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Museums and attractions

Island life

Museums, historic houses, gardens and island landmarks tell the story of the islands, from the Danish colonial era to the present, and they are a good way to get to know a place you are thinking of moving to. Opening days often follow the cruise ship schedule or the winter season, and several are run by small nonprofits with limited hours, so check before you go. Each listing gives hours and admission as the place states them, with the date we last verified it.

Every museum, historic house, garden and attraction open to visitors that we could verify, checked in October 2026.

St. Thomas

Sailboats anchored in Long Bay below the hillside homes of Charlotte AmalieArea photo

3 Queens Distillery

Last verified October 29, 2026

Long Bay, Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. Photo: Prayitno, CC BY 2.0

4.8 on Google

3 Queens Distillery is a small working distillery on Back Street, at 13 Wimmelskafts Gade in Old Town Charlotte Amalie, just off Main Street.

Wooded Hassel Island across the turquoise water of St. Thomas Harbor, with a red boat at the waterfront belowArea photo

99 Steps

Last verified October 31, 2026

St. Thomas Harbor, Charlotte Amalie. Photo: Smallbones, CC0

The 99 Steps, officially the street Store Taarne Gade, is the best known of Charlotte Amalie's step streets, stairways of stone brick built in the 1700s to climb the town's steep hills.

Pale yellow, red-roofed Legislature Building of the Virgin Islands on the Charlotte Amalie waterfront, seen across the harbor waterArea photo

Blackbeard's Castle

Last verified October 31, 2026

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. Photo: Андрей Бобровский, CC BY 3.0

Blackbeard's Castle is a privately run hilltop attraction and boutique hotel above Charlotte Amalie, built around Skytsborg, a watchtower the Danes put up in 1679 to guard the harbor and Fort Christian.

White geodesic dome of Coral World's Undersea Observatory Tower standing in the sea off Coki Point, joined to the shore by a footbridge

Coral World Ocean Park

Last verified October 29, 2026

Photo: Gruepig, CC BY-SA 4.0

4.4 on Google

Coral World Ocean Park is a marine park at Coki Point on St. Thomas that runs guided in-water programs alongside its exhibits.

Sand and pebble shore of Mandahl Bay Beach on the north side of St. Thomas, with a rock breakwater and a green hillsideArea photo

Drake's Seat

Last verified October 31, 2026

Mandahl Bay, St. Thomas. Photo: Gruepig, CC BY-SA 4.0

Drake's Seat is a hilltop lookout above Magens Bay on the north side of St. Thomas, named for the legend that Sir Francis Drake watched for Spanish ships from this spot.

Fort Christian

Last verified October 31, 2026

Fort Christian, on the Charlotte Amalie waterfront, was completed in 1680 and is the oldest standing structure in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

A curved concrete World War II gun emplacement at Fort Segarra on Water Island, surrounded by grass and scrub

Fort Segarra

Last verified October 31, 2026

Photo: Gruepig, CC BY-SA 4.0

Fort Segarra is an unfinished World War II coastal defense complex on the southern part of Water Island, begun after the U.S. government acquired the island in 1944 to guard the entrance to St. Thomas Harbor.

A glittering model of the Eiffel Tower with a French flag in front of the yellow French Heritage Museum in Frenchtown

French Heritage Museum

Last verified October 31, 2026

Photo: Gruepig, CC BY-SA 4.0

The French Heritage Museum in Frenchtown tells the story of the French families who came to St. Thomas from St. Barthelemy in the 1800s; the fishermen among them settled the village then called Carenage.

Sand and pebble shore of Mandahl Bay Beach on the north side of St. Thomas, with a rock breakwater and a green hillsideArea photo

Mountain Top

Last verified October 31, 2026

Mandahl Bay, St. Thomas. Photo: Gruepig, CC BY-SA 4.0

Mountain Top is a lookout, bar and large duty-free gift shop on St. Peter Mountain on the north side of St. Thomas, which the business says has welcomed visitors for more than 50 years.

