Caribbean Island Hopping (2026): 4 Ferry Routes That Work
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The four Caribbean island hopping routes that actually work by ferry in 2026: St. Thomas to St. John to Tortola to Jost Van Dyke in the Virgin Islands; Guadeloupe to Dominica to Martinique to St. Lucia on L'Express des Îles; Marigot to Blowing Point, St. Maarten to Anguilla in 20 minutes; and Kingstown to Bequia plus Grenada to Carriacou in the Grenadines. Everything else needs a plane.
Why Caribbean Island Hopping Is Harder Than the Map Looks
On a map the Lesser Antilles read as a dotted line you could hop down in a fortnight. In practice the region is a set of separate ferry systems that mostly do not connect to each other, plus a thin regional air network that is still being rebuilt.
The air side matters most. LIAT (1974) — the carrier that stitched the eastern Caribbean together for decades — ceased operations in January 2024. Its successor, Liat Air, only began flying in August 2024 as a joint venture between the Government of Antigua and Barbuda and Nigeria's Air Peace, and its network is still a fraction of the old one. interCaribbean Airways and Winair have both added routes through 2026, including new interCaribbean services out of Barbados to Trinidad, St. Maarten, Tortola and Georgetown from March 2026, and Winair flights linking Tortola to Barbados from January 2026. These are useful, but many run twice or a few times weekly, not daily.
The practical consequence: two islands 30 miles apart can be a full day of travel with a backtrack through San Juan, Antigua, Barbados or St. Maarten. The trips that work pick one ferry chain and stay in it, adding at most one flight. The trips that fail try to visit six islands in ten days and spend four of them in airports.
If you want to move between islands that have no scheduled link at all, the honest answer is a boat of your own — see our guide to sailing the Caribbean's best beaches and ports, which covers the charter routes that fill these gaps.
Route 1: The Virgin Islands, Where You Never Need a Plane
This is the easiest chain in the region and the one to pick for a first trip. St. Thomas, St. John, Tortola and Jost Van Dyke are all linked by scheduled passenger ferries running several times a day, every day.
The trunk route is Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas to Road Town on Tortola, with fares starting around $25 one way. Road Town departures run at 7:30am, 10:00am, 11:30am and 3:30pm; Charlotte Amalie departures at 9:00am, 2:00pm, 4:00pm and 5:30pm. Several operators share the route on alternating days, but the published times stay the same — which means you should check the operator, not just the clock. The BVI Tourist Board ferry schedules are the reference to book against.
Jost Van Dyke is the leg where money is won or lost. From Tortola's West End, New Horizon runs at 8:00am, 10:00am, 1:00pm, 4:00pm and 6:00pm for about $30 one way or $40 round trip. The direct boat from St. Thomas or St. John is far more expensive: roughly $100 one way for an adult, $120 round trip, plus a customs and immigration fee of around $30 per person. Routing via Tortola instead of taking the direct service saves a couple travelling together well over $150.
Two things to plan for. You are crossing an international border between the US and British Virgin Islands, so carry a passport and budget time for immigration at both ends. And the last Jost Van Dyke boat back to Tortola leaves in the early evening, so day-tripping to the Soggy Dollar Bar means watching the clock rather than the sunset.
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Route 2: The French Chain, Guadeloupe Down to St. Lucia
The longest genuine ferry chain in the Caribbean runs down the eastern arc: Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique and St. Lucia, operated by L'Express des Îles under the FRS brand, with branch services to Marie-Galante and Les Saintes.
The crossing times are the reason this works. Martinique to St. Lucia is about 1 hour 30 minutes non-stop. Dominica to St. Lucia runs about 2 hours 15 minutes with a stop in Martinique. The full run from Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe to St. Lucia takes roughly 6 hours 45 minutes with stops in Dominica and Martinique — a long day, but a single ticket and no airport.
The trap is frequency. Sailings vary from three to seven round trips a week depending on the season, and drop to about three a week during the maintenance periods in January, June and September. A four-island chain on a three-sailings-a-week schedule is not a chain; it is three forced two-night stays. Check the operating calendar for your exact dates before you commit to the route, and never book a same-day onward flight off the back of a ferry arrival.
What you get for the effort is the most varied stretch of coast in the region: Grande-Anse on Guadeloupe's Basse-Terre, Dominica's black-sand Mero and its river-mouth beaches, Martinique's Les Salines in the far south, and St. Lucia's Anse Chastanet under the Pitons. Dominica is the one people skip and shouldn't — it has almost no resort development, which is exactly why it stays quiet.
Route 3: The St. Maarten Hub, Anguilla and St. Barths in a Day
St. Maarten is the only island in the region that functions as a real ferry hub, with three separate destinations reachable in under two hours.
Anguilla is the headline. The public ferry from Marigot on the French side to Blowing Point takes about 20 minutes, with departures roughly hourly from 8:30am through the afternoon. The fare is around $30 one way, payable in cash on board, with children two to eleven at half that. Then come the extras that catch people out: a passenger head fee of about €7 paid at the ticket office in euros or by card, and Anguilla's own port tax on arrival — around $11 for day visitors and $28 if you are staying longer than 12 hours. The shuttle schedule changed on 1 February 2026, so confirm current times with the Government of Anguilla's Blowing Point terminal page rather than an old blog post. Tickets are sold on site, not online.
