People always ask me how I find my flight deals. It takes time and tenacity. Maybe a bit of frustration too. Keep looking until you have exhausted every option. I'm going to give you my search method to find the best deal to get to Road Town, Tortola, the jumping off point for most BVI sailing trips. Jump to the end to get to the Cheat Sheet and likely best option, but follow along if you want to find all the little ways to save.
With the ultimate destination of Tortola, there are a few main options. Fly into Tortola, Saint Thomas, or San Juan (Puerto Rico). From St. Thomas, you take a ferry into Tortola. From San Juan, you can either fly into Tortola, or fly into St. Thomas then ferry to Tortola. So now you have a few puzzle pieces to put together!
From home, you'll fly into either Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, or directly into Tortola to get your live-aboard sailboat.
Many people fly into St. Thomas STT, then take the ferry over to Road Town.
The Initial Flight Search
Using Google Flights for your initial search, look at flight cost from your home airport to Tortola (EIS).My Example: For me, we'll say that starts around $800 each from San Diego to Tortola (more like $1000+ in high season). It's time to get creative and start looking at other routes to see if I can beat that.
Flying directly into Tortola is the easiest, but usually the most expensive.
Now check flights from your home airport and any other nearby airports you can get to, flying either directly to Tortola, or to St. Thomas (STT U.S. Virgin Islands), or San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU U.S. Territory). FYI Spirit flies to STT and JetBlue and Frontier fly to SJU.
On one of my trips, I found it cheapest to fly into SJU, and on another, STT was best. On my first trip, two of us preferred to spend a day or two in Puerto Rico, so we were super happy that SJU was our cheaper option, despite the extra travel legs we were going to incur.
My Example: So Now I have $435 from San Diego to SJU and $460 to STT.
Check Different DatesCheck Google Flights for the best dates/rates for all possible legs of your flights, including
SJU (San Juan) to EIS (Tortola)
SJU (San Juan) to STT (St. Thomas)
My Example: I already checked dates from home. Wow, flights from SJU to EIS are only $205 RT for my current dates! SJU might be a contender after all.
One trip I found InterCaribbean Airways had a flight for $435 for my preferred dates and $315 if I flew home a day later and that seemed consistent across all the airlines. Even adding an extra day of hotel, I'd rather have an extra day on the islands for the same price. If you have flexibility to play with dates, you can sometimes find a good inexpensive flight. That said, make sure to check hotel prices, because they can really suck up any flight savings!For flying into EIS, add $40 (each way) taxi to get to the marina, and $10 each for environmental fees.
flights.google.com is a good place to start to get an idea of flight prices and airlines.
After looking into flying from Puerto Rico, I was surprised to find some really inexpensive flights to Tortola, just not on the dates I needed. :/
Look up what airlines fly the Puerto Rico - Tortola and Puerto Rico - St. Thomas routes, and check each one of those directly on the airlines' website.
I have seen it cost $50 less by booking the flight through Expedia and bundled it with the hotel rather than booking directly with the airline and booking the hotel separately.
So many options to look at! Hang on, we're getting there. I'm eeking out everything I can, here.
Thinking Outside the Box
It really pays to look at all your options. What about a ferry? A bit of research revealed that there are no ferries from Puerto Rico to BVI, but taking a ferry from St. Thomas is $105 round trip.If you are in Puerto Rico, you can actually get a flight to STT on Frontier for as low as $39 RT! But count on closer to $100. Now we're getting somewhere. OMG you're thinking, really?!
I check everything. On Expedia, I looked at bundling the flight to St. Thomas with a hotel for the night (nope). Booking directly from the airlines' websites, booking directly with the hotel, etc. It's not always the same combination that works!
For taking the ferry from STT, add $20 each round trip taxi from the airport, $10 each round trip per piece of luggage, $10 each port fee, and $10 each for environmental fees, and $20 each for departure tax when leaving BVI. It adds up.
One last check to see if FLYING one direction between San Juan and Tortola and taking the FERRY option via St. Thomas the other direction yielded a better price. Like if the flight going one direction might be super cheap. Worth it to check since when a friend of mine booked it, that was a better deal. Yeah, my head is spinning now.
Depending on where in BVI you are ending your trip, there are ferry options from other islands.
For instance, you can take Speedy Ferry from Virgin Gorda straight to St. Thomas (only on certain days of the week). There is also a ferry from Jost Van Dyke to St. Thomas on F, Sa, Su for $80++. Many people in our group used this ferry rather than going all the way back to Tortola to take a ferry from there, but it was not cheap! There are also ferries from many of the islands that will take you back to Road Town to catch a ferry from there, so check prices and departure schedules for all your options ahead of time.
Also keep in mind that ferry schedules are not exact! They may or may not leave on time. I was scheduled for a noon ferry but they put us on a ferry at 11am instead. Then my friends who were also supposed to be on the noon ferry (but were not at the dock yet), ended up on a 1pm ferry. So leave room for that in your scheduling.
During the low season, there is no need to book the ferry ahead. In fact, I highly recommend not doing so. It's best to leave your options open to ferry company, time, and departure location.
For instance, you can take Speedy Ferry from Virgin Gorda straight to St. Thomas (only on certain days of the week). There is also a ferry from Jost Van Dyke to St. Thomas on F, Sa, Su for $80++. Many people in our group used this ferry rather than going all the way back to Tortola to take a ferry from there, but it was not cheap! There are also ferries from many of the islands that will take you back to Road Town to catch a ferry from there, so check prices and departure schedules for all your options ahead of time.