Hull Bay on the north side of St. Thomas seen from the hills, with boats in the turquoise bay, homes on a point and an island offshoreArea photo

Phantasea Tropical Botanical Garden

Last verified October 31, 2026

Hull Bay, St. Thomas. Photo: Gruepig, CC BY-SA 4.0

Phantasea Tropical Botanical Garden is a privately owned garden in Estate Lerkenlund, on Bishop Drive (Route 338), which opened to the public in 2015 after more than 20 years of planting by owner Patsy…

Wooded Hassel Island across the turquoise water of St. Thomas Harbor, with a red boat at the waterfront belowArea photo

Pirates Treasure Museum

Last verified October 31, 2026

St. Thomas Harbor, Charlotte Amalie. Photo: Smallbones, CC0

Pirates Treasure Museum is a private, two-story shipwreck and pirate museum at 17-1 Estate Thomas in Charlotte Amalie.

Pale yellow, red-roofed Legislature Building of the Virgin Islands on the Charlotte Amalie waterfront, seen across the harbor waterArea photo

Skyride to Paradise Point

Last verified October 31, 2026

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. Photo: Андрей Бобровский, CC BY 3.0

The Skyride to Paradise Point is an aerial tram in Havensight that carries visitors to a lookout 700 feet above St. Thomas Harbor and Charlotte Amalie; on clear days the view reaches St. Croix, Vieques and…

Sailboats anchored in Long Bay below the hillside homes of Charlotte AmalieArea photo

St. Thomas Historical Trust

Last verified October 29, 2026

Long Bay, Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. Photo: Prayitno, CC BY 2.0

4.4 on Google

The St. Thomas Historical Trust is a nonprofit with a museum and office on Raadets Gade in Charlotte Amalie that runs guided history tours.

Wooded Hassel Island across the turquoise water of St. Thomas Harbor, with a red boat at the waterfront belowArea photo

St. Thomas Synagogue

Last verified October 31, 2026

St. Thomas Harbor, Charlotte Amalie. Photo: Smallbones, CC0

The St. Thomas Synagogue is the home of the Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas and, by the congregation's account, the oldest synagogue building in continuous use under the American flag and the second oldest…

St. Croix

Arched sidewalk galleries along a street of colorful historic buildings in ChristianstedArea photo

Apothecary Hall Museum

Last verified October 31, 2026

Christiansted, St. Croix. Photo: Prayitno, CC BY 2.0

Apothecary Hall Museum is a restored 19th-century Danish pharmacy at the corner of Company and Queen Cross streets in Christiansted, run by the St. Croix Landmarks Society.

The Frederiksted cruise pier leading to the town waterfront, with the red walls of Fort Frederik, the clock tower and green hills behindArea photo

Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts

Last verified October 31, 2026

Frederiksted, St. Croix. Photo: Prayitno, CC BY 2.0

The Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts (CMCArts) is a nonprofit art museum and arts center on the waterfront at 10 Strand Street in Frederiksted, with a second location in Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas.

Yellow walls of Fort Christiansvaern with green shutters, a red sentry box and the U.S. flag flying above the fort in Christiansted

Christiansted National Historic Site

Last verified October 28, 2026

Photo: CaptJayRuffins, CC BY-SA 4.0

Christiansted National Historic Site preserves Danish colonial buildings on the Christiansted waterfront, including Fort Christiansvaern, the Danish Customs House, the Scale House, the Danish West India and…

Stone ruins of the Rust Op Twist sugar mill on a grassy hillside under a blue skyArea photo

Creque Dam

Last verified October 31, 2026

Cane Bay, St. Croix. Photo: CaptJayRuffins, CC BY-SA 4.0

Creque Dam is a 45-foot arch dam in the rainforest on St. Croix's West End, on Creque Dam Road (Route 58). It was built in 1926 to give Frederiksted a reliable water supply and was designed to hold up to 9…

Stone sugar mill ruin at the Cruzan Rum Distillery, ringed by palm trees and flagpoles flying national flags, with a white distillery building at left

Cruzan Rum Distillery

Last verified October 29, 2026

Photo: Lars Schmidt, CC BY-SA 3.0

4.8 on Google

The Cruzan Rum Distillery on St. Croix offers tours of its working distillery, at an Estate Diamond address with a Frederiksted mailing address.

