How To Spend 8 Days In St Croix

Before diving into our St Croix itinerary, check out how we were able to plan this week-long trip for two to St Croix for less than $600 !

Kat loves doing research and planning itineraries, so this is a fun post to write. She’s planned out several travel itineraries for herself and friends and is extremely motivated by exploring new places. While some people are comfortable with arriving at a destination and “winging it”, you’ll be hard pressed to convince her to do so. Here is how she planned out the details of our trip as well as some tips on itinerary planning for any getaway!

A quick Google search of ‘St Croix’ will bring back highlights like ‘Virgin Islands’, ‘Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge’, ‘Frederiksted’, ‘Buck Island’ and ‘Snorkeling’. The island is surprisingly the least popular of the US Virgin Island. You’ll notice that the itinerary we crafted for our trip includes many of the key phrases associated with this beautiful Caribbean destination. So here it is, at a glance, our eight-day St Croix itinerary (you can click on each day to expand the itinerary further):

Travel Planning Tip – It’s important to give yourself some flexibility during the first couple days of your trip. Departing the airport, picking up a rental car and checking into your accommodations can be more time consuming than anticipated. Be patient, allow yourself time to get oriented and enjoy the process!

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Day One – Fly In, Captain Morgan Experience

A portion of your first day will be consumed by traveling to the island. Our flight out of Fort Lauderdale had us arriving mid-day. When you arrive, you’ll de-plane on the tarmac as, Henry E Rohlsen International Airport is a small one. Next you’ll pick up your rental car (we recommend a 4×4 for ultimate exploration flexibility) and head out in search of a place for lunch. The locals recommend La Reine Chicken Shack. This open-air joint serves up a mean rotisserie chickens as well as local refreshments to get your vacation started on the right foot.

After filling your belly, start learning about the local, deep seeded rum history and head over to the Captain Morgan Experience Center. That’s right, the biggest name in commercial rum is home based here on St Croix. You can take a tour of the facility, learn about Caribbean rum culture and sample (several) of their products on site. They conduct tours but be sure to check their website for updates.

After our tour, we made our way to our check into our St Croix AirBnB. During our stay, we rented a cute little, hillside studio apartment in the Salt River Bay area. We CANNOT say enough great things about our stay here! From the view to the hosts – 5 stars!

Take your time getting settling into your accommodations and hobnobbing with your host (they’re a wealth of knowledge too!). As the sun began to set, head into Christiansted for the evening to grab dinner.

Travel Tip/PSA – Always drink responsibly, hydrate and plan for a designated driver in the event that you over-serve yourself. We do not encourage drinking and driving in any capacity.

St Croix Itinerary Day Two – Cane Bay

On our second day on St Croix, we start the morning with a trip to Thomas Bakery and the grocery store. We love to explore local grocery stores on our trips to load up on local snacks and souvenirs. These souvenirs double as perfect gifts in lieu of knick-knacks as we prefer to gift consumables over touristy dust collectors.

Next, we make our way to Sweet Bottom Dive Shop on the north end of the island at Cane Bay Beach to learn more about the local water conditions.

We spend the afternoon lounging on Cane Bay Beach and snorkeling the coral reefs. This is where you’ll find “The Cane Bay Wall“. If you’re a scuba diver, this will be a great point of interest for you. This is a natural feature that drops about 3,200 feet into the abyss of the Puerto Rico Trench. Phil isn’t dive certified, so we skipped the wall on this trip and stuck with snorkeling. During our leisurely snorkel, we observed various types of coral, common reef fish, sting rays and invertebrates, including an octopus. The view from the water here is also quite spectacular.

After an afternoon in the water, we walked over to nearby Spratnet Beach Bar for a beverage. The chef there, Calvin, is a great host! There are also several other highly regarded establishments within a stone’s throw where one can partake in food and beverage options.

Day Three – Christiansted & Protestant Cay

On the third day, we headed into downtown Christiansted after a quick breakfast at our AirBnB. We parked the car and perused the downtown area briefly, before taking the water taxi over to Protestant Cay for a couple hours. This short trip is a fun way to watch St Croix from a short distance as you bask away and snorkel around the small island. We are told this can be a good location to spot sea turtles while snorkeling. We didn’t see anything the day we were there, but the underwater architecture makes for a neat exploration snorkel!

After a couple hours, we head back to the main island to walk along the famous Christiansted Boardwalk, for an evening of snacking and drinking around town. We found ourselves at 40 Eats and Drinks for dinner and locally distilled Munity cocktails. You can also find Mutiny Island Vodka at the Sion Farm Distillery which was built after our stay.

St Croix Itinerary Day Four – Point Udall, Jack & Isaac Bay

On the fourth day, we wake up early so that we can make it to Point Udall in time for the sun to rise. Point Udall is the easternmost point in the USA (from the center of the continental USA) and therefore home to the first sunrise in the USA, so why not get a head start on the day! Naturally, Point Udall is the eastern most point of the island, where you’ll also find Jack and Isaac Bay.

