This is the question we get more than any other, and the answer isn't universal — it depends on where you're sleeping. Here's how we actually advise guests.
Start with the honest constraint: there's no Uber
Uber and Lyft do not operate on St. Thomas. That single fact reshapes the whole decision, because it means the alternative to a rental car isn't a five-minute app request — it's a taxi you call and wait for, or a safari.
Safaris are the open-air trucks you'll see everywhere, running set routes with bench seating. They're cheap — a couple of dollars a person — and genuinely fun. They're also not a door-to-door service, and they thin out considerably after dark.
Private taxis are plentiful and priced per person by destination rather than by meter. For a couple doing one dinner out, that's fine. For a family of five doing dinner out four nights, you've paid for a rental car and still can't leave when you want to.
If you're staying beachfront, you can probably skip it
At our Sapphire Beach place the sand is past the palms, there's food and a beach bar on site, and plenty of guests never move the car they rented. If your plan is beach, pool, beach, dinner nearby, repeat — a car is a convenience, not a requirement. Rent one for two days mid-week if you want to see the island, and taxi the rest.
If you're staying on a hillside, rent the car
There's no soft version of this. At Mahogany Seaview and anywhere else up the hill, a car is infrastructure. Groceries, beaches, dinner, and the airport all involve driving, and waiting on a taxi at the top of a switchback for every single one of those gets old on day two.
What driving here is actually like
You drive on the left. The cars are American-style with the steering wheel on the left too, which is the island's famous quirk and takes about twenty minutes to stop feeling wrong. The genuinely useful trick: keep your own body toward the centerline. If you're hugging the center, you're in the right lane.
The roads are steep, narrow, and switchbacked, with the occasional pothole and the occasional goat. Get an SUV or a Jeep — not for off-roading, but for ground clearance and for the confidence to take a steep wet driveway without thinking about it. Book ahead in season; the island genuinely runs out of vehicles around the holidays.
Two more things worth knowing: gas is sold by the gallon and costs more than the mainland, and parking in Charlotte Amalie on a heavy cruise-ship day is its own small ordeal. Go early or go another day.
The short version
Beachfront stay, relaxed trip: skip it, or rent for a couple of days. Hillside stay, or any trip with kids and a schedule: rent it, make it an SUV, book it early.
Either way, both our places stock beach chairs, coolers, and snorkel gear, so the car doesn't need to be a cargo van. Current open weeks are on the deals page.