Historic buildings with shuttered windows on a quiet street in downtown ChristianstedArea photo

Estate Whim Museum

Last verified October 31, 2026

Christiansted, St. Croix. Photo: Prayitno, CC BY 2.0

Estate Whim Museum is a former sugar plantation on Centerline Road on St. Croix's West End, run by the St. Croix Landmarks Society, which has managed its 12 acres since 1954.

The red walls of Fort Frederik on the Frederiksted waterfront, with green hills rising behind the town

Fort Frederik

Last verified October 31, 2026

Photo: Matt H. Wade, CC BY-SA 3.0

Fort Frederik is the Danish fort at the north end of the Frederiksted waterfront, built from 1752 to 1760 to guard the harbor.

The Frederiksted cruise pier leading to the town waterfront, with the red walls of Fort Frederik, the clock tower and green hills behind

Frederiksted Pier

Last verified October 31, 2026

Photo: Prayitno, CC BY 2.0

The Frederiksted Pier, officially the Ann E. Abramson Marine Facility, is St. Croix's only cruise ship port, owned and run by the Virgin Islands Port Authority (VIPA) on the Frederiksted waterfront.

Waves breaking over the reef in Boiler Bay below the scrubby slopes of Point Udall, with the East End shoreline curving away and Buck Island on the horizonArea photo

Lawaetz Museum

Last verified October 31, 2026

Point Udall, East End, St. Croix. Photo: Dartrider, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Lawaetz Museum (also called the Lawaetz Family Museum) is the estate house of Little La Grange, near Frederiksted.

A red-roofed historic building with an arched ground-floor arcade in FrederikstedArea photo

Mt. Pellier Domino Club

Last verified October 31, 2026

Frederiksted, St. Croix. Photo: Prayitno, CC BY 2.0

The Mt. Pellier Domino Club, also called Norma's, is an open-air bar in the rainforest of St. Croix's West End, just off Route 76.

The Frederiksted cruise pier leading to the town waterfront, with the red walls of Fort Frederik, the clock tower and green hills behindArea photo

Prosperity Farm Distillery

Last verified October 31, 2026

Frederiksted, St. Croix. Photo: Prayitno, CC BY 2.0

Prosperity Farm Distillery, opened in June 2025, makes spirits from sugar cane grown on Estate Prosperity, on St. Croix's West End across the road from Rainbow Beach in Frederiksted.

Rooftops of Christiansted and its harbor seen from Recovery Hill, with the reef and open sea beyondArea photo

St. George Village Botanical Garden

Last verified October 31, 2026

Christiansted, St. Croix. Photo: Jason P. Heym, CC BY-SA 3.0

St. George Village Botanical Garden covers 16 acres of Estate St. George, where more than 1,000 Caribbean and tropical plants and trees grow among the ruins and reused buildings of a Danish colonial sugar…

Arched sidewalk galleries along a street of colorful historic buildings in ChristianstedArea photo

The Grange Estate

Last verified October 31, 2026

Christiansted, St. Croix. Photo: Prayitno, CC BY 2.0

The Grange is a historic estate and former sugar plantation in central St. Croix with ties to Alexander Hamilton's family.

St. John

Annaberg Sugar Plantation

Last verified October 31, 2026

Annaberg Sugar Plantation, in Virgin Islands National Park, preserves a Danish colonial estate above Leinster Bay that was one of St. John's biggest sugar producers by the early 1800s, also making molasses and…

Sailboats moored in Cruz Bay below red-roofed buildings on the hillside of St. JohnArea photo

Elaine Ione Sprauve Library

Last verified October 31, 2026

Cruz Bay, St. John. Photo: Prayitno, CC BY 2.0

The Elaine Ione Sprauve Library is St. John's public library, in Cruz Bay, run by the Division of Libraries, Archives and Museums of the Department of Planning and Natural Resources.

The inner harbor of Coral Bay with moored boats, seen between steep forested hills dotted with houses on St. JohnArea photo

Emmaus Moravian Church

Last verified October 31, 2026

Coral Bay, St. John. Photo: Amaury Laporte, CC BY 2.0

Emmaus Moravian Church stands on a hillside in Coral Bay, and with its manse it has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1977.

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