So you’ve arrived in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands on your dream holiday. White sandy beaches, coconut palms and blue skies await you… But now what?

As much as you’d like to spend every day on the beach, the little ones will get restless. It’s also good to see some more of the island, isn’t it? Pick up a vibe for the rhythm of local Caribbean culture.

We spent an amazing week on St. Thomas with our toddler and a baby. We’re not beach people and we weren’t bored at all. There are so many fantastic St Thomas excursions with kids that you can do. Whether you have babies, toddlers or teenagers.

We found so many friendly-family things to do near St. Thomas. Our favourite St. Thomas excursions with kids included road-trips with the kids, visiting an amazing Aquarium, pretending to be pirates, an educational day out at the Children’s Museum and of course, a few boat trips. 

Water Island, St John Island and the British Virgin Island of Tortola are all easily accessible from St Thomas. All of these excursions can be completed in a day or less even if you’re travelling slowly with young children.

We visited St. Thomas with a toddler and 15-month-old baby. Although we visited in peak season, we found travelling around St Thomas with a toddler and a baby to be easy and stress-free. We didn’t travel as part of a tour or on a cruise. Independent travel is more our sort of thing. But if you’re in town on a cruise boat stop, you’ll find many of these excursions are easily do-able in half a day.

FAMILY TRAVEL TIP: You’ll probably want to pack a sling/ baby carrier for hopping easily on and off ferries. A stroller is a must if you want to wander around the streets of Charlotte Amalie, the main city with a little one. If you want to drive around the island or hire a car to visit neighbouring St. John Island then you’ll need to bring child car seats.

Here are our favourite fun, family-friendly and easy St Thomas excursions with kids

Explore Charlotte Amalie by foot

Although Main Street in Charlotte Amalie is known for its architecture and shops, it’s not a great place to visit with young children. If a cruise ship is in town, downtown becomes extremely busy. Most of the shops specialise in gems and jewellery.

For something more family-friendly head along to Emancipation Gardens. This lovely patch of tranquillity is bordered by the historic Danish-Norwegian built Fort Christian at one end. There’s a lovely little cafe on the corner of Tolbod Pladsen and Forte Strade. Try one of their yummy hazelnut coffees whilst the children have a run around in the garden and clamber over the quaint, iron-cast bandstand. A little further down you can find a children’s playground although be warned it was quite run-down when we visited.

During afternoon nap time with the toddler asleep in the stroller and the baby asleep in a sling, Rhino and I enjoyed exploring the back streets of Charlotte Amalie. Meandering through quiet residential streets will give you a flavour of true Caribbean life. We walked uphill and visited St Thomas Jewish Synagogue. A short visit here will give you an interesting glimpse into the diversity of the USVI population. There is a small gift shop attached.

We also enjoyed a stroll around Frenchtown and popped into the French Heritage Museum. It’s a fascinating local museum crammed with artefacts detailing the lives of French settlers. It wasn’t the easiest place to visit though with little fingers wanting to touch everything!

If you don’t mind the traffic fumes, it’s also really nice to wander along the waterfront highway. Here you can take in some of the hundreds of yachts, sailboats and cruise boats that regularly dock in St Thomas as they sail into port.  Having just visited the peaceful and laid-back British Virgin Islands, the waterfront really brought home that we were now in the USA with the big SUVs thundering along.

Learn about pirates at Blackbeard’s Castle

Right at the top of the hill overshadowing Charlotte Amalie is the 17th century Blackbeard ‘s Castle built by the Danish. It looks like a simple stone turret but once this tower was once a key part of a strategic, regional fort. Children will love the idea that this is where pirates once stood and watched out over the oceans.

Blackbeard’s Castle is a great St Thomas excursion because of the rewarding 360 degree views over the island of St Thomas. The views are best from the top of the tower, of course! It is a very steep climb up the hill to the castle something to bear in mind if you’re pushing it a buggy. If the children are old enough, climb the 99 steps instead.

The best part about visiting Blackbeard’s Castle for us was the wonderful little Pirate Museum. Here you can learn all about the pirates sailed around the set Caribbean and what’s more you can learn about fierce and fearless female pirates. You will need to check it’s open before you visit as quite often the castle is closed unless large cruise ships are in town.

Catch a ferry to the small but beautiful Water Island

Water Island is a great excursion from St. Thomas with kids. If you’re coming in on a cruise ship, it’s ideal as ferries leave from very close to the cruise ship dock. The ferry over to Water Island only takes 10 minutes but in peak season there may be queues.

On the island, you can hike uphill to the remains of Fort Segarra. It’s not a difficult walk and we managed to easily with a baby and a toddler in a stroller. Some tourists hire golf buggies to get around.  The most popular beach is the Honeymoon Beach. This is a fantastic white-sand beach to spend the day with the kids. There is a beach bar at each end and all the amenities that you could need. It does get very busy when the cruise ships come in so if you want some peace in the sun perhaps keep an eye on the cruise ship schedules.

