Experience the best of Cruz Bay

Cruz Bay sits on the west coast of St John, the smallest of the three main US Virgin Islands, with pastel buildings, shops and bars around a small harbour. Ferries link it to Red Hook on St Thomas, and the town is the gateway to Virgin Islands National Park, which covers more than half of the island. The Danish West Indies, as the islands were once called, were sold to the United States in 1917, and Danish-built walls and sugar-mill ruins survive.

Trunk Bay, with an underwater snorkelling trail, Cinnamon Bay and Maho Bay, where sea turtles feed in the seagrass, are among the park's beaches, and trails lead through dry forest to the petroglyphs of Reef Bay. The Annaberg ruins on the north shore show a Danish sugar plantation with its mill and boiling house. Hawksnest and Salt Pond Bay are other swimming spots, and Coral Bay in the east has a quieter village.

Johnnycakes, fresh fish with rice, conch and rum drinks are served in the harbour bars. Rainfall is lightest from December to April, the summer is hotter and wetter, and the sea is warm all year. The island's carnival ends on the Fourth of July with a parade.