Also keep in mind that ferry schedules are not exact! They may or may not leave on time. I was scheduled for a noon ferry but they put us on a ferry at 11am instead. Then my friends who were also supposed to be on the noon ferry (but were not at the dock yet), ended up on a 1pm ferry. So leave room for that in your scheduling.
During the low season, there is no need to book the ferry ahead. In fact, I highly recommend not doing so. It's best to leave your options open to ferry company, time, and departure location.
To Sum it Up
The St. Thomas ferry option seems to be the money saver pretty consistently. It all depends on timing and schedule. You can decide if the extra journey is worth it to save the money. I prefer some extra traveling at times because you get to see more. Especially if it saves you money! ;) Keep in mind that for a potential overnight stay due to scheduling, the hotels on Tortola are more expensive than those on St. Thomas and in Puerto Rico.My Example:
For simplicity's sake, I did not include potential overnight hotel stays in my example, but I've had to do it on all 3 islands. Roughly $100/nt on St. Thomas and Puerto Rico, $200/nt Tortola.
home > Tortola
$800 round trip flight from home to Tortola
$80 round trip taxi from airport to Road Town
$10 environmental fee
$890 TOTAL per person
home > St. Thomas > Tortola (via ferry)
$460 round trip flight from home to St. Thomas
$20 round trip taxi to / from airport and Charlotte Amalie ferry terminal
$105 round trip ferry from St. Thomas to Tortola
$10 per piece of luggage round trip
$10 port fee from St. Thomas to Tortola
$10 environmental fee when entering BVI
$20 departure tax when leaving BVI
$650 TOTAL per person
home > Puerto Rico > Tortola
$430 round trip flight from home to Puerto Rico
$205 round trip flight from Puerto Rico to Tortola
$80 round trip taxi from airport to Road Town
$10 environmental fee
$725 TOTAL per person
Total time spent - about an hour and a half. My time is worth it save that much $!
home > Tortola
$800 round trip flight from home to Tortola
$80 round trip taxi from airport to Road Town
$10 environmental fee
$890 TOTAL per person
home > St. Thomas > Tortola (via ferry)
$460 round trip flight from home to St. Thomas
$20 round trip taxi to / from airport and Charlotte Amalie ferry terminal
$105 round trip ferry from St. Thomas to Tortola
$10 per piece of luggage round trip
$10 port fee from St. Thomas to Tortola
$10 environmental fee when entering BVI
$20 departure tax when leaving BVI
$650 TOTAL per person
home > Puerto Rico > Tortola
$430 round trip flight from home to Puerto Rico
$205 round trip flight from Puerto Rico to Tortola
$80 round trip taxi from airport to Road Town
$10 environmental fee
$725 TOTAL per person
Total time spent - about an hour and a half. My time is worth it save that much $!
Another time I went, it was cheapest to fly into St. Thomas, then take the ferry from there. It saves time and money.
The ferry worked out to be the least expensive way to go the dates we were going on my first trip. Because we wanted to stop in Puerto Rico and it happened the flights were cheaper for our dates, we went that route.
Cheat Sheet
With extra costs and fees at every turn, here's your cheat sheet to compare and find the cheapest option for your dates. Prices are per person unless otherwise specified. Updated 2025.
When piecing this together, be sure to check actual schedules. You might find the cheapest flight is on a Monday evening, but if it causes you to miss the last ferry and requires you to spend money on an extra night at a hotel, you might want to spend the extra $20 on the morning fight.
home > Tortola
$______ round trip flight from home to Tortola
$80 round trip taxi from airport to Road Town (1-4 passengers)
$10 environmental fee
$______ possible extra hotel cost due to this itinerary
$______ TOTAL
home > St. Thomas > Tortola (via ferry)
$______ round trip flight from home to St. Thomas
$85 ferry from Charlotte Amalie to Road Town ($10 taxi, $60 ferry, $5 luggage, $10 port fee)
$95 ferry from Road Town to Charlotte Amalie ($10 taxi, $60 ferry, $5 luggage, $20 departure tax)
$10 environmental fee
$______ possible extra hotel cost due to this itinerary
$______ TOTAL
home > Puerto Rico > Tortola
$______ round trip flight from home to Puerto Rico
$______ round trip flight from Puerto Rico to Tortola
$80 round trip taxi from airport to Road Town (1-4 passengers)
$10 environmental fee
$______ possible extra hotel cost due to this itinerary
$______ TOTAL
home > Puerto Rico > St. Thomas > Tortola (via ferry)
$______ round trip flight from home to Puerto Rico
$______ round trip flight from Puerto Rico to St. Thomas
$85 ferry from Charlotte Amalie to Road Town ($10 taxi, $60 ferry, $5 luggage, $10 port fee)
$95 ferry from Road Town to Charlotte Amalie ($10 taxi, $60 ferry, $5 luggage, $20 departure tax)
$10 environmental fee
$______ possible extra hotel cost due to this itinerary
$______ TOTAL
home > Puerto Rico > St. Thomas > Tortola (via flight and and ferry)
Check flying one way into Tortola and taking the ferry though St. Thomas the other direction.
$______ round trip flight from home to Puerto Rico
$______ one way flight from Puerto Rico to St. Thomas (or vice versa)
$85 ferry from Charlotte Amalie to Road Town (or $95 vice versa)
$______ one way flight from Tortola to Puerto Rico (or vice versa)
$40 one way taxi from Road Town to Tortola airport (or vice versa) (1-4 passengers)
$10 environmental fee
$______ possible extra hotel cost due to this itinerary
$______ TOTAL
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