The original off-grid St John property. Filtered-rainwater showers, solar power, hillside above Salt Pond Bay, and the kind of starlight Cruz Bay cannot deliver. The eco-cabanas are the version most travellers actually want.
The original off-grid St John property. Filtered-rainwater showers, solar power, hillside above Salt Pond Bay, and the kind of starlight Cruz Bay cannot deliver. The eco-cabanas are the version most travellers actually want.
Concordia Eco-Resort was founded in 1995 on a hillside above Salt Pond Bay on St John's southeast coast, a section of the island bordering Virgin Islands National Park land but sitting on a parcel that was preserved as private land before the park's 1956 establishment. The property was conceived by hotelier Stanley Selengut, who built Maho Bay Camps in 1976 (closed 2013) and is widely credited with launching the modern eco-resort movement in the Caribbean. Concordia was the second-generation expression of the idea, better-built, more permanent, and structurally more sophisticated than the original Maho, and remains the longest-running off-grid lodging in the USVI.
The accommodation inventory is small and deliberate: thirteen keys across two product types. Eco-Cabanas are tree-house-style structures on tall pilings, with two walls of canvas, two walls of timber, a queen bed, mini-fridge, kitchen appliances, ocean-view balcony, and the property's signature filtered-rainwater shower. Studio Villas and One- and Two-Bedroom Villas are the more enclosed category, air-conditioned bedrooms, full kitchens, fridges, ocean-view balconies, and accommodate up to four guests in the larger units. Every accommodation has an ocean view down the southeast coast, and every unit runs on solar power, rainwater catchment, and on-site grey-water filtration.
The on-site amenity programme is intentionally narrow. The Café Concordia restaurant runs breakfast and dinner; a small store handles provisions; the property's pool is the only built water feature on the hillside. The closest beach is Salt Pond Bay, a fifteen-minute walk down a National Park-maintained trail, and one of the strongest small-beach swims in the territory. Hiking from the property begins at the gate, the Ram Head Trail, Drunk Bay, and the Lameshur Bay system all run from this corner of St John. Coral Bay village (the eastern alternative to Cruz Bay, with Skinny Legs, Sweet Plantains, and the Friday-night Coral Bay Yacht Club) is ten minutes by car.
Concordia is the answer for travellers who want the most committed off-grid expression of St John. The eco-cabanas are the photographed version of the property and the version most guests should book; the villas are the slightly more enclosed alternative for travellers who want air conditioning on the harder summer nights. For wellness-leaning retreats, for solo travellers who want a property where the phone signal genuinely thins out, and for honeymoons that want a hillside above Salt Pond Bay rather than a beach club in Cruz Bay, Concordia is the strongest answer on the island's eastern half.
For wellness retreats that want the literal version of the brief, Concordia is the strongest answer in the USVI. The solar power, rainwater showers, on-site grey-water filtration, and absence of road traffic are not marketing claims; they are the operating reality of the property. The Ram Head Trail at dawn, the Salt Pond Bay swim mid-morning, and the Café Concordia dinner make a complete day without leaving the southeast coast.
Concordia is the most considered solo-retreat lodging on St John. The eco-cabana format is calibrated for one or two guests; the absence of organised programming forces an intentional pace; the trail network beginning at the gate means a different walk every morning. The Café Concordia communal-table dinner is conversational without obligation.
For honeymoons that want the hillside version of St John rather than the resort version, Concordia is the answer. Eco-Cabanas with the rainwater shower, the ocean-view balcony, and the Salt Pond Bay sunrise are the headline booking. The fifteen-minute trail walk down to the beach is the morning ritual the resorts cannot replicate.
16371 Concordia
Coral Bay, St John
USVI 00830
Southeast coast above Salt Pond Bay; ten minutes by car from Coral Bay village; 40 minutes from Cruz Bay
13 accommodations across villas and eco-cabanas
Eco-Cabanas from $205/night
Studio Villas from $295/night
One-Bedroom Villas from $395/night
Two-Bedroom Villas from $495/night
Check-in: 3:00 PM (sunset cut-off due to off-grid lighting)
Check-out: 11:00 AM
Founded 1995 by Stanley Selengut; longest-running off-grid lodging in USVI; continuous operation through 2017 hurricane recovery
Café Concordia (breakfast and dinner)
Small on-site provisions store
Hillside pool
Off-grid solar and rainwater infrastructure
Filtered-rainwater showers in every unit
Ocean-view balconies on every accommodation
Trailhead access to Ram Head and Salt Pond Bay
From $205/night. St John's December, April high-season weeks book six to nine months ahead; the hurricane-window shoulder (mid-November and late-April) is the value window for the same inventory.
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