Last year, A.J. & I took a winter get away vacation to St. Thomas. To say we were un-experienced travelers would be an understatement (both of us had only flown on an airplane once before!).
This trip was our “honeymoon”, even though it was 6 months after our wedding. We had a summer wedding and decided we would rather go somewhere warm during the wintertime, so we held off for a few months. We chose St. Thomas because we were terrified of doing any kind of international travel by ourselves, and St. Thomas is part of the U.S. (no passport needed either!). I have put together a list of tips and must see attractions to help you plan your tropical get away!
Resort
We stayed at Sugar Bay Resort (formerly part of Dreams Resorts). Overall, we enjoyed our stay here. The resort was clean, nice sized rooms, and the dining options were exceptional (all-inclusive).
PROS:
- Clean and quiet (not over crowded at all)
- Lots of activities included (bingo at the pool, snorkeling, kayaking, paddle boarding just to name a few)
- Great food! (We had 5 restaurants in the resort, and Himistu was our favorite! Plus, the breakfast buffet every morning was exceptional!)
- Beach lounge chairs (We never had any problems getting a chair, there were always plenty to go around)
- Staff (We enjoyed all the staff, from the bartenders to the concierge)
- Pool (We spent many many hours sitting there meeting new people!)
CONS:
- Location
- One thing we didn’t really consider was location. St. Thomas is extremely small, but the roads are very hilly. I assumed we would be within walking distance of most things, but we had to take a cab every time we left the resort (trust me, the roads are narrow with no walking room). We had at least a 2-3 mile cab ride to Charlotte Amalie or Red Hook or any other tourist attractions.
- Swimming in the ocean
- Our beach was beautiful, but if you wanted to swim it wasn’t ideal. It was extremely rocky on the water’s edge.
- Restaurant availability
- While we never had a bad meal at Sugar Bay, the one downfall to the food options is that there is only 2 options each night. I understand why they do this, but it was misleading, as we assumed we would have access to all the restaurants the entire time.
Must See/Must Do
- Day trip to St. John
- We LOVED St. John, even more than St. Thomas. The round trip ferry ride is only 20 minutes and $10 per person. When you arrive, there are a ton of little shops downtown that are oh so adorable. We then took a cab (through some really hilly and twisty roads) to Cinnamon Bay. Most people who road on the ferry with us went to Trunk Bay, but we talked to a local and they told us Cinnamon Bay was just up the road, there is no admission cost, and there is access to showers for rinsing off sand when you are finished. After our morning at the beach, we headed downtown and ate at the cutest little joint, Sun Dog Cafe. I’m still dreaming about that burrito!
- Mountain Top
- The mountain top is a lookout with an awesome view. At the top, there is also a huge warehouse full of souvenirs (super cheap too!) and the BEST banana daiquiri! It’s also a great place to buy cheap booze if you want to bring any back to the states with you!
- We visited the Mountain Top in the morning, and to save on cab fares, we took the afternoon to visit Havensight (downtown shopping). They have awesome shops and don’t forget about duty free shopping (up to $6,000 per person!). We also took the sky glide up the side of the “mountain”, but I wasn’t a fan. I’m terrified of heights and kept my eyes shut the entire time (there was about a 200 foot drop below us).
- Coral World
- To be completely honest, this was a good filler activity, but I wasn’t super impressed. It was basically like going to the aquarium (which we can do when we’re at home). They do offer a chance to snuba (mix between snorkel and scuba), and swim with the sea lions, for an extra cost, but we passed on that. It was still something to do for a morning activity, and gave us time in the afternoon to relax back at the resort.
Totally random, but one of the coolest parts of our entire trip was a group of people we met from Wisconsin. They were there for their wedding, and we were on the same flight there, shuttle to the resort, stayed at the same resort, and flight home with them. We ended up going to their little reception at one of the hotel restaurants! Such a fun story that we will always remember!
This was me trying to be discrete taking a picture at the wedding reception 🙂
This was definitely a trip we will never forget! It was so wonderful to spend this time together as newlyweds and something we will cherish forever!
