By Air

Flying is a fun, fast, but expensive way to get around the Virgin Islands. There are airports on St. Thomas, St. Croix, Tortola (Beef Island), Virgin Gorda, and Anegada. In addition, seaplanes fly between San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Croix, and Virgin Gorda, and helicopters can fly to many more of the islands, including the private island retreats. A standard sightseeing tour costs about $100 per person for 45 minutes flying time.

In addition to being fast and efficient, flying around the islands is beautiful. Any of the charter airlines in the islands will agree to take you up for a sightseeing flight.

Charter airline companies include Bohlke International Airlines (340/7789177, www.bohlke.com), Fly BVI (284/495-1747), Island Helicopters (284/499-2663), Caribbean Wings (284/495-6000), Air Culebra (284/496-8962 or 787/268-6951), and Island Birds (284/495-2002).

By Boat

Boats are the most popular and most natural way to get around the Virgin Islands. Visitors can build their whole vacation around a boat by chartering a sailboat. Land-based visitors can take day sails to out islands, rent a powerboat for the day, or catch an interisland ferry or water taxi to reach their destination.

By Taxi

Taxis are widely available on all the islands and can be a good way to get around if you are nervous about driving on the left or if you don’t want to move around too much. Taxis tend to be expensive, however, and if you want to do a lot of exploring on land you would be better off renting a car and driving yourself.

Rental Cars and Motorcycles

Rental cars are available on all the islands. Unfortunately, if you want to island hop, you will have to deal with different car rental agencies (and often pay a different rental price) on each island. For the greatest comfort, rent a four-wheel-drive vehicle, which is handy for negotiating hills and unpaved mountain roads, especially on St. John, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda.

For the best rates, and to be sure that you’ll have a car at all, reserve your rental car early, especially on small islands like Anegada, Jost Van Dyke, and Virgin Gorda, which have a relatively small rental fleet. Well-known U.S. car rental companies including Avis and Hertz have shops throughout the U.S. and British Virgin Islands. Budget and Thrifty have shops in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Hitchhiking

Many residents catch rides in the Virgin Islands, but few tourists do. Hitchhiking is safer, and more widespread, in the British islands. It is not safe on St. Thomas or St. Croix.

Hitchhikers do not stick their thumbs out in the Virgin Islands. Instead, they simply stand on the side of the road and wait. Sometimes, they raise their arm out in front of them to show that they are looking for a ride.

© Susanna Henighan Potter from Moon Virgin Islands, 4th edition