Is St. Thomas good for solo travelers?

We'd base a solo trip in Red Hook on the East End rather than in Charlotte Amalie. Red Hook has the ferry dock for Cruz Bay on St. John, about 20 minutes across Pillsbury Sound, and a row of bars around American Yacht Harbor where boat crews, charter guests and seasonal workers drink side by side most evenings. The dock smells of diesel and sunscreen at 9am. By 6pm the smell is rum punch and grilled mahi, and finding someone to talk to is easy. The fastest route to company is a small-group day sail: Viator lists boats capped at 6 to 12 passengers that run to Christmas Cove, where the Pizza Pi boat sells pies from its anchorage, and to Honeymoon Beach on Water Island. The longer BVI runs to White Bay on Jost Van Dyke need a passport. You will usually leave these boats with a dinner plan.

St. Thomas carries a solo-traveler safety score of 6.2/10 (see the TTDI Solo-Safety Index), and we think that number is fair. The U.S. Virgin Islands have one of the highest per-capita homicide rates under the U.S. flag, though most of it happens between residents in neighborhoods like Savan and Bovoni, which visitors rarely have reason to enter. Main Street in Charlotte Amalie feels busy and safe at noon with three ships in port, but after about 6pm the shutters come down and the side alleys go quiet. Take a taxi from Frenchtown rather than walking back to a downtown room. Coki Beach is the one beach where we hear repeated reports of bags lifted off the sand and pushy chair touts, so carry nothing you cannot swim with. Women travelling alone tend to report frequent calls of 'hey sweetness' downtown, and a clear 'good afternoon' followed by walking on usually ends it, because greetings carry real weight in Virgin Islands manners.

Solo travelers get the short end of St. Thomas taxi pricing: fares are charged per person, with a lower rate for each extra rider, which means one passenger pays the highest price on the sheet. Airport to Red Hook tends to run near $25 to $30 alone, plus luggage charges. The open-air safari trucks are the fix. They run Route 30 between Charlotte Amalie and Red Hook for a couple of dollars, the vinyl benches get hot at midday, and you press a buzzer to stop. They thin out in the evening, so plan the ride home before 7pm or budget for a cab. St. Thomas drives on the left on hairpin hills with few streetlights, and we would not attempt Crown Mountain Road alone after dark.

Hotels in St. Thomas price by the room, so a single-occupancy night at Sapphire Beach or Bolongo Bay costs the same as a double. Our better-value pick is a studio condo at Secret Harbour or Sapphire Beach Resort and Marina, with a kitchenette, from a short-term rental listing. Trip.com's single-occupancy filter is also worth checking for small downtown inns. Dinner is less awkward than it looks: bar seats at the Frenchtown waterfront restaurants rarely need a booking, and the grill at the Red Hook dock bars serves until late. For a solo morning, the St. Thomas Synagogue on Crystal Gade still has its sand floor, laid when the building went up in 1833. Fort Christian, painted red and sitting at the foot of the harbor, opens most weekdays.