One word comes to mind when I think about St. Croix: relaxing!
I recently spent 5 days in St. Croix, USVI and wanted to share all of my recommendations – from things to do to places to eat.
Day 1:
We landed mid-afternoon, rented a car and drove about 45 minutes to our hotel – the Buccaneer Resort. I highly recommend this resort. They have beautiful and clean rooms, three beaches, a golf course, beach bar, and restaurant (including a breakfast buffet) all on site. Upon arrival you are welcomed with the choice of a fruit punch or rum punch – the three of us traveling together opted for a rum punch.
Since we had gotten to the hotel so late we went down to the beach right outside of our room and watched the sun set behind the mountain across the bay. We had dinner at the restaurant at the hotel. It was good but they have limited options.
Side note: we kept seeing these odd mammal running around the island. We had never seen them before so we looked it up and they are mongooses. They are actually super cute.
Day 2:
We spent the entire day at Mermaid Beach on our resort. The views are beautiful, the water was warm and the relaxation was perfect. There is a hut on the beach where you can get noodles, paddleboards, sea kayaks and more for free.
We got dinner again at the hotel restaurant strictly out of being tired. Again, decent food but not many options to choose from.
Day 3:
We started our day in Christiansted, the largest town in St. Croix sitting a five minute drive from our resort. We walked along the boardwalk into the shops and had lunch at RumRunners. This restaurant was a popular spot for tourists and locals. We then went back to our resort and relaxed at the beach again – a theme that was prominent during this trip. We all needed some R&R!
We had heard so many good things about the restaurant You Are Here so we tried it out. They were right – it was really good and known for their pizza. There was a sweet cat that hung on the patio with us and we named him Harvey. We loved him. We actually liked the place so much we came back the next day.
Day 4:
We drove about 30 minutes to Cruzan Rum Distillery and took a tour. For $8 we took a 30 minute tour of the plantation and factory, got two mixed drinks and 4 shots of rum of our choice – you can’t really go wrong with the price. I’m not a rum drinker and even I thought the mixed drinks were delicious. We only had six people on our tour as we were on the first tour of the day at 10 a.m. but as the day went on each group grew in size. They also have a beautiful patio (all in the shade) with high top tables, couches and lounge chairs. We sat there and drank and talked for three hours!
Following Cruzan, we drove to Frederiksted (although we took an hour long detour because my GPS didn’t pick up the location correctly and we went to the Carambola Resort by accident). We arrived at Rhythms at Rainbow Beach and headed to the restaurant in desperate need of food. It was crowded with tourists and locals. After lunch we rented chairs and hung out on the beach and in the water for a while. We then drove 45 minutes back to our resort before heading to Christiansted for dinner.
Day 5:
We lounged on the beach for a few hours, showered then headed back downtown to Christiansted before having to head to the airport. We ate lunch again at RumRunners as it was one of the few restaurants open on a Sunday.
We were told the tide pools were awesome but with 88 degree weather and high humidity, hiking in the woods for hours did not sound appealing. We also heard the “rain forest” is interesting but there are no clear directions to get there so we didn’t try.
Overall, we loved St. Croix. It was so beautiful and relaxing. Just what we needed!
Kristina Gemella's Travels 