After many visits to St Martin looking to try a new island!
 

We have been going to St Martin for the past 10 years always staying at The Grand Case Beach Club in Grand Case on the French side. It's a nice 3 star hotel in a beautiful setting but it is not super high end. This winter we would like to try a different island. Some of the things we are looking for are the things we liked about St Martin

Hotel on the beach-not an all inclusive
Walking distance to a town with restaurants (very important as we don't like to drive at night)
Good food
Safe island
Nice beaches-will have a car
Any suggestions on an alternative island and hotels would be greatly appreciated
Thanks!

My favorite islands in the Caribbean often for many of the things you are looking for....

Grenada and St.Kitts.

But for overall fit maybe Grenada...there are several hotels directly on Grand Anse Beach which is a beautiful stretch of beach. The island is safe, has a variety of beaches...some volcanic some white sandy - rainforest, volcano fresh water lake in the mountains. Great restaurants within but mostly by a short cab ride...many of the hotels have restaurants within walking distance...but as an aside many of the nice hotels have shuttles that pick up customers. We have stayed at the Flamboyant however, that is set in the hillside still over the beach. We have also stayed at the Grenada Grand Beach which is a bit more generic but with a great pool and directly on the beach.

In St. Kitts we have religously stayed at the Timothy Beach Resort and would not stay ANYWHERE else...but you may feel it is not up to the standards of Grand Case BC - it is likely close but I remember the GCBC and other will likely tell you TBR is not comparable.

We love it because it is also the only hotel right on the Caribbean beach...there are like 13 beach restaurants / bars within rolling distance...it has beautiful views with breathtaking sunsets nightly from most of the patios. The people are also fantastic on this island - it has always been very safe in our experience...also volcano hikes, rainforest, history beautiful nature....and even a few unique fun things to do like zipline and a old sugar cane train ride...there are lovely restaurants and in fact one of the best treats for us...lots of food within walking distance. There are the a forementioned beach bar restaurants...eat red snapper meal with toes in the sand to reggae and calypso at Mr. X's (our favorite)walk down to P.J's for great drinks and pizza with a Caribbean flare...fine dining at Ciao an italian spot or outdoor variety at Rock Lobster....oh as I say it there is a lot...yum.

That is my vote...have fun whichever place you choose!

I just checked out their website and I think it looks great...similar to GCBC. Thanks!

I would second Timothy Beach Resort. We loved our stay there. Lots of restaurant options close by. We didn't rent a car, actually walked into town one afternoon, long walk, but not unpleasant. Had a few drinks, some dinner and grabbed a cab back.

We split the trip, also spent a few nights on Nevis. Loved it there too, although, I do wish we would have had a car on that island. Things are pretty spread out.

Ohhh excellent suggestion too - Nevis...we also went there for one day and really enjoyed that much slower and equally beautiful island. For future reference if you return or for a first visit. If you are staying on St.Kitts and renting a car...many places (definetly Bullseye - my recommendation) allow you to carry your rental over to Nevis for however, long you are there with no disruption in cost or anything. There is shuttle now across at the end of the peninsula that shuttles cars...but we parked our car in Basseterre at the Ferry - hoped on the Ferry to Nevis and took the two minute walk to the office there - and we were given a new rental in Nevis for the day....

By the way - walked into town...well done! Did you walk to Marshalls? You are obviously healthy and athletic - the island would become more available then!

After 20 yrs. of going to the Caribbean(most islands) we finally found Grace Bay, Turks & Caicos. www.oceanclubresorts.com Ocean Club West is our new place and we will return there for the 3rd time in March.

We like it for all of your reasons and more. We could probably walk to about 10 restaurants and didn't have a car. If you'd like, read my 2 trip reviews under TPAYT.

We do have other favorites like Anguilla and St. Barth's but I feel you would need a car.

Whatever island you choose check out www.VRBO.com and www.homeaway.com for great prices. We've used both often.

If you liked St Martin, I think you would really enjoy Aruba. Manchebo, Bucuti and Amsterdam Manor are all smaller hotels in Aruba that are similar to GCBC. We thought that the food in St Martin was the best out of anywhere we've been to, but Aruba has some excellent restaurants also.

