What's a good 3-day itinerary for St. Thomas?

Day 1 stays in Charlotte Amalie, the only part of St. Thomas where you can walk between stops without a car. Start at Fort Christian by 8:30 AM, the oldest standing structure in the USVI. The thick coral walls keep the ground-floor museum cool, a relief at 28°C outside. Walk the 99 Steps up Government Hill by 10 AM, 103 steps if you count them, while the morning air still carries some weight before the midday heat flattens everything. Blackbeard's Castle sits at the top with views north to the British Virgin Islands. Come back down through the alleys near Dronningens Gade. Lunch at Gladys' Cafe on Royal Dane Mall by noon, where the curried chicken with johnnycakes runs about $16. Walk west along Veterans Drive to Frenchtown, about 1.5 km, where St. Anne Chapel (1921) sits above the fishing boats. Dinner at Oceana on the Frenchtown waterfront. The grilled mahi is about $28, and the harbor turns copper at sunset.

Day 2 moves to the East End. You'll need a car or a $15-per-person taxi from Charlotte Amalie. Drive north to Coki Beach by 9 AM, a 20-minute trip, before the cruise ship crowds arrive around 11. The snorkeling starts 10 metres from shore, and you'll likely spot sea turtles at the reef edge. Water temperature sits around 28°C in September. Coral World Ocean Park is next door, $23 admission, worth about 90 minutes for the undersea observatory that drops you 5 metres below the surface. Drive 15 minutes east to Red Hook for lunch at Fish Tails by 1 PM. The fish tacos run about $15, and the waterfront deck catches the trade winds off Pillsbury Sound. Red Hook is also the ferry terminal for St. John, a 20-minute crossing at $14 round trip, but that deserves its own day. Spend the afternoon at Secret Harbour, 5 minutes back west, where the sand is coarser but the water is calmer and the crowd thins by 3 PM. Dinner at the Old Stone Farmhouse near Mahogany Run at 7 PM, a 1750s plantation house where stone walls a foot thick keep it cool. The filet runs about $42.

Day 3 starts on the North Side and drifts back through Frenchtown. Magens Bay charges $5 at the gate. Arrive by 8:30 AM, when the bay is still glassy and the parking lot sits half-empty. The sand runs about 750 metres between two forested headlands, though the bottom turns rocky past the halfway mark. By 11 AM, drive up to Mountain Top, 480 metres above sea level, for the banana daiquiri that's been the signature pour since the 1960s. On a clear day, the view south reaches as far as St. Croix, 64 km away. Drake's Seat is a 2-minute drive from Mountain Top, where Sir Francis Drake supposedly watched for Spanish galleons, though that's more local mythology than documented history. Head back down to Frenchtown for a late lunch at the Caribbean Fish Market by 2 PM. The coconut shrimp is $18, and the patio smells like grilled lime and charcoal.

St. Thomas drives on the left, but most rental cars have left-hand steering too, which feels strange for about 20 minutes. Budget $90-120 per day from the Cyril E. King Airport rental counters. Taxis run flat-rate, unmetered, typically $10-15 per person between most stops. The island measures 21 km tip to tip, so nothing is far, but the roads are steep, narrow, and poorly signed after dark. September is hurricane season. Humidity holds near 85%, and afternoon squalls roll through most days around 3 PM, lasting 15-20 minutes before the sun returns. No passport is needed for U.S. citizens, and the currency is the U.S. dollar.