Tortola

Introduction

Tortolla

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Tortola is the main island of the British Virgin Islands, its capital being Road Town. Tortola island is the place to be for beautiful beaches and it has great nightlife as well. There are huge collections of restaurants and nightclubs and the capital Road Town is a decent place to spend some time and enjoy the colourful buildings and botanic gardens. It also has some fine museums, where you can witness some relics dating back to the slavery time.

Cities

• Road Town - the capital of the British Virgin Islands

Weather

Tortola has a very pleasant and tropical climate with generally warm and humid weather. The seabreeze makes things relatively mild though and water is never far away. Temperatures generally average around 30 °C during the day yearround and 23 °C at night. December to May is the dry season, where July to October is the rainy season, but this generally means some showers at the end of the day instead of days of rain on end. Hurricanes are possible though from August to October.

Getting There

By Plane

Fly BVI is a charter airline serving San Juan in Puerto Rico, Saint Martin, St. Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands and Antigua. They also serve Anegada and Beef Island. Island Birds has charters from San Juan and Saint Martin to Tortola as well. BVI Airlines offers charter flights in the region from Tortola.
Aero Gorda flies to Anegada, the northermost British Virgin Island. There are 4 flights between Tortola and Anegada as well with Clair Aero.

By Boat

• There are about 4 operators which have ferry services between St. Thomas (Charlotte Amalie and Red Hook) and Tortola (West End and Roadtown). Contact Road Town Fast Ferry for options. From Road Town there are also ferries about every 50 minutes to Charlotte Amalie on the island of St. Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands. From Red Hook to Road Town is about 35 minutes. Contact Caribbean Maritime Tortola Fast Ferry (340) 777-2800), Smith's Ferry (340) 775-7292 or Native Son Inc. (340) 774-8685 for details about schedules and prices.
• There are about 4 or 5 sailings in eacht direction between Cruz Bay, St. John (USVI) and West End, Tortola (BVI).
• Two operators have services between Tortola and Virgin Gorda. Other connections are Tortola to Jost van Dyke vv, and Tortola to Peter Island vv. Check the schedule (also between BVI and the US Virgin Islands) at the BVI Welcome site.
• Smith's Ferry now also makes sailings to and from the northern island of Anegada and Tortola.
• Other operators between several islands include North Sound Express and Speedy's. New Horizon Ferry travels between West End on Tortola and Jost's Great Harbour on Jost van Dyke.

Eat

• Palms Delight - Located in Carrot Bay, on the northwestern shore of Tortola, this place is located right at the beach/water, and serves great local West Indian food for very affordable prices. Rotis, fish and chicken are the main dishes and all go for US$11-16. Try the conch fritters as an appetizer and the hearty key lime pie for desert.

Sleep