Road Town, VG

Long-running Road Town pub on Waterfront Drive — classic Caribbean pub food, the original Pusser's Painkiller cocktail, nautical-themed timber room. The reliable downtown dinner.

Road Town's nicer-dinner restaurant in a historic building near the harbour — modern Caribbean menu, candlelit terrace, more ambitious cooking than the rest of town. Book ahead.

Right on the sand at Cane Garden Bay — modern beach restaurant doing salads, fish, cocktails in a designer-aesthetic open-air room. The island's most-Instagrammed restaurant.

Family-run Cane Garden Bay restaurant doing home-style Caribbean cooking — stewed oxtail, curry goat, grilled lobster, fresh-caught fish. The authentic local meal on a tourist beach.

Hilltop restaurant at Heritage Inn overlooking Apple Bay and Cane Garden Bay — sweeping ocean views, Caribbean-Mediterranean menu, the island's most spectacular sunset terrace.

Cult Caribbean-Indian fusion restaurant on the sandspit south of Road Town — curries, rotis, jerk chicken and seafood, sand-floor tables right by the marina.

Cane Garden Bay institution founded by Tortolian musician Quito Rymer — beachfront tables, Caribbean menu, live music several nights with Quito sometimes performing himself. The cultural anchor of the bay.

Apple Bay debris-art beach bar — driftwood, painted plywood, donated underwear stapled to every surface — and a notorious full-moon party with herb-laced cocktails. Touristy and legendary.

Hodges Creek marina pub — burgers, pizzas, fish-and-chips with a marina view. The honest casual meal near the East End.

Beachfront restaurant at Long Bay Beach Resort — Caribbean menu, ocean view, walk-in friendly outside resort guests. The West End's reliable lunch.

Road Town daytime cafe with sharp coffee, homemade pastries and a sandwich menu. The walking-into-town brunch.

Casual Nanny Cay marina restaurant — burgers, fish tacos, salads, pool-side seating with a marina view. The all-day option for sailing-crowd visitors.

Two-kilometre loop trail through old-growth mahogany and rainforest at the top of Sage Mountain — moderate climb, panoramic island-views, mist-cool air.

Easy short trail through old-growth mahogany inside Sage Mountain National Park — about 30 minutes return, mostly shaded. The family-friendly version of the rainforest loop.

Short trail to the restored Mount Healthy windmill ruins from a 17th-century sugar plantation — about 30 minutes return with the ruins and an interpretive panel at the top.

Coastal hiking path linking Cane Garden Bay with the undeveloped Smuggler's Cove via the west-end hills — about three hours one way, dramatic ridge views, almost no people.

Compact botanic garden in central Road Town with cactus garden, palm house, fern grotto and orchid collection. Short loop walk, free, the urban escape.

Family-owned distillery at Cane Garden Bay that's been making rum the same way for over 200 years — pot-still tour, tastings of the dark and silver rums, bottles to take away. The oldest continuously operating distillery in the eastern Caribbean.

Legendary beach bar on Jost Van Dyke, ferry trip from Tortola — sand-floor, live music (often Foxy himself), notorious New Year's Eve party. Inter-island day-trip default.

Beach bar on White Bay, Jost Van Dyke — boats anchor offshore and visitors swim ashore (and pay with wet money — the 'soggy dollar'). Painkiller cocktail was invented here.

Compact Road Town museum showing BVI material culture — pre-Columbian artefacts, slavery and emancipation, the boatbuilding tradition. Small but well-curated and free.

Day-charter sailing trips from Road Town and Nanny Cay marinas to Norman Island, the Indians and other snorkel sites — small-boat operators, lunch and rum punch on board.

Cruise terminal precinct on the Road Town waterfront — shops, restaurants, an open-air bar with live music. The cruise-day shopping anchor.

Mile-long crescent of white sand on Tortola's north shore — calm shallow water, a strip of beach bars and restaurants, the island's most famous beach and the postcard image.

Highest point in both the US and BVI Virgin Islands at 521m — mahogany forest trails, panoramic island-spotting views, mist-cool temperatures. The escape from beach life.

Remote west-end beach at the far west of Tortola — reached down a steep dirt road, completely undeveloped, white sand and snorkel reef. The most beautiful and least crowded beach on the island.

Mile-long stretch of fine sand on the west end with a tidal stream cutting through the middle and small surf breaks at both ends. Less developed than Cane Garden Bay.

North-shore bay with calm shallow water, beach cottages, and the Callwood Rum Distillery (oldest continuously operating distillery in the eastern Caribbean) walking distance away.

Cruise port and government district along Road Town's harbour — restored colonial buildings, shops, restaurants, ferry terminal for Jost Van Dyke and Virgin Gorda. Walkable but not the visit-here destination.

Small north-coast surf beach famous for the legendary Bomba Surfside Shack — a debris-art beach bar with a notorious full-moon party. The beach itself is small and rocky; the bar is the destination.