British Virgin Islands

The British Virgin Islands are a UK overseas territory of about sixty islands, using the US dollar. They are among the best known sailing grounds in the world: the Sir Francis Drake Channel gives sheltered line-of-sight passages between islands, which is why so much of the region's charter fleet is based at Tortola.

Known for The Baths, bareboat chartering, Sir Francis Drake Channel, Jost Van Dyke and US dollar.

Highlights

  • The Baths, Virgin Gorda: Granite boulders the size of houses piled along the shore, forming tidal grottoes and passages between the beach at Devil's Bay.
  • Sage Mountain National Park, Tortola: The territory's highest ground at 523 metres, holding a remnant of the forest that covered these islands before the plantations.

Places in British Virgin Islands

Getting around

The British Virgin Islands are joined by ferry. Scheduled boats link Road Town on Tortola with Spanish Town on Virgin Gorda, West End with Great Harbour on Jost Van Dyke, and Tortola with Anegada by way of Virgin Gorda, run by operators including Speedy's, Smith's Ferry Service, Road Town Fast Ferry and New Horizon. Road Town's jetty handles the local boats, and the Ports Authority terminal at Soper's Hole in West End takes most of the traffic to and from the US Virgin Islands. Taxi and livery fares are set and monitored by the Taxi and Livery Commission.