St. Barths runs from Philipsburg on the Dutch side via Great Bay Express, generally the cheapest of the St. Barths options at roughly $70 one way. Saba is the odd one: the Edge sails Tuesdays and Fridays at 9:00am, about 90 minutes each way with a 3:30pm return, and the Makana catamaran runs several days a week for around $95 one way or $155 round trip, also serving St. Eustatius and St. Kitts.
An honest warning about Saba. It is one of the best hiking and diving islands in the Caribbean and it has essentially no beach — the sand at Well's Bay appears and disappears seasonally. Go for the Mount Scenery trail and the pinnacle dives, not for a beach day. Anguilla is where the sand is: Shoal Bay East, Rendezvous Bay, Meads Bay.
Route 4: The Grenadines, Bequia and Carriacou
The southern chain is the cheapest island hopping in the Caribbean and the least developed. Bequia Express runs from Kingstown on St. Vincent to Port Elizabeth on Bequia for about EC$25 one way and EC$45 return — roughly US$9 and US$17 — with a network of more than a dozen daily departures across St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It is a working ferry used by residents, not a tourist shuttle, which is a large part of the appeal.
Further south, Osprey Lines links St. George's, Grenada with Carriacou in about 1 hour 45 minutes, daily except Sunday, for around EC$80 (about US$31) for an adult. Weekday departures from Grenada are at 9:00am and 5:00pm; Saturday has a single sailing each way. Carriacou's Paradise Beach and Sandy Island — a bare sandbar in a marine protected area, reached by water taxi — are the reason to make the crossing.
The gap to know about: the Grenadines are split between two countries, and the link between the southern Grenadines and Carriacou is not a reliable scheduled tourist service. Treat St. Vincent's Grenadines and Grenada's Grenadines as two separate legs, joined by a short flight, unless you have confirmed a current sailing locally. This is the single most common way people's Grenadines itineraries fall apart.
On cost, the southern chain is also where the region gets affordable — see our breakdown of the cheapest Caribbean islands to visit for how the nightly rates compare.
Two Add-Ons Worth the Detour: Barbuda and Vieques
Barbuda is the best single-day add-on in the eastern Caribbean. The Barbuda Express catamaran crosses from Antigua in about 90 minutes, six days a week, departing from Jolly Harbour Marina since the terminal move in November 2023. Expect somewhere around US$100 for a round-trip fare, and confirm before booking because the schedule and departure point have both changed in recent years. What you are crossing for is a pink-tinted beach running the length of the island's west coast with almost nobody on it — the closest thing to an empty Caribbean beach that is still reachable on a scheduled boat.
In Puerto Rico, the Ceiba terminal serves Vieques in 30 to 45 minutes and Culebra in about an hour and a half, and the fares are almost absurd: as of 1 May 2026, roughly $2.00 one way to Vieques and $2.25 to Culebra, plus an environmental fee for Culebra. Book online in advance, arrive an hour before departure, and note that check-in closes ten minutes before sailing. Residents get boarding priority, so a walk-up on a holiday weekend is a gamble. Flamenco Beach on Culebra and Playa Caracas on Vieques justify the logistics.
When to Go: Sargassum, Storms and Ferry Cancellations
Two seasonal factors decide when this kind of trip works, and both hit ferries harder than they hit resorts.
Sargassum is the bigger story in 2026. The University of South Florida's outlook describes another major bloom year, with record or near-record biomass recorded across most tracked regions through the spring and beaching events expected to increase across the Caribbean. Windward, east-facing beaches take the worst of it; leeward west-facing shores generally stay clearer, which favours Bequia's Princess Margaret Beach, the southern and western coasts of Tortola, and Anguilla's northwest bays. Check NOAA's Sargassum Inundation Risk maps against your dates, and our guide to the best time to visit Caribbean beaches for the month-by-month picture.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs 1 June to 30 November, with the peak stretch from mid-August into October. Ferries are cancelled for weather far more readily than flights, and a cancelled sailing on a three-a-week route costs you two days, not two hours. December through April is the reliable window. If you travel in the shoulder months, build a spare day into the itinerary before any flight home.
One more practical point: several of these crossings run in open water. The Anegada Passage between the Virgin Islands and St. Maarten has a reputation among sailors for a reason, and the Guadeloupe–Dominica leg can be rough on the windward side. Take something for motion sickness before boarding rather than after.
A 14-Day Caribbean Island Hopping Itinerary That Works
This is the version we would actually book: one ferry chain, one flight, no wasted airport days. It uses the Virgin Islands and the St. Maarten hub, the two systems with daily sailings.
Days 1 to 4 — St. Thomas and St. John
Fly into St. Thomas, ferry straight to Cruz Bay on St. John and base there. Trunk Bay and Honeymoon Beach are the headline stops; Virgin Islands National Park covers about two-thirds of the island, which is why the coastline stays undeveloped. Two nights here beats two nights in Charlotte Amalie.
