By Plane

If you’re flying to St. Thomas, you will land at the Cyril E. King Airport (tel 340/774-5100; http://saint-thomas-airport.com; airport code STT), 3 miles (about a 15-min. drive) to the west of the central business district in Charlotte Amalie on Route 30. From here, you can easily grab a taxi to your hotel or villa. Chances are you will be staying east of Charlotte Amalie, so keep in mind that getting through town often involves long delays and traffic jams during rush hours.

Many people flying in from mainland cities in North America and from overseas connect through Miami or San Juan. Flight time from Miami is about 2[bf]1/2 hours. Flight time from San Juan to St. Thomas is approximately 30 minutes. Flight time between St. Thomas and St. Croix is only 20 minutes.

Direct flights to the U.S. Virgin Islands are available on American Airlines (tel 800/433-7300 in the U.S.; www.aa.com) from New York City, Boston, Miami, and San Juan. Flights from NYC take 3[bf]3/4 hours. Continental Airlines (tel 800/231-0856 in the U.S.; www.continental.com) has daily flights from Newark International Airport, in New Jersey, to St. Thomas. Delta (tel 800/241-4141 in the U.S.; www.delta.com) offers two daily nonstop flights between Atlanta and St. Thomas. US Airways (tel 800/428-4322 in the U.S.; www.usairways.com) has direct flights from Philadelphia and Charlotte. JetBlue (tel 800/538-2583; www.jetblue.com) has direct flights from Boston. United Airlines (tel 800/538-2929 in the U.S.; www.united.com) has direct flights into St. Thomas from Chicago, Dulles (Washington, D.C.), and Newark. Spirit Airlines (tel 800/772-7117; www.spirit.com) has direct flights from Fort Lauderdale.

Cape Air (tel 866/227-3247 in the U.S. and U.S.V.I.; www.capeair.com) offers daily service between St. Thomas and San Juan, Puerto Rico, and has expanded its service to include flights between St. Thomas and both St. Croix and Tortola.

Seaborne Airlines (tel 866/359-8784 or 340/773-6442 in the U.S.V.I, www.seaborneairlines.com) is currently the major carrier between St. Thomas and St. Croix, offering regularly scheduled daily flights on 34-seat turboprop planes and seaplanes capable of carrying 15 to 17 passengers. Its regular planes fly between Cyril E. King airport in St. Thomas and the Henry E. Rahlsen airport in St. Croix. Seaborne seaplanes fly between the St. Thomas seaplane base (next to the Charlotte Amalie ferry terminal) and the St. Croix seaplane seaport in the Christiansted waterfront. Flight time between St. Thomas and St. Croix is 20 to 25 minutes. Seaborne also flies between St. Thomas and Beef Island, Tortola.

By Cruise Ship

Charlotte Amalie is one of the world’s busiest cruise ports and the Caribbean’s largest duty-free port, welcoming nearly 1,800,000 cruise passengers in 2012 (2013 was unavailable as we went to press). Most of the major cruise lines include regular stops in St. Thomas on their Caribbean itineraries, including the biggest cruise ships in the world, floating “cities at sea” capable of holding up to 6,000 passengers at a time.

Cruise ships dock at one of two major piers, each with room for two mega-ships at a time: Havensight Pier and Crown Bay. In addition, during the cruising high season, it’s not unusual to have an additional one, two, even three ships anchored just outside the harbor, delivering cruise-ship passengers to shore in tenders. At press time an expansion was in the works for the Crown Bay pier.

By Boat

Ferry service from Puerto Rico to St. Thomas, with a stop in St. John, is available only during Carnival. Trip time between Fajardo and Charlotte Amalie (St. Thomas) is about 1[bf]3/4 hours, with the departure Saturday morning and the return Sunday afternoon. The cost is $100 one-way, $125 round-trip. For more information, call Transportation Services at tel 340/776-6282.

Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.