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Virgin Gorda

21.9 km² of land in the Caribbean Sea.

When to go

Virgin Gorda seen from space, cut out from the sea (Sentinel-2)
Spanish Town
N 2 km

Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.

In numbers

21.9km²

Area

57km

Coastline

117m

Highest point

3,930

People

29°C

Warmest sea

September

856km

To the mainland

When to go to Virgin Gorda

Best for the beach from December to April.

The sea is warmest in September (29 °C) and coolest in February (26 °C). You can swim comfortably all year (21 °C or more).

Sea temperature (the water level) Air: night low to afternoon high Wet days Best months

Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.

Island which is part of the British Virgin Islands

Virgin Gorda is an island in United Kingdom. It belongs to Caribbean. It covers 21.9 km², with 57 km of coastline. Its highest point rises to 117 m. About 3,930 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 856 km away.

Read more on Wikipedia

Getting there

  • Virgin Gorda Airport (VIJ)airport on the island, with scheduled flightsCar hire at STX airport (Christiansted)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • FerriesTrellis Bay, Beef Island - Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda, Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas - Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda, Road Town, Tortola - Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda, Cruz Bay, Saint John - Spanish Town, Virign Gorda
  • 856 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast
  • From December to Aprilbest months to go (from 30 years of averages)

Plan the trip

Ferries, stays and things to do

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

On the island

What you find on Virgin Gorda.

  • 22beachesDevil's Bay, Stoney Bay and 20 more
  • 1viewpoints
  • 1ferry terminals
  • 1marinasVirgin Gorda Marina
  • 3named peaksVirgin Gorda Peak, Cow Hill, The Baths
  • 2ruins and archaeological sitesCopper Mine Points
  • 1dive centresDive BVI
  • 7hotels, guesthouses and apartments
  • 27restaurants, cafés and bars

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Virgin Gorda in our other atlases

Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Virgin Gorda, each with its own numbers.

  • 12beaches and covesCoastya
  • Beach with the warmest sea

    28.9°C

    Fishers Cove

    sea in the warmest month · according to Coastya

12 beaches

on Coastya, the beach atlas

  1. Fishers Cove28.9°C
  2. The Guns28.8°C
  3. Mahoe Baycove28.9°C
  4. Devils Baycove28.9°C
  5. White Baycove28.8°C
  6. Murdering Holecove28.8°C
  7. Gun Creekcove28.9°C
  8. Biras Creekcove28.9°C

4 more on CoastyaOpen Coastya ↗

The shape of the land.

On average the island stands 94 m above the sea. 85 % of it is below 200 m.

  • 47 %0–50 m
  • 38 %50–200 m
  • 15 %200–500 m

Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).

Size, for real

Next to islands you may know.

Virgin Gorda22 km²
Manhattan54 km²
Santorini76 km²

10 km

All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).

Towns on the island

  • Spanish Town3,800 people

Month by month

The weather on the island.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Afternoon high (°C)262626272828292929292827
Night low (°C)252525262728282828282726
Sea (°C)262626272728282929292827
Rain (mm)2314202863465772911048740
Wet days6445131114151715149
Sun h/day8.18.89.29.48.78.88.98.98.57.77.37.6
Wind (km/h)242422222223262419202125

Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.

Recent years

Warmer and cooler years at sea.

Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2020+0.8+0.7+0.6+0.9+0.6+0.5+0.8+0.4+0.7+0.3±0.0+0.4
2021+0.3+0.5+0.2+0.1+0.2−0.1+0.2+0.1+0.6+0.5+0.4+0.6
2022+0.5+0.3+0.3±0.0±0.0+0.1+0.3+0.3+0.1+0.1−0.1±0.0
2023+0.2+0.1+0.2+0.2+0.7+0.8+0.9+0.9+1.0+1.0+0.7+0.5
2024+0.7+0.8+1.1+1.1+1.4+1.5+1.3+1.0+1.2+1.7+1.0+1.1
2025+1.1+0.9+1.0+0.7+0.6+0.1+0.5+0.6+0.6+0.7+0.5+0.7

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

Photos

Seen by visitors.

Virgin Gorda North Sound 2010
Gruepig · CC BY-SA 4.0
Awsome sun set in the virgin islands
Ryansmith714 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Virgin Gorda - beach at The Baths
Daniel Lobo · CC BY 2.0
British Virgin Islands — license plate ("livery")
User:Mattes · CC BY 2.0 de

About these numbers

Names, area, populationWikidata (Q1139293) · CC0
Outline© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Sea temperatureNOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020
ClimateNASA POWER · 1991–2020
Relief, 3D modelCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
TownsGeoNames · CC BY 4.0
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfallsCoastya — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

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