Days 5 to 8 — Tortola and Jost Van Dyke
Ferry to Tortola, base near West End or Cane Garden Bay, and use the New Horizon boat for a Jost Van Dyke day at White Bay. Add a day boat to Virgin Gorda for the Baths, which is the best granite-boulder swimming in the Caribbean.
Days 9 to 10 — Fly to St. Maarten
Take the Tortola–St. Maarten hop that interCaribbean and Winair now operate, and treat St. Maarten as the base rather than the destination. Two nights is enough for Mullet Bay and Orient Bay.
Days 11 to 14 — Anguilla
Ferry from Marigot to Blowing Point and spend the last stretch on the best beaches of the trip. Shoal Bay East, Rendezvous Bay and Meads Bay are all within a short drive, and Anguilla's day-trip restaurant scene at Sandy Ground is worth the extra spend. Return to St. Maarten the morning before your flight, not the same day.
What to Skip
Skip trying to combine two ferry systems in one trip. The Virgin Islands and the Grenadines are 700 miles apart with no direct link; joining them costs two travel days each way and a connection through San Juan or Barbados.
Skip the one-night-per-island plan. Every hop costs a half day once you count check-out, terminal time, immigration and check-in, so a seven-island fortnight delivers about four usable beach days.
Skip non-refundable inter-island flights booked more than a month out. Regional schedules in this market change frequently, and a route added in March can be trimmed by autumn.
Final Thoughts
Caribbean island hopping rewards restraint. Pick the chain that matches what you want — the Virgin Islands for ease and daily sailings, the French chain for variety, St. Maarten for the most islands per travel hour, the Grenadines for cost and quiet — then go slowly inside it. The travellers who come home saying the region is exhausting are almost always the ones who tried to do all four.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you island hop in the Caribbean by ferry?
Yes, but only within specific clusters rather than along the whole arc. The reliable ferry chains are the US and British Virgin Islands, the French chain from Guadeloupe through Dominica and Martinique to St. Lucia, the St. Maarten hub serving Anguilla, St. Barths and Saba, and the Grenadines. There is no scheduled passenger ferry connecting these clusters to each other, so moving between them means flying.
What is the cheapest way to island hop in the Caribbean?
The Grenadines and Puerto Rico are the cheapest by a wide margin. Kingstown to Bequia runs about EC$25 (roughly US$9) one way, and Grenada to Carriacou about EC$80 (roughly US$31). The Ceiba ferries in Puerto Rico cost around $2.00 to Vieques and $2.25 to Culebra as of May 2026. By contrast, a single direct boat from St. Thomas to Jost Van Dyke can run $100 one way per adult before fees.
Do you need a passport to ferry between the US and British Virgin Islands?
Yes. The crossing from St. Thomas or St. John to Tortola or Jost Van Dyke is an international border, so US citizens need a passport even though the USVI is domestic territory. You clear immigration on both sides, which adds time at each end. Budget an extra 45 minutes beyond the published crossing time in each direction.
How many Caribbean islands can you realistically visit in two weeks?
Four is comfortable and five is the practical ceiling if they are in the same ferry cluster. Each hop consumes roughly half a day once check-out, terminal time, immigration and settling in are counted. A fortnight split across six or seven islands typically leaves only three or four full beach days, which is why the itinerary above uses four bases.
What happened to LIAT and how do you fly between Caribbean islands now?
LIAT (1974) ceased operations in January 2024. A successor, Liat Air, began flying in August 2024 as a venture between the Government of Antigua and Barbuda and Air Peace, and is still rebuilding its network. interCaribbean Airways and Winair carry much of the regional traffic and both expanded in 2026, including new interCaribbean routes from Barbados to Trinidad, St. Maarten, Tortola and Georgetown from March 2026. Many of these run only a few times a week.
When is the best time of year for a Caribbean island hopping trip?
December through April. Seas are calmest, ferry cancellations are least likely, and sargassum landings are generally lighter than in summer. The Atlantic hurricane season runs 1 June to 30 November with a peak from mid-August into October, and ferries are pulled from service for weather far more readily than flights. If you travel outside the dry season, leave a spare day before any flight home.
Is sargassum seaweed a problem for island hopping in 2026?
Yes, 2026 has been another major bloom year, with the University of South Florida reporting record or near-record biomass across most tracked regions during the spring and increasing beaching events around the Caribbean. Windward, east-facing beaches are worst affected while leeward western shores generally stay clearer. Checking NOAA’s Sargassum Inundation Risk maps against your dates is worth doing before you fix an itinerary.
Which Caribbean ferry route is best for a first trip?
The Virgin Islands. St. Thomas, St. John, Tortola and Jost Van Dyke all have daily scheduled sailings at multiple times a day, fares start around $25 on the main Charlotte Amalie to Road Town route, and no leg requires a flight. That daily frequency means a missed or cancelled boat costs a few hours rather than a day, which is not true of the three-sailings-a-week routes further south.
