Panoramic Island Drive Magens Bay Beach & Shopping City Tour Sto16 Reviews
Charlotte Amalie in the U.Due south. Virgin Islands is an extremely pop prowl send port-of-call and in that location is no shortage of visitors here. One of the about popular St. Thomas activities is a visit to one of the many beaches on the island – and no embankment is more beautiful or popular than the Magens Bay Embankment. It is an adventure in paradise!
We visited St. Thomas on a prowl several years ago and weren't impressed. While we'd initially considered going to Magens Bay Beach or 1 of the other St. Thomas beaches, we opted to take the ferry over to Trunk Bay in St. John instead. Later, we realized we hadn't given St. Thomas a off-white take a chance.
So, during our recent cruise on Celebrity, we opted to rent a motorcar and drive ourselves around St. Thomas. Every bit it turned out, driving was the perfect decision.
Having driven on the other side of the road before, touring St. Thomas on our own made sense. The rental car company (Budget) is located right at the cruise ship pier. We were able to create our own island tour by hitting the highlights: Skyline Bulldoze, Drake'southward Seat, Mountain Top, and on to the embankment.
The drive forth the unabridged Skyline Drive road (Route 40) offers stunning views of the island. From the breathtaking overlook , there are amazing views looking south to Charlotte Amalie and Crown Bay.
On the day we made the bulldoze, there were four prowl ships in port. It'southward hard to come across how the island can support that many visitors, just we didn't experience a lot of overcrowding on our trip. Continuing on Skyline Bulldoze, the viewpoint at Drake's Seat offers amazing views of Magens Bay, the other Virgin Islands, and the Atlantic Sea to the north.
Before continuing on to the beach, nosotros stopped at Mountain Summit. This is the #1 tourist allure in the Virgin Islands. Millions of visitors brand the trek upwards here for the stunning views of the Virgin Islands – and the souvenir shop that sells everything. And we mean literally everything. Mount Tiptop too claims to exist dwelling of the Banana Daiquiri, which we sampled and enjoyed. For our gustatory modality, Mountain Tiptop was a fleck too kitschy and we were interested in a more relaxing experience.
The real goal of our circuit was to soak up some sun on Magens Bay beach. No other place in the Caribbean area is more frequently misspelled or mispronounced. It's not Megans Bay, and there's no apostrophe. It is named for a long-forgotten territorial governor named Jacob Jorgenson Magens.
This nigh i-mile long white sandy beach is 1 of the nicest in the world. Protected past the Peterborg Peninsula, the water is calm, the sand is fine, the palm trees provide aplenty shade, and it'south practically perfect.
The only downside is that nearly all the cruise send visitors seem to make their way hither, too. However, we learned some tips to get away from the crowds and savour this tropical paradise.
After pulling up to the admission gate, private cars need to turn left and observe parking in Magens Bay Park (and there is aplenty parking). Nonetheless, the further down the beach you get, the fewer people there are. It seems most of the cruise ship visitors who come by taxi congregate near the concession stand. We went 500 yards down the beach and had a picnic tabular array in the shade to ourselves with relatively few people.
We spent over three hours lounging in the lord's day, swimming in the ocean and watching the pelican swoop-bomb small schools of fish in the shallow water. We drank tropical island drinks and got a little too much sunday. It was perfect in every way!
The cruise ships charge $fifty-$lx per person for the shore excursion to see the isle and visit the embankment. For our grouping, that would have been $200-$240. Independent shore excursions can exist had for about $forty. We did it for $76 with the rental car, $15 in gas and $20 to go into the beach. But even more than of import than saving coin, we were on our own time schedule and had the independence to exercise what we wanted. We were able to have an adventure in paradise.
Magens Bay Beach Visitor Information
Access
$five.00 per person, plus $2.00 parking per car.
Location
Follow Route 35 from Charlotte Amalie due north until it dead ends at check point. Private cars will be directed to the left. There is ample parking.
Getting to Magens Bay St Thomas from the Prowl Port
Our first question was, how far is Magens Bay from the cruise port? The answer is 5.8km (3.vii miles). However, that short distance is compounded by mountains, winding roads, and poor road signage.
You lot've really got three ways to get from the St Thomas cruise port to Magens Bay: expensive private excursion, hiring a taxi, or renting a machine and driving yourself. The taxi fare from the cruise port to Magens Bay is between $x-$15 per person. Taxis are not private taxis–they are more like large, open-top buses.
If you lot'd rather book your own tour, consider this one-half-day option.
The official cruise shore excursions are:
- Royal Caribbean: Magens Bay Beach Getaway
- Norwegian Cruise Line: Magen's Bay Beach (yeah, they misspell the name)
- Princess: Magens Bay Beach, Scenic Drive & Shopping
- Carnival: Magens Bay Beach Getaway
For us, the all-time way to get there is to hire a car. This likewise allows you the opportunity to see other things on the island like the Mountain Height and Drake'due south Seat.
Restaurants on the Beach
In that location are three concessions services at the embankment. The snack bar serves pizza (either whole or by the slice), nutrient from the grill (hamburgers, hotdogs, etc.), sandwiches and salads (pre-packaged), plus snacks similar chips and sodas. The nutrient was really better than we expected.
At that place is also a total-service bar serving all kinds of beers and tropical cocktails. There are also almost a half-dozen young women in bikinis that operate a kind of independent waitress service from the Magens Bay Beach Bar. Technically not affiliated with either business, they will run drinks for y'all out to the beach (for tips).
Equipment Rentals
Equipment is bachelor to rent. Lounge chairs are bachelor for $7.00 per 24-hour interval and embankment chairs are $5.00/day (either option has a $5.00 refundable rental deposit). Mask, fins and snorkel tin be rented for $15.00 (plus a $35.00 refundable deposit). Bringing your ain snorkel gear will save you money. (Annotation: We strongly recommend buying your own snorkel gear. At that place's something near putting your mouth on a snorkel that thousands of other people have used that nosotros don't love. We wrote an in-depth guide to snorkel gear hither.)
The one downside is that the equipment rental shed is on the busiest function of the beach and you may need to wait for gear or carry your chair a long, long fashion to become abroad from the crowds.
Services
In that location are public showers and restrooms at several points forth the beach.
Source: https://traveladdicts.net/magens-bay-beach-st-thomas/
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