Caneel Beach

Caneel Beach is the public beach on the Caneel Bay peninsula in Virgin Islands National Park, on the grounds of the former resort. It makes sense as a short shore stop, especially if you want a beach outing with a historic sugar-mill viewing area along the way. For a photo that reads as a beach instead of a patch of blue, include the pale sand edge, shallow water and green shore across the bay.

Park in the designated Caneel Beach lot and follow the paved path; the lot for the Honeymoon Beach shuttle is separate. Portable toilets are available. Accessible parking is marked, but that doesn’t establish a wheelchair route onto the sand. Stay in areas marked for public access: parts of the former resort remain off-limits, and the pier is closed to visitors.

Laurance Rockefeller set aside this 150-acre peninsula while donating more than 5,000 acres for the national park, then began developing the resort here in 1956. Before Hurricanes Irma and Maria heavily damaged the site in 2017, around 100 structures served lodging, food, recreation and operations. Overnight lodging hasn’t resumed. The former resort district was found eligible for the National Register of Historic Places in 2012; the sugar-mill viewing area on the beach path is one piece of the older story.