Transportation Getting to St. John Barges (Car Ferries) Barge Schedules Ferries Taxis Car Rentals Scooter Rentals Water Taxis

Getting to St. John

For those of you that don't own private seaplanes or helicopters or are not excellent swimmers, the only way to get to St. John, Virgin Islands is by boat. The typical visitor arrives in St. Thomas at the Cyril King Airport, takes a taxi to Red Hook and then takes a ferry to Cruz Bay. There is also ferry service between St. John and downtown Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas as well as service to Tortola, Jost Van Dyke and Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands and car ferry (barge) service between Cruz Bay and Red Hook.

By Airplane
If you, like most of St. John’s visitors you have arrived at St. Thomas' Cyril E. King Airport, you will leave the confines of the aircraft, take your first breath of the warm, aromatic, tropical, ocean air peculiar to the Caribbean and step down to the tarmac. You’ve arrived in the Virgin Islands! But you still haven’t reached your destination, the crown jewel of the archipelago, the island of St. John.

Next, you'll walk to the terminal building and get your bags if you have more than carry on luggage. Then, on to St. John …

Taxi to the Red Hook
Most visitors will be taking a taxi to carry them from the airport to Red Hook on the east end of St. Thomas, where a ferry leaves for St. John; a 20-minute ferry ride across the scenic Pillsbury Sound, which separates the islands of St. Thomas and St. John.
There’ll be taxis waiting for you and a dispatcher available, who will lead you to the right taxi.
The drill here is you’ll need to wait until the taxi van is full before they’ll leave the airport. This shouldn’t take more than ten minutes. When the taxi is full, you’ll head out for Red Hook. The taxi may make stops on the way to discharge passengers with other destinations, have patience

Express Lane
If you lack patience and/or have a lot of money you can avoid waiting for other passengers and travel direct nonstop to Red Hook by taking the Express Line, which, of course is more expensive.

Taxi to Charlotte Amalie
An alternative to the Red Hook to Cruz Bay Ferry is the ferry that leaves from downtown Charlotte Amalie to Cruz Bay, St. John. The downtown ferry ride takes about 40 minutes and runs east along the south coast of St. Thomas and then across Pillsbury Sound to Cruz Bay on St. John. Because this ferry leaves every two hours instead of the on-the-hour, Red Hook Ferry, you want to make sure that your timing is right on so you don’t miss it.

East End Taxi (340) 775 6974
VI Taxi association (340) 774 7457
Virgin Islands Taxi Commission (340) 3130

Renting a Vehicle
It is possible to rent a vehicle on St. Thomas and drive to Red Hook, where there are scheduled car ferries (barges) leaving for Cruz Bay, St. John. Click here for barge schedules and pricing.