My family and I are looking into a vacation on St Martin/St Maarten for next winter. We'd like to rent a villa, but are unfamiliar with the island. What beaches are considered the best on either side of the island? Is the Dawn Beach area desirable? There will be six adults and four young children. Ideally, we'd like an area near a clean, white beach and with few nude sun bathers. We'll eat most meals in, but would like to be near a few decent restaurants as well. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

the Dawn Beach area is very nice. it is a residential area with two hotels on either end of the beach. The Westin Hotel on one end and Oyster Bay Resort on the other end.
The dawn beach area is about 20 minutes away from Philispburg. There are some restaurants right in the area that are very nice but the area is more isolated and quiet in general.There are some very nice villas there.

The Simpson Bay and Maho
area is where you will find the most hotels, restaurants and night life. it is a busier area and many things are withing walking distance.
There are a few really nice beaches close by. Mullet Bay beach is one of my favorite ones.
The Orient Beach area on the french side is lined with restaurants and the hotels are generally back off the beach a little bit. It is of course the clothing optional beach.

Bay Rouge is a little outside of Marigot and is a lovely beach. The cliffs above the beach have many wonderful villas to rent from, but there isn't anything right on the beach.
You have to drive to get to any restaurants or shopping.
In general I would recommend you rent a car anyway. That way you can go to all the beaches and restaurants on both sides of the island.The island is very small and it's easy to get around

If you are thinking of a villa, try this web site.

http://www.gobeach.com/page1.htm

They are very reputable people to deal with.

I hope this helps!

Thanks for the advice - We will concentrate our search around Dawn Beach/Oyster Bay. Now if only we could find a 4 bedroom villa for under $4K!

Is anyone familiar with the villa 78 Dawn Beach:

http://www.vrbo.com/global/siteFrame...turnurl=/49708

It looks wonderful, but I have been duped by amazing photos before...

try www.vrbo.com dealing direct with the villa owners you'll get a better deal. I rented Villa Suzanne last year - up the hillside but could walk the path to Dawn Beach. Valhalla was right above Suzanne - Villa Dolfjn was in a great location - same area - Dawn Beach Estates.
next year we are going again....this time we'll stay either on Simpson Beach or Cupecoy.

BellaClaire - Wow - that villa looks incredible! It is a little over our budget though. Did you find Dawn Beach to be wavy or was the water fairly calm?