We rented a villa for a week in the Coral Bay area of St John. I highly recommend this side of the island - the East Side. It is very quiet and undeveloped, yet still has quick access to the stunning beaches on the north side. We rented a two bedroom villa called MAS MSW from Wimco. We chose it for the view - We could see all the way to Virgin Gorda - straight down the Sir Frances Drake channel. The only drawback was that the villa was 800' up the side of a mountain, and the driveway was steep with several switchbacks. We got used to it, but for any villa like this up on a hillside you need 4 wheel drive. The villa is owned by the Roche sisters of musical fame, and they left a CD for us to enjoy. It was called Moonswept, which is also the formal name of the villa.

I recommend St John to anyone who likes a very relaxed island. It is not jet set, there are no hopping bars and late night parties. Instead it's very cool and casual. The beaches along the north shore are ringed... more