Trunk Bay Beach
Trunk Bay Beach
4.5
About
The good news: this world-class stretch of white sand and turquoise water is St. John's most photographed beach, which features a marked underwater trail for beginning snorkelers. The bad news: because of its popularity, it can get very crowded with cruise ship passengers and members of sightseeing tours.
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  • lisarose
    Washington DC, District of Columbia550 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Plan ahead if you're parking
    We were here for what I imagine is one of the busiest weeks of the year, Christmas to New Year. We attempted to go to Trunk Bay at 10 AM but the lot was full. So we went the next day at 7:50 - taking no chances! We were practically the only ones there until about 9 or 9:15, and then the lot was once again filled up. I think if you come in the late afternoon you can probably find parking. The views and water are extremely pretty, but in terms of snorkeling we enjoyed other spots more.
    Visited December 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written December 27, 2023
  • Glitchy
    33 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Beautiful views!
    For some reason I don't remember this beach as vividly. I think because by the time we took a taxi to this beach, we had already taken a ferry ride, walked a mile to solomon beach, hiked back, ate lunch and then hitched the taxi to trunk bay, so I think I was a bit tuckered out by the time we made it to the beach. It was beautiful. Probably one of the better beaches we visited, but we didn't spend a lot of time there.
    Visited December 2023
    Traveled with friends
    Written January 2, 2024
  • bobby joe smith
    Chicago, Illinois47 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    MUST VISIT
    AMAZING BEACH!! Totally worth the $5 per adult to come here. Such clear blue water, soft sand, and Long Beach with places to sit. Highly recommend, must come here if visit St. John
    Visited January 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written January 11, 2024
  • 1952ja
    Massachusetts128 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Definitely worth the trip.
    Beautiful soft sand beach. It has everything you need for a day of sunshine, snorkeling and relaxing. Can get crowded but get there early and you're all set. There's beach chair rentals, snack bars, showers, bathrooms, etc. I found it to be very similar to Magens Bay on St. Thomas. The water is just superb and the snorkeling is some of the best we've experienced. We'll go back for sure. It's a lovely way to spend the day.
    Visited January 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written January 23, 2024
  • Joelle S
    13 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Favorite beach in St. John
    The best beach we came across during our whole trip. We went later in the day so can’t say anything about the food or drinks there. But the beach itself is breathtakingly beautiful and a perfect spot to watch the sunset!
    Visited January 2024
    Traveled with friends
    Written January 28, 2024
  • esappenfield2016
    Southaven, Mississippi21 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Beautiful
    Breathtaking views. Nice beach. Ritz gave us chairs to take and that was plus. Bar and food available. Closes @ 4 as to bathrooms and water and I mean he was kicking everyone out. Taxi drivers in St. john and St Thomas are a pain but car rental outrageous.
    Visited February 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written February 23, 2024
  • dkep2002
    Atlanta, Georgia27 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Most gorgeous beach ever
    This was the most beautiful beach I have ever been to in my life (including the south of France)! Literally “stupid” gorgeous like straight out of a magazine. A bit of a haul to get there, but sooooo worth it! I wish we found it sooner in our trip. Cleanest beach and clearest water. Best beach of any USVI that we went to hands down. Plenty of space (lack of shade though). Everything closes at 4pm so something to keep in mind if you are renting chairs or needing a taxi.
    Visited February 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written February 25, 2024
  • Grfy86
    Little Canada, Minnesota61 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Rough seas, lots of shade.
    Gorgeous beach with decent facilities. Restaurant, bar, gift shop, bathrooms, showers to rinse off. They have a snorkeling trail with buoys to mark spots to swim to. The surf here can get quite rough but there are plenty of spots to find shade when you’re not in the water. There is charge to enter the national park, $5 per adult. My only complaint would the lack of adequate parking. Arrive early if you want a parking spot or don’t have a 4x4. When the lot runs out you need to climb over a steep curb into a ravine on the side of the road for parking.
    Visited March 2024
    Traveled as a couple
    Written February 29, 2024
  • ShelleyVIRock
    St. Thomas43 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    The Best Beach in the Caribbean located on the Idyllic St. John Island
    The best beach in the Caribbean. The views of the water are magnificent. It's located in the national park. We love St. John it's the idyllic Caribbean island. We took the Red Hook ferry over from St. Thomas. It leaves on the hour from each island. We had a great time, everyone was so friendly.
    Visited March 2024
    Traveled with friends
    Written March 11, 2024
  • Rebecca F
    Cleveland, Ohio75 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Overrated and Overrun with tourists
    Beautiful but overrated - and overrun with tourists. Taxi loads of people being dropped off from the Westin made for a lot of crowding in the parking lot. Be sure to visit AFTER 3:30 or you have to pay to be here. It was windy when we visited so no snorkeling was possible the kids just liked jumping in the huge waves.
    Visited April 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written April 5, 2024
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

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Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles3,172 reviews
Excellent
2,396
Very good
552
Average
174
Poor
38
Terrible
12

Kathy M
Orford, NH156 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2022
Parking is limited here. Arrive early to get a space.
Entrance fee is $5/person. Recommend that you buy annual family pass for $30
Enjoy the self-guided underwater snorkel trail. facilities include a snack bar, rentals for chairs/snorkel gear, bathrooms and showers. Picnic tables and grill stand available.
Strong winds on North shore can cause turbulent waters in winter.
Shade is available along edge of beach.
Written February 14, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