Everything in Aruba isn't within walking distance, but the cab rides are so much more affordable and they are much shorter than in SXM. Turks and Caicos had a much more beautiful array of colors in their water, but Eagle beach was the widest beach I've ever seen.

As for safety, I know that something horrible happened in Aruba with Natalie Holoway, but in general Aruba is a safer island than SXM. It breaks my heart to say that I actually don't know if we'll return to SXM due to all of the attacks on tourists that I've read about. I thought that the climate of the island changed from we first went to SXM in 2003 to the last time we visited in 3/08.

If you decide to go to Timothy Beach Resort, please write about your experience. It is on my short list of places I'd like to go but I don't like the idea of the green monkeys on the beach.

Travelenthusiast - With regard to TBR - the monkeys really aren't on the beach at that location as they are mostly uneasy about too many people. They stay mostly in the hills surrounding the hotel. The same goes for S. Friars Beach where Shipwreck beach bar is (a must!!) The only place where we were conscious of animals ON the beach was at Cockleshells and even there due to the lower tourist / human traffic there were some cows and goats just off the top of the beach where there was high grass.

St. Kitts is a fantastic island and TBR is great for us as we are returning this year our third visit to TBR our 6th to the island overall. I have also stayed at GCBC which I enjoyed...do they still have the hammocks on the edge of the beach?

But please don't let reports of monkeys put you off...there are lots on the island but they really dont' get too close to humans - the ones in the hills are not tame...some people feed them....which changes the dynamics but still we did not feed them and to my sons disappointment they never came too close to us...and never on the beach!

When we stayed at Timothy Beach, I walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water, and there was a monkey in the flower bed right outside the windows, and he was eating lantana blossoms. I was pretty surprised, but did enjoy getting a close up view. They're beautiful animals.

It's been a few years since we were at Timothy Beach, at that time there were lots of domestic cats. We were in a ground level unit, and had lots of visitors. Of course, I encouraged that by buying kitty treats in town. We had to be careful we didn't leave any cats in the room when we left. If the cats are still around, get a second floor room, and they won't be an issue.

As for the comment about being athletic, you wouldn't say that if you saw us. Late 50's, a bit overweight. We are walkers though, although 'flat landers'. We hiked to the top of the volcano on St. Kitts, it was a wonderful day, but a harder hike than I had imagined. I definitely spend some time on some hills and stairs before I attempted it again.

Caribheart and JeanH - Thanks for the info on the monkeys at TBR. I saw pictures on tripadviser of the monkeys on the property when we were planning one of our vacations and they kind of scared me. I do think that St Kitts looks like a fun small island to go to. We love beaches where you can walk down to different beach bars.

We didn't stay at GCBC so I don't know if they have hammocks but it looked like a nice place. We really enjoyed the Alamanda Resort on Orient Beach. It's small, centrally located and had a nice staff.

travelenthusiast - we stayed at L'Hoste on Orient Beach and I think that when we considered going back to SXM we thought the Allamanda looked like a better option...isn't it right next door to L'Hoste...

TBR in my opinion is better than L'Hoste by quite a bit but that was 4 years ago that I am referring to - it may have improved dramatically. The things you are praising about Alamanda you will find at TBR...and I hope you don't worry about those Monkeys - we have some similar pictures as when we walked out the door they were hanging out on the stairs BUT as we approached them they took off with screams of terror so we had to approach quietly to get the pics and we used our zoom so it wasn't like they were strolling up to us and begging...not in our case and I would have had a FIT if they had because knowing my 5 year old he would have wrapped his arms around them and had a big love fest... GAH!!!

Carbheart - The two hotels aren't right next door to one another but they are within easy walking distance. Alamanda is more near the middle of Orient than L'Hoste. When we stayed at the Alamanda we used the beach chairs at Kakao. I liked the beach service there much better than at Esmeralda's Coco beach.

Thanks for the info on TBR. St Kitt's looks like a nice island and we like smaller hotels. Your five year old sounds a lot braver than I am - LOL.

Ahhh yes the blind bravery of the five year old...he thinks he lives in an episode of Go Diego Go...(animal rescuer cartoon) braver than I am too! Fun to look at from the comfort of our patio....on the second floor.

Enjoy your travels!