-site restaurant and the North Shore beach out front. It fully reopened August 16, 2024 after the 2017 hurricanes and the 2024 Ernesto cleanup, per the NPS status update. Reserve through the concessioner at cinnamonbayvi.com. Everything else is a rental or small inn in Cruz Bay or Coral Bay. The photo shows the beach in front of the campground, not the campsites.

The pull-offs along Route 20 between Cruz Bay and Annaberg look down on the string of North Shore bays: Caneel, Hawksnest, Trunk, Maho, and Cinnamon, with the offshore cays beyond. Per NPS and the trip-planning notes, this is the scenery families remember from the drive itself. Take the curves slowly: the U.S. Virgin Islands drive on the left in left-hand-drive rentals on narrow, steep roads.

A descent through tropical forest and plantation ruins to the Taino petroglyphs and a waterfall pool, about 3 miles one way with roughly 900 feet to climb on the way back out, per NPS. The walk down is moderate; the unshaded climb out in the heat is the hard part. NPS runs a ranger-guided version with a boat shuttle back so hikers skip the climb out, reserved at the Cruz Bay Visitor Center. Too long for small kids without the boat return.

The only place to eat inside the park, behind the North Shore beach at the campground. It reopened with the campground on August 16, 2024, with dinner service, per the NPS status update. Everything else is in Cruz Bay or Coral Bay. The photo shows the Cinnamon Bay beach in front of the restaurant, not the dining room.

A marked underwater route with interpretive panels set roughly 6 to 15 feet deep, one of the few in the NPS system. The beach is lifeguarded, with snorkel rental and restrooms on site, which makes it the right first snorkel for kids who can swim with a mask. Best snorkeled early, before the afternoon tour boats. NPS also runs Discover the Reef ranger snorkel walks.