Exploring Tortola by land is best done in a rented 4WD vehicle. Any one of several Jeep Rental operators can be easily found via Google with rental available either by the day or the week. Reservations are recommended.
Most of the best beaches are found on the North Shore with each offering its own unique charm. Smugglers Cove is a smallish crescent shaped beach offering an underwater snorkeling trail, pristine sand, usually mild surf and a remote feel. Long Bay is a mile long strolling beach usually offering fun in the surf at its western end. Apple Bay, home of Bomba Shack, is a surfer hangout with a surf-influenced, everchanging beach. Cane Garden Bay is the island's center of beach-activities with water toy & chair rental and 6 or 7 classic beach bars allowing you to spend the day and lack nothing. Brewer's Bay is an expansive beach with excellent snorkeling at the west end and a single beach bar/restaurant, Nicole's, offering fine burgers & pina coladas. Josiah's Bay provides the most consistent surfing on Tortola from its deep, compact beach with eats and drinks on site. Undertow can be an issue here. Elizabeth Beach (aka Lambert Beach) while accessible to all, typically finds mostly patrons of the Lambert Beach Resort enjoying this beautiful, deep, long classic beach. As with Josiah's, undertow can be an issue here. On adjacent & connected Beef Is, you will find another Long Bay with snorkeling trail and calmer waters as well as Trellis Bay, home of a large mooring field, interesting shopping de Loose Mongoose for food/drink and a long narrow strolling beach.
In the winter, the North Swell tends to make several of the typically calm North Shore beaches fairly rough for swimming.
Hiking to the summit of 1700 ft Sage Mountain, visiting the Botanical Gardens or just strolling around the Captial, Road Town are also on the to-do list on Tortola.
Day Sails (1/2 or Full Day) are very popular with visitors, offering on-the-water trips around the BVI for sightseeing and snorkeling. Most charters include a lunch, snorkel gear and many times free beverages (including rum punch). Popular locations for snorkeling via boat are The Indians, The Caves, Cooper Island, and The Baths - found on Virgin Gorda. Also brief landings for shore exploration of the caves and beautiful beaches at Green Cay, Sandy Cay, Sandy Spit and Bitterend are great options. SCUBA operators also offer great dive opportunities including the famous Rhone.
The popular sister islands (Virgin Gorda, Jost Van Dyke and Anegada) are easily accessible by ferry as well as St. John & St. Thomas, USVI (you will have to go through customs to enter the USVI and then again when re-entering the BVI).
Virgin Gorda, second largest in the BVI, continues the BVI's offering of outstanding beaches, hiking to Gorda Peak, water sports at the North Sound, great eats in The Valley or the North Sound and the world famous Baths. The Baths is one of only three similar formations of massive boulders in the world. House sized boulders engulfing partially submerged pathways offer a totally unique experience with the trail's rewarding you with the awesome Devil's Bay. One of the most intimate beaches in the BVIs, the often overlooked Spring Bay offers huge boulders to explore and great snorkeling from shore. Adjacent, but tougher to access, Trunk Bay offers relative solitude to go with its beauty. Savannah Bay offers a long expanse of pristine beach and seemingly endless views. Mahoe Beach and Mountain Trunk Bay offer some of the best snorkeling from shore in the BVIs.
Jost Van Dyke is world famous for it's beach bars and White Bay, frequently voted amoung the most picturesque beaches in the world. In Great Harbor where the ferry disembarks, you will find the famous Foxy's bar/restaurant where Foxy himself frequently entertains in the afternoons. But a vist to JVD is unfulfilled without some serious limin (relaxing) at White Bay. At Ivan's Stress Free Bar, the honor bar and a good part of the whole building are encased in magnificent shell art and you may get a chance to chat with the very special Ivan while you are there. Voted as the Best Beach Bar in the Caribbean, the Soggy Dollar Bar serves up it's creation, the Painkiller and accepts the soggy bills offered in payment from the sailors who swim ashore for their libations. Seddy's One Love is a quitessential toes-in-the-sand beach bar experience and Seddy's magic tricks top it off.
Anegada is the only coral atol in the BVIs and its flat profile has cost many sailors their vessels over the centuries. The least populated, least visited of the BVIs, Anegada rewards you with some of the most beautiful, expansive end-of-the-world beaches in the Caribbean. Cow Wreck Beach, Pomato Point, Loblolly Bay as some of the familiar beach wonders however the adventuresome can always find the desolite stretch to call their own. Windsurfing here is said to be the best.
Amoung the best things to do while visting Tortola is to achieve what the local's call "limin". Limin is a term used to describe the general state of relaxation that some say can only be accomplished in the BVIs with a drink in your hand and your cares left back home. Regardless of where you decide to venture while visiting Tortola, limin should either be included or next on the agenda.