Where should I stay in St. Thomas?

Red Hook sits at St. Thomas's east end, about 30 minutes from Cyril E. King Airport along Route 30. The neighborhood clusters around American Yacht Harbor, where charter boats and the St. John ferry share the same dock. You'll catch the smell of grilled fish drifting off the waterfront patios by 5pm most evenings. Duffy's Love Shack, 2 minutes uphill, is loud and pours $12 rum punches, but locals tend to eat at Latitude 18 or Caribbean Fish Market for a proper sit-down meal. Condo rentals near the harbor run $180-280 per night for a one-bedroom with a kitchen. At $7 a dozen for eggs on the island, that kitchen earns its keep, and cooking breakfast saves roughly $25 a day per person. The Red Hook ferry to Cruz Bay on St. John runs every hour from 6:30am, so a day trip to Trunk Bay or the Catherineberg Sugar Mill Ruins needs no planning beyond the $7 one-way fare.

Charlotte Amalie works as a base if you want the island's historical center on your doorstep. Danish-era buildings climb steep hills from the harbor, and the 99 Steps, a stone staircase from the 1700s, connects the lower town to Government Hill and Blackbeard's Castle, a National Historic Landmark. The Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, dating to 1806, sits a 2-minute walk east. Hotels near the Havensight cruise dock charge $150-250 per night. On port days, 3 or 4 ships drop 8,000 to 12,000 passengers into a downtown corridor roughly 6 blocks wide, and by 10am Main Street and Dronningens Gade are shoulder-to-shoulder. After the ships leave around 5pm, the waterfront goes quiet enough to hear mooring lines creak against the pilings. Book on Denmark Hill above the harbor for the breeze and a shorter walk to the cathedral.

The East End, from Sapphire Beach to Secret Harbour, is where the resort properties sit. Rates at the top tier start around $400 per night and climb past $700 from December through April. Point Pleasant Resort, above Water Bay, runs $220-350 and gives you a kitchenette with a balcony looking through sea grape trees to the bay. St. Thomas scores 8.2 out of 10 on family friendliness (see the TTDI Family-Friendliness Index), and the East End is the reason. Coki Beach, 10 minutes from most East End hotels, has reef fish visible in waist-deep water, which keeps younger kids occupied for hours. The sand at Coki is coarse. The water stays warm enough in September that you won't bother toweling off for the first 20 minutes, and vendors along the parking lot sell $5 beers and $3 johnny cakes from folding tables. The East End puts you 25-35 minutes from Charlotte Amalie's restaurants and historical sights by car.

Frenchtown, west of Charlotte Amalie, was settled by families from St. Barthélemy in the 1800s and still holds the island's strongest dinner district. Oceana sits on the waterfront, where tarpon circle under the dock lights while you eat grilled lobster for around $45. Few hotels operate in Frenchtown itself, so most visitors who eat here stay in Charlotte Amalie, a 5-minute drive east. St. Thomas drives on the left, a holdover from Danish rule, and rental cars cost $55-85 per day. The roads are steep and narrow, with blind curves on the north side. Safari buses, the open-air public transit, run Route 30 for $1 per ride, but service drops after 7pm. The island scores 6.2 out of 10 for solo-traveler safety (see the TTDI Solo-Safety Index), so stick to well-lit waterfront areas after dark and avoid the Back Street corridor in Charlotte Amalie past sunset.