British Virgin Islands Cruise Half-Day Tour
Taking the Holland America Caribbean cruise docking at 📍Road Town, British Virgin Islands 🇻🇬 (Photo ④). The pier can accommodate two cruise ships, but it seems our ship booked late and had no berth available, so we had to use a shuttle boat to get ashore, which was inconvenient and time-consuming.
The most popular activity in the British Virgin Islands is island hopping. It is said that the beaches and snorkeling around many small islands nearby are great, such as Devil’s Bay on Virgin Gorda. But since we didn’t want to sunbathe or swim, we chose
💜 a (half) island shore tour + walking tour of the town.
🚐 Group tour or private car?
Private car is not highly recommended (reasons explained in the comments), group tours are more worry-free (except for the convertible trucks which have no air conditioning, others are fine, plus the seats are higher and offer better views on the road).
💵 Group tour and taxi prices (Photos ⑰⑱)
2 hours for $25, 3 hours for $30 (same route, just one extra hour at the beach).
🔁 Route stops (for reference)
🔸 Scenic viewpoint on Ridge Road (Atlantic side, Photos ⑤⑥)
🔸 Mural wall (slow down but no stop, Photo ⑦)
🔸 En route (Photo ②, no stop, best angle overlooking Road Town and the pier)
🔸 Another viewpoint (similar angle to the previous but with some view obstruction)
🔸 Stoutt’s Lookout viewpoint (view partially blocked, Photo ⑧)
🔸 Callwood Rum Distillery (Photo ⑨, tasting $1 for 5 types, purchase $13/200ml)
🔸 Cane Garden Bay (Photo ⑩)
🔸 Tortola colorful landmark sign (Photo ⑪, not all vehicles stop here; if this is the last stop, it’s recommended to leave the group here, visit the nearby museum and town, then walk back to the pier)
⚠️ None of the fixed routes go to the highest peak, Sage Mountain. If you really want to go, you must arrange a private car or a targeted taxi (but according to our driver, the lookout view is similar and trees might block some views, though this is uncertain).
🚶🏻♀️ Walking tour of the town
🔸 Tortola colorful landmark sign (Photo ⑪)
🔸 Old Government House (Photos ⑫⑬)
Open Monday to Friday 9 AM - 3 PM; admission $5
🔸 Sir Olva Georges Plaza (Photo ⑭)
🔸 Main Street (Photo ⑮)
🔸 H.M. Prison (Photo ⑯)
Admission $5 (not really worth entering)
❤️ For more Caribbean island guides, follow the homepage album.
❌ Reasons not to recommend private car
There is very little detailed information online about this island, so you can only find resources after disembarking. The staff at the pier who solicit customers are impatient and give very perfunctory answers, unwilling to explain specific stops in detail, seeming indifferent (probably because they operate under unified management, drivers queue and share customers, so they are not very proactive; unlike some piers where private operators are more active and enthusiastic).
Seeing this, we decided to try private car (since there were four other passengers on the ship, the number was just right, and we could arrange stops more freely). The listed price was $195 for 2 hours, and after negotiating with the soliciting staff, it was $180. They told us to wait in the parking lot, saying the driver would take us once agreeing to the price.
However, once on the car, the driver complained that the agent shouldn’t have agreed to that price and insisted on her own route. After some communication, we confirmed her route was acceptable (the usual 2-hour route), but in the end, neither side was happy: the driver felt the agent underpriced her (only $15 difference, and if everyone had fun, a little extra tip wouldn’t hurt), and she felt passengers didn’t listen to her explanations and only took photos, disrespecting her work (though I explained the language barrier made it impossible for us to fully grasp all info, and I tried to translate important parts); we passengers felt restricted and couldn’t stop where we wanted (some good viewpoints were on the road, and the driver said it was hard to stop, but there were actually small parking spots available). She talked a lot, but most of it was unnecessary (like which building was a beauty salon or which hotel belonged to which group on the island, which we really didn’t care about).
So apart from air conditioning, private car brought no advantages. Of course, if you find a more suitable driver, it might be much better.