In St John, the Recipe for the Perfect Caribbean Beach Bar

There’s a secret to creating the perfect Caribbean beach bar, an essential ingredient. 

It’s not the cream of coconut brand you use in the Pina coladas, or the catch in the fish tacos. 

It’s the beach. 

The greatest beach bars inevitable, inexorably begin with a spectacular stretch of sand. 

And that’s precisely the case at Maho Bay, the beach that is, in our opinion, the best beach in all of St John. 

Here in the heart of the Virgin Islands National Park, there’s a dazzling stretch of beaming white sand, swaying palms and St John turquoise, one that is now home to a rather special beach bar: Maho Crossroads. 

And the team at Maho Crossroads has made the beach the centerpiece, with a thoughtful, creative design and a commitment to preserving this magical setting. 

And so Maho Crossroads isn’t quite like other beach bars. 

It’s a low-density, low-footprint beach bar, one that works with the landscape. 

Everything here is mobile; the bar itself is a tiki bar on a moveable trailer; the food truck is an old VW Bus; storage comes in a few shipping containers. 

It’s a place that has become a pilgrimage for beach bar seekers, whether they come by taxi or car or, as is also popular, they arrive by board to the “paddle-in tiki bar.”

And yes, the bar is a destination in its own right. 

The mixology menu is a mix of Virgin islands favorites: a secret-recipe painkiller; a “Maho-rita”; a signature rum punch; and even a Maho-mosa for a beach brunch. 

They’re all outstanding, they all have the option for floaters, and they’re all the perfect ingredients to an unforgettable Maho afternoon. 

Because the plan is to come here in the late morning and stay until it closes. 

You can rent chairs for the day at the “Terrapin Beach Club,” and even take home some souvenirs at the Love Maho boutique, and then enjoy some tacos in paradise. 

And at the end of the day, the bar closes up, and Maho remains, a magical, mystical, breathtaking beach that, for a few hours each day, lends itself to a world-class beach bar. 

For more, visit Maho Crossroads. 

— CJ