Post BVI stay...

Not sure if this is the correct venue, but my husband and I are staying on Virgin Gorda for two weeks in May 2020. This time we are extending our stay and checking out St John for a couple of days at the end of our BVI stay. Last year we flew thru STT for the first time and got some great advice here. We like quieter, smaller places. We used to stay at Biras Creek years ago, then started renting a villa in Nail Bay. We are going to use this stay in St John to scope out places for a possible longer stay

For St John, you could check out Gallows Point in Cruz Bay which is more of a resort with daily housekeeping, etc. Plus you'd be close to town and walking distance to many good restaurants. A different experience would be a condo at Calichi at Picture Point with stunning views over Hurricane Hole and the East End to Tortola. Calichi is a drive to any restaurants though, and closer to Coral Bay which is routinely referred to as the "quiet side" of the island. The TripAdvisor forum for STJ is quite active and full of good information.

We recently stayed at Cruz Bay Boutique Hotel when we had need to do some shopping (ordering lighting from Donald Schnell) on St John on our way back from jost to home. The room was clean, quiet, and walkable to EVERYTHING!

We have also stayed at Gallows Point and loved that too!

I agree on the the STJ tripadvisor forum. Its very active with both longtime visitors and locals.

Because of the National Park, there are very few rentals that are close enough to walk to a sandy beach. We have visited STJ since 1995, staying at Caneel and villas, and VG has spoiled us with the wealth of near beach rentals.

Coral Bay side of the island is very quiet. Give some thought to your driving tolerance. Rentals out on the east end can be very remote, like 20 minutes to the nearest restaurant, 40 minutes to beaches comparable to Nail Bay and an hour to Cruz Bay.

Cruz Bay side has many more rentals and faster access to restaurants and shopping. Town also has a nice bar scene if that is of interest to you. We enjoy strolling, eating and drinking around town in the evenings.

There are a couple of condo units in Cruz Bay - Grand Bay, Cruz Views, Lavendar Hill, come to mind

Longer stay as in how long? I ask because STJ has a severe housing crisis because so many homes were destroyed in 2017. That combined with owners converting long(-er) term rentals into vacation rentals. Meaning if you are looking to spend a couple months, it might be hard to find a place.

We might do 2 weeks there some time in the future - we love VG, but as we get older the travel might become onerous. Figured we might check out other options/areas. THe driving issue is not a problem, Nail Bay is not really close to anything, and we tend to go to Savannah Bay more often than the beach at Nail Bay.

These suggestions give us a start

VG is so small everything is close.

Good point. VG is much smaller than STJ as it relates to drive times. Also, STJ has some beach parking challenges during high season - more visitors than parking spaces, going early is best.

The Crown Bay ferry is becoming very popular for STJ travel.