Travel Planning Tip – If you like to spend as much time in the water as we do on vacation, it’s a good idea to visit a local dive shop to get some intel on the water conditions and recommendations for good snorkel/dive spots. We bring our own snorkeling gear and set up our own itineraries, but the local dive shop is a great resource for booking tours and renting gear for beginners.

A short hike from the advertised Jack and Isaac Bay trailhead brings you down to the relatively secluded beaches of the island’s East End. Here you’ll find more coral reefs and wildlife to enjoy on a snorkel but be sure to mind the currents.

For lunch, we headed west and landed at Cheeseburgers in America’s Paradise. This American style restaurant (as the name suggests) is across the street from Chenay Bay and Beach which is where we spend the afternoon soaking up the sun. This is also a good place for spotting sea turtles while snorkeling, specifically at Green Cay. Unfortunately the poor visibility inhibited us from any underwater exploring the day we were there.

For dinner we made our way to Blues’ Backyard BBQ & Grill for more grub and live entertainment in their great outdoor venue.

Day Five – Annaly Bay & Frederiksted

On day five we pack our bags for a short hike that will lead us to Annaly Bay tidepools. The trailhead for this approximate 5-mile roundtrip hike is located on the north side of the island, near Carambola resort. You’ll likely spend a few hours on this adventure, and you can find local tour guides to take you there if you prefer. That said, the trail is mid-level as far as challenging hikes go but well worth the trek. We highly recommend packing water shoes for this part of your St Croix adventure.

After spending some time enjoying the tide pools, make your way to Frederiksted to explore the island’s other “big city”. Here you’ll see the pier that the cruise ships come into, which you can also snorkel (and we did!). There’s also Fort Frederik, and another collection of delicious restaurants to discover here. Namely Turtle Deli and Uca’s Kitchen came recommended to us.

Fun Fact – All beaches on St Croix are public access so you can bask in the sun or dip your toes virtually anywhere you like!

St Croix Itinerary Day Six – Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge

On day six, we venture to the Southeast corner of the island to visit Sandy Point National Wildlife Park. This long stretch of beach is known for it’s turtle nesting habitat as well as it’s 15 seconds of fame from being featured in the movie Shawshank Redemption. The locals refer to this as a ‘floating beach’ because it’s a great spot to just chill in the water. There also isn’t much to see as far as snorkeling goes.

After a morning of floating, we head north along the west coast to Dorsch Beach to do some more snorkeling here. This beach is known for it’s ‘chaney’ (pronounced chay-knee) shards of pottery from the old sugar mill foundations. If you’re a beachcomber, then you’ll appreciate this spot!

After a bite, we make our way slightly inland to the Mount Pellier Domino Club. This location is home to the ‘beer drinking pig’ and the island’s finest mamajuana (in our opinion ;). We then head back west to Rainbow Beach for dinner, cocktails and live entertainment at Rhythms as the sun sets. If you are looking to spend a little more time on Rainbow Beach, you can rent various water sport items from local establishments.

Day Seven – Salt River & Estate Mount Washington

On the second last day of our trip we originally planned to snorkel Buck Island but the off-season left us with no last minute options to book. Instead, we explored the Salt River Historical Park, making a stop at the Columbus Landing Site. There are kayak tours available to explore the mangroves of this ecological preserve.

We then made our way to see the Baobab Tree and explore some of the inner island roads as we made our way west again. This time we ventured to Estate Mount Washington, a 160-acre historic sugar plantation, complete with sugar mill ruins. There’s also a labyrinth on the property if you’re looking for a unique, tropical meditation experience.

Next we venture to Leatherback Brewing Co for some local beers and a snack before heading east along the coast to complete a full loop of the island. At around 83 square miles (215 square kilometers) a full loop of the island is easily done in a day. We ended up in Christiansted for dinner again, this time eating at Kim’s Restaurant before heading back to our AirBnB to pack up.

Other island activities include horseback riding, private sailing tours, and day trips to St. Thomas.

St Croix Itinerary Day Eight – Cruzan Rum Distillery, Fly Out

The last day of our trip is short as we fly out mid-day so we take our time packing up. When we get on the road, we make one more stop at La Reine Chicken Shack for an early lunch and head over to the Cruzan Rum Distillery. The distillery is less than 3 miles from the airport, so it’s a convenient layover on your way off the island.

We hope you enjoyed our brief overview of our 8-day St. Croix itinerary! Be sure to head over to each of the individual pages for in depth information on each of the days we spend on the island and feel free to reach out with any questions! We look forward to hearing from you!

Be sure to head over to our link for What to Pack for your tropical vacation.

You can also listen to our itinerary as we shared with Chirs Christensen of Amateur Traveler Podcast in Episode #787 here:

Travel to Saint Croix – Amateur Traveler Episode 787

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