ChristineGilman
Gainesville, FL24 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2021 • Couples
Beautiful beach we checked out late in the day when we arrived in St. John. After 4pm the facilities close, so the beach is much less crowded and you swap the beautiful teal water for a gorgeous sky. Make sure you have transportation back, since taxis are not as frequent. We just made sure we weren't one of the last to leave and it was no problem. We saw a deer as we left. Last photo taken the next day from the road.
Written May 29, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Marisa C
Santa Cruz, CA428 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2021 • Family
An absolute paradise of a beach. Turquoise waters, soft white sand beaches, underwater snorkeling trail park of the National Park, concession stands, and some shade from trees along the shoreline. It doesn’t get better than that! We went over Christmas/New Years week so it was more crowded then usual but still well worth it. Parking is extremely limited!!! Come early or prepare to walk a distance to maybe find parking along the roadside. In December weather is usually windy which affects snorkeling visibility and waves. However for those not from Virgin Islands, visibility was not awful. Markers in the water were 8-12 ft deep and you could still find them but it wasn’t “like glass” like normal when it’s not windy. Well worth the trip!!!
Written December 31, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

annaM5626PG
Washington DC, DC29 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2019
We went to 9 different beaches on St. John during our time there and Trunk Bay was the nicest in terms of unspoiled sand, crystal clear waters, its length and width and facilities. It can be quite crowded and that can be annoying after being on more out of the way beaches (especially when people are playing ball in the water and taking up a lot of space). It is a real challenge to get parking! We were extremely lucky to get a space two days in a row, but it required getting there early (or late) and being very, very lucky. Well worth a visit or two or three...
Written January 4, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

KakiBW
Ellicott City, MD536 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020 • Couples
We almost did not go here, assuming the place would be over run with cruise ship passengers. We lucked out and we were able to go on a day when no ships were in port. The beach was deserted until about 1:00. Gorgeous white sand and turquoise water. My only complaint was having to pay a (small) entry fee despite having a National Parks pass. (What the heck is the pass for, then? But, I digress.) Calm water, gentle breeze. Beach perfection!
Written February 15, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

VacayBabay03
Lancaster, PA189 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2020 • Couples
We arrived around 9:45 and it wasn’t crowded at all. As the day went on, it became more crowded but not bad at all. We found a shady spot under some trees and had our own chairs. You can rent beach chairs and some type of canopy. We didn’t have to pay an entrance fee so that was a nice surprise! The water is so calm and clear! This is a perfect beach to just float on the water. We also highly recommend snorkeling. We saw tons of amazing fish and even saw a sting ray! I don’t think there is a place to buy food so we brought our own and lots of water. Watch out for the seagulls! They have no problem trying to get your food. They also have bathrooms here but just pay attention to when the beach closes because the bathrooms close at that time. We highly recommend this beach and can see why it is one of the world’s top 10 beaches!
Written August 5, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Mike T
New York City, NY16 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2021 • Family
Nice calm beach. Went with our 2 year old who loved it as well. There is a charge to get in but I think it’s good there a charge as that keeps the beach relatively quiet. Only issue was that showers close quite early at 3pm.
Written June 28, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Overbyjd
Kittrell62 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2020 • Family
We decided to do a day trip from St. Thomas to St. John and we took the car ferry but didn’t realize the cost. It’s $4 per vehicle before you get on ferry then once on ferry it’s $50 round trip. There is a charge to enter the Trunk Bay beach it was $6 per adult. There are showers and a place that rents snorkel equipment and chairs etc... there is a place that sells food and another that sells drinks. It’s a beautiful beach and was not crowded. The snorkeling was not so hot when we went the water was a little rough and you could not see very well. The waves come in from 2 different locations so sand was stirred up to much to see anything. They’re is a marked snorkeling path with items marked underwater but we could not see any of it. Here are a few pictures of the beach and an overview from a lookout and the marked snorkel path. Sand was so soft and water so clear besides the sand for snorkeling.
Written November 28, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Chris R
Virginia Beach, VA63 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020 • Couples
Wow! It is the most beautiful and picturesque beach I've seen. We took a cab to ferry and ferry over and then cab to Trunk Bay. Ferry runs every hour on hour each way, plan about 40 min on each side in total. Beach chairs available to rent, by not the usual... Actual chairs Tommy Bahama chairs. If you have a US park pass this is a US park, so entrance is free. sooo worth the trip, even with it raining off and on still my favorite beach on the trip (only Barbados was a close second)
Written January 12, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

LoJo466
Bayville, NJ394 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2020 • Couples
A must go to when heading to St John. Sand was soft and clean. Water was calm and clear and snorkel right at your feet. Chair rentals of all different heights but definitely need a new stock. Some were beat up. Snack bar was fine to fill the void but offered PBnJ. So that tells you something. Either they get a lot of kids or they want to bring you back to your childhood their when life was easy. Anyhow another great beach but don’t make this the only stop on St John. So many more bays ( beaches) to see that are free to enter. BTW the tides do change and a current picks up a bit.
Written November 28, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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Trunk Bay Beach - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

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