Explore history and wildlife on St. John Island

Neighbouring St John Island is a must-see destination in the US Virgin Islands. It’s home to the Virgin Islands National Park as well as some amazing beaches. We hired a car in Charlotte Amalie and took the car ferry across to St John Island from St Thomas. It’s a very easy excursion to do with small children and there are lots of things to do with kids in St John.

We found a great little family-friendly cafe, Miss Lucy’s, to eat lunch whilst overlooking the ocean. Right on the shore, the children played on the pebble beach as we ate a delicious lunch of Caribbean favourites. After we drove around the island exploring the beaches. Trunk Bay and Honeymoon Beach are two of the most beautiful white sand beaches on the entire island and well worth the drive.

If you are an adventurous family who enjoy hiking then an excursion to St John island is a must. There are so many trails that you can explore throughout the Virgin Island National Park. Ask at the visitor centre to discover the hike that is the right length and difficulty for your family.

Whilst we were visiting St John for the day, we visited Annaberg Sugar Plantation. Here simple stone ruins and informative signs commemorate an old sugar plantation where hundreds of Africans were enslaved and made to work in appalling conditions. The plantation includes the remains of a windmill tower and a sugar processing factory. Our children were far too young at the time to realise the historical significance of where we were but for Rhino and it was a sombre but important place to learn about the dark side of Caribbean history. You can walk through the tropical rainforest down to the remains of Reef Bay Sugar Plantation.

Spend an educational afternoon at the Children’s Museum

The wonderful The Virgin Island’s Children’s Museum in Charlotte Amalie is an absolute gem. If you are travelling with young children aged 3 to 10 you should not miss it.  It’s a really well-designed museum full of educational interactive activities for young children. There are lots of fun science experiments and learning posts.  To be honest, our two-year-old loved it so much that we went back twice. There’s an indoor play area so it’s a great place to go if the weather isn’t looking too good. Alternatively, if it’s just too hot, an afternoon at the children’s museum will offer a lovely air-conditioned respite from the heat.

When we visited the Children’s Museum was housed in a beautiful old building in the centre of the city. Following storm damage caused by Hurricane Maria, it now has a new location at Buccaneer Mall, Havensight, across from the WICO Dock. Recent reviews on TripAdvisor show that it is still a fun and hands-on experience where children will be entertained for hours. The museum is open every day except Monday and there is a small entrance fee.

Meet extraordinary sea creatures at Coral World Ocean Park

Coral World Ocean Park on the island of St Thomas is an amazing place to visit with young children. There are so many things to do in this open-air aquarium. There are colourful and informative exhibits on Caribbean reefs and even an underwater observatory tower.

Not only can you explore the numerous educational exhibitions on sealife but there are also lots of interactive activities that you can participate in. You can pay extra to have an encounter with most of the animals in the Sea Life Centre including turtles and sea lions. See their website for more details.  Throughout the day, there are also lots of free interactive talks and “meet the animals” sessions. We loved meeting a mammoth sea lion. H was especially impressed even though the sea lion towered over him!

Chill out at a family-friendly beach bar

You can’t leave the US Virgin Islands without visiting at least some of the brilliant beach bars dotted around the coast. Whether or not you’re drinking, the beach bars offer a great place to visit with young children as they provide amenities with delicious food and a lot of shade. It was great to while away the hours whilst our children played with their bucket and spade in the sand as Rhino and I chilled with some ice cold beers planning our next stop.

Beach bars a great place to hang out during the day – just minutes from the beach with ice cold beverages always available. If your children don’t go to bed till later they are amazing places to enjoy the best of island life with live music, great atmosphere and delicious food well into the night.

Sail to the British Virgin Islands

If you’re really looking to explore life in the Caribbean then why limit yourself to the US Virgin Islands? A quick day-trip to Road Town the main city on the British Virgin Islands is a mere 50 minutes away. Compared to the US Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands have a much slower pace of life. The ferry ride from Charlotte Amalie will take you straight into the heart of sleepy Road Town.

Read our full and detailed guide to Tortola with a Toddler: Affordable Fun and Sun in the British Virgin Islands here.

We loved exploring Road Town with young children. It’s a very peaceful but interesting colonial town. You can meander along the back streets to explore the historic buildings and gorge on a plate of fish and chips at a traditional British pub. If you really want to make the most of your excursion to Tortola perhaps hire a car for half a day and drive around the island exploring the beaches.

Travelling to St. Thomas with kids

St. Thomas is the gateway to the US Virgin Islands. Many airlines fly directly from the United States to St. Thomas. Many others fly from neighbouring Caribbean Islands including Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands. There are also numerous ferry connections from other islands. Make sure that you check out the different ferry companies to find the schedule and prices that suit you. If you fancy an adventure, you can also fly by seaplane!

Intrigued by the idea of a family-friendly holiday in the Caribbean? Find out how we independently travelled around Jamaica with toddlers and how we saved lots of money house-swapping.

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We loved exploring St Thomas and beyond with our young family. If you have any other suggestions for great excursions that you can do in or around St Thomas with kids please leave details of them in the comments.  Thank you for being part of the World for a Girl community.