Ninety beachfront rooms on a quarter-mile crescent of white sand at Lindbergh Bay, the only fully on-the-beach resort within walking distance of Cyril E. King airport, and the most useful early-morning departure hotel on the island.
"The only beachfront on Lindbergh Bay and a five-minute taxi from the airport runway. For an island-hop, a conference run, or the night before a 6 a.m. ferry to Tortola, no other St. Thomas property is more efficient."
Emerald Beach Resort runs along the eastern third of Lindbergh Bay, the curved south-coast inlet that the Cyril E. King airport runway parallels half a kilometre behind. The site is unusual on St. Thomas: 100 per cent of the rooms are direct beachfront, the airport is a five-minute taxi from the lobby, and the bay itself is a protected, shallow, family-suitable swimming beach that ferries and cruise ships do not enter. The original property opened in the 1970s, was rebuilt in the 1990s, and now operates as a Best Western Plus, a mid-market positioning that the location and the beach exposure make more interesting than the brand alone suggests.
The 90 rooms are arranged in three low-rise wings stepping back from the sand. Every room has a private balcony or patio with an ocean view, sliding glass doors to the bay, a king or two double beds, refrigerator, flat-screen television, in-room safe, and the bathroom configuration typical of an early-2000s Caribbean refit. The beachfront category is the booking that justifies the property: the room opens onto a planted lawn that opens onto the sand at perhaps thirty paces. Standard categories are smaller and set back, but every accommodation faces the water. Connecting-room configurations are common, the hotel does notably more multi-generational family bookings than the upscale East End properties.
On site there is a freshwater outdoor pool set back from the beach, the Sunset Grille restaurant for breakfast and lunch on the sand, Robert's American Bar & Grille for dinner, a beach-shack bar, complimentary kayak and stand-up paddleboard for guests, and an outpost of Salty Dog Charters for sail and snorkel trips that depart directly off the beach. The hotel offers complimentary airport shuttle in both directions (a useful detail at a property this close to the runway), free covered parking, free WiFi throughout, and a small business centre. There is no spa and no children's club, but Lindbergh Beach is calm and shallow enough to substitute for both.
The honest position: this is not a luxury hotel and does not present as one. The interiors are mid-market American-Caribbean, the F&B is functional rather than aspirational, and the resort apparatus is light. What it sells, accurately, is the single proposition no other St. Thomas property delivers, a real beach, real beachfront rooms, on the south coast within ten minutes of the airport. For business travellers, island-hoppers, families running a multi-island Caribbean itinerary, and anyone with a 6 a.m. departure, that is exactly the right product at exactly the right rate.
For families running a Caribbean itinerary, St. Thomas plus a ferry to St. John, or St. Thomas plus a sailing charter out of Yacht Haven, Emerald Beach is the most efficient family booking. Connecting rooms, shallow protected swimming, kayaks and paddleboards included, and a beach safe enough for small children to use without supervision. Lindbergh Bay itself is the kind of beach you can walk five-year-olds on barefoot.
For business travellers in the USVI, territorial government in Charlotte Amalie, financial-services and insurance trips, or transit between St. Croix and the BVI, the five-minute airport position, free shuttle, and on-property meeting room make this the most practical St. Thomas address. Far more time-efficient than the East End resorts, which add forty minutes of taxi each way.
For an anniversary weekend that opens or closes a Caribbean trip, a Friday-night arrival, a Saturday on the beach, an early Sunday departure, the beachfront-balcony rooms at sunset make the proposition. Quieter than the East End resorts in low season, with a beach that does not require a taxi to reach.
8070 Lindbergh Bay
St. Thomas 00802
U.S. Virgin Islands
Cyril E. King airport 5 min taxi · Charlotte Amalie 10 min · Red Hook 25 min · Free airport shuttle
90 ocean-view rooms
Standard Ocean View from USD 285/night
Beachfront King from USD 360/night
Premium Beachfront from USD 420/night
Connecting configurations available
Check-in: 4:00 PM
Check-out: 11:00 AM
Free covered parking
Free airport shuttle both ways
100% beachfront property
Outdoor pool · Sunset Grille beach restaurant
Robert's American Bar & Grille
Complimentary kayak & SUP
Free WiFi · Salty Dog sail charters on beach
From USD 285/night. Beachfront category sells out two to three weeks ahead in winter, book early if the beach exposure is the reason. The standard ocean-view rooms remain available closer to the arrival date.
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