The British Virgin Islands have long been a favored escape for the discerning elite and A-list celebrities, rivaling Caribbean heavyweights like St. Barths and Anguilla. While the archipelago may not feature the scenic drama of St. Lucia or the championship golf courses of the Dominican Republic, I love it for its stylish charm, sublime sailing grounds, world-class bonefishing and picture-perfect beaches. After eight years of post-hurricane recovery, the BVI are back, along with two of the region’s most iconic hotels: Rosewood Little Dix Bay and Peter Island Resort. These storied properties reopened after major refurbishments, and I couldn’t wait to see how they turned out.

Rosewood Little Dix Bay

Set on 500 acres of emerald rainforest and a pristine white-sand crescent on Virgin Gorda, this property closed for renovations in 2016. However, catastrophic damage caused by Hurricane Irma kept its doors shut. After a multimillion-dollar investment, the 81-room Rosewood Little Dix Bay reopened in 2020.

Led by New York-based studio Meyer Davis, the magnificent redesign stayed true to Laurance Rockefeller’s vision of the hotel he created in the 1960s, even maintaining the resort’s original layout and the eye-catching conical roofs of the Pavilion dining area. The renovation focused on resilience and sustainability, with discreetly integrated hurricane-proof windows, a new organic farm supplying fresh ingredients to the hotel’s four restaurants and bars, and the elimination of single-use plastics.

We arrived by catamaran at the private dock, and staff greeted us warmly with cool towels and welcome drinks. Our dedicated butler, Alson, took us in a golf cart for a property tour before leading us to our Pool Suite. Check-in was a breeze, handled from the comfort of our room’s plush couch. He set up a WhatsApp chat for seamless communication and demonstrated the intuitive amenities, including the television (not all rooms have one), the clearly labeled light switches and the easy-to-use air-conditioning.

Editor Photos (slideshow below)

Our suite had an upscale beach-house vibe that featured British campaign-style furniture, driftwood accents and natural stone. Retro photographs of women in the ’60s wearing bathing caps added touches of color and whimsy to our suite’s mainly neutral color palette. Each Pool Suite is set slightly back from the beach and features a plunge pool, an outdoor rain shower framed by curved rock walls and stunning views over the bay’s crystal waters.

It was a private tasting session at the new Rum Room that first lured us out of our lodging. The open-air bar boasts more than 100 rums from around the globe, and by the end of our class, we were sipping fragrant smoked-applewood-infused daiquiris we’d made ourselves. From then on, our instructor greeted us at every meal with spot-on cocktail and wine suggestions. Restaurants include Pavilion for West Indies-inspired dishes and the more casual Reef House, which had an invariably superb catch of the day. The hotel also hosts dining experiences that rotate weekly. At a toes-in-the-sand seafood barbecue dinner, for example, we feasted on grilled Anegada lobster tails and jumbo shrimp.

We relished our days relaxing in the sun and at the cliffside spa, but guests in a more active mood can try out the new tennis and pickleball courts, take a farm tour, practice yoga overlooking the Sir Francis Drake Channel or head out on a snorkeling excursion to spot sea turtles.

Little Dix’s blend of laid-back luxury, highly professional service and quiet elegance make this idyllic beach retreat a stand-alone vacation destination.

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Peter Island Resort

Our next stop, Peter Island Resort, occupies an 1,800-acre private island, only 300 acres of which are developed. We have recommended it for years, but Hurricane Irma devastated the property in 2017, and it remained closed for renovations until December 2024. Since we stayed not long after the hotel’s reopening, I expected some kinks, but not to the extent we experienced. After all, the travel press has been gushing about the reborn resort.

As we approached the island aboard the hotel’s private ferry, its gorgeous white-sand beaches came into view. Before we even moored, we were already planning the rest of the day, eager to soak in the beauty of the paradisiacal surroundings. When we disembarked, we were greeted with little fanfare. No one even helped with our bags; an attendant just pointed to a golf cart.

Editor Photos (slideshow below)

Our Beach Front Room provided magnificent water views and an outdoor hot tub and offered direct access to soft, warm sand. But aside from rattan pendant lights, the dark-navy room lacked a sense of place.

We walked along the beach — some stretches covered in scratchy sargassum — to the new Drunken Pelican eatery. The hotel’s redesign expanded the yacht club, adding superyacht docks, a dedicated pool and various courts for visiting sports enthusiasts, plus the Drunken Pelican. At lunch, we found ourselves among young, raucous seafarers there to party. When I bit into a metal staple hidden in our guacamole, our waiter shrugged and said, “We can comp the dish, but you’ll have to pay for your cocktails.” Mishaps can happen at any hotel; it’s how the staff respond that’s the true test. Here, they failed. In contrast to the Pelican, the elegant Drake Steakhouse, the only other on-island restaurant, offers excellent surf-and-turf cuisine.

Peter Island, with its striking hilltop spa, stunning Robinson Crusoe-like beaches and unspoiled tropical landscape, looks fantastic in photos. But the amateurish service disappointed again and again: Our “private island host” couldn’t remember my name, housekeeping would arrive unannounced, and the receptionist stayed glued to her phone. Considering that the hotel automatically adds a 23% gratuity to every check and an extra 15% service fee to the nightly rate, the perfunctory service felt especially irritating.

What a shame. Peter Island was once something of a secret treasure, but party-hardy day-trippers and poorly trained staff have tarnished the resort’s luster.

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