My husband and I recently spend six nights on the French side of St. Martin. We selected the island b/c it was where our FF miles would take us. Not our dream Caribbean destination (ahem, St. John), but it suited our vacation goals of sitting on the beach.

There isn¡¦t a ton of chat about St. Martin on this site ¡V those planning a trip might want to check out traveltalkonline.com ¡V but I am loyal to Fodor¡¦s and am posting here. ƒº For what it¡¦s worth, here are my impressions.

GENERAL/MISC
There was a lot of traffic, especially getting around the Dutch side of the island between the airport and just west of Philipsburg. I would avoid driving through that area during the day if at all possible. It took us more than two hours to get from the airport to our hotel in Oyster Pond (about 7 miles). That experience, and the fact that we were a little beaten down after a USAir lost luggage disaster, caused us to forgo our plans to visit Anguilla and go to different beaches on different parts of the island each day (a la St. John) and to divide our time between Dawn Beach and Orient Bay.

Another misc tip: pretty much everywhere we spent money on the French side (stores, restaurants, some beach bars) the prices were in Euros but the US $ was equal to the Euro if you paid cash. Saved us some money.


BEACHES
What I read about Orient Bay before arriving on SXM (built up, lots of hotels/resturants/bars) made me think it would resemble the Jersey Shore, only with nudity. It was different than I thought ¡V the Orient Bay area seemed more like a gated resort community, but without the gate. Not incredibly posh, but there were lots of cottages, condo clusters, hotels/small resorts, restaurants, and shops spread throughout a small network of landscaped streets. It was cute. The beach itself had been described as ¡§made up of six smaller beaches¡¨ -- I was picturing separate coves. The ¡§beaches¡¨ are actually adjacent groups of lounge chairs and umbrellas sponsored by a row of restaurants/bars located right on the beach. Each had its own rustic (think thatched roofs) complex consisting of a restaurant, bars, restrooms, a beach shop, a rental booth for jet skis, etc. You paid $12-20 for a pair of lounge chairs and an umbrella. There were several parasailing boats going up and down the harbor, some jetskis buzzing around off shore, and it was definitely CROWDED, but it was fun. NOTHING like the secluded beaches of St. John, but then again, on St. John I didn¡¦t have a comfy lounge chair and people bringing me drinks.

Oh, and really not much nudity, for what it¡¦s worth. ƒº Maybe 1 out of 25 women were topless. The only full nudity I saw was when I ventured to the end of the beach that is adjacent to the Club Orient nudist resort. Not as European as I expected in that respect.

Dawn Beach was a similar setup, but much, much smaller. We parked and rented chairs/umbrellas from Mr. Busby¡¦s Beach Bar.


OYSTER POND
I really liked the Oyster Pond area in which we stayed. It¡¦s a picturesque, sailboat filled harbor with some small resorts and other accommodations on the surrounding hillside. Granted, I didn¡¦t see all of the island (missed the eastern tip from Mullet Bay to Baie Nettle), but if I were to return I¡¦d stay at Oyster Pond again or inside the Orient Beach complex.

Our accommodations were lovely and affordable. A cute studio in a hillside complex with a small pool. Nice terrace and grill. I wasn¡¦t excited to see a couple of cockroaches in the bathroom (which smelled like Raid) and there were tiny ants all over the counter in the kitchenette. (I know, bugs are hard to control in tropical climate, but I do not do well with roaches.) I am not going to mention the name here, but I¡¦d heartily recommend the place if it hadn¡¦t been for literally two cockroaches. Respond to this message with your email if you want more info.


CRIME
There¡¦s a lot of chat board talk about crime on SXM. I wasn¡¦t too worried until a bartender on our first night told us to take a cab home, when our hotel was literally 50 yards down a harbor side path alongside Oyster Pond, but we ignored her and were fine. Maybe I¡¦d be singing a different tune if we were mugged¡K Besides short walks in Oyster Pond, we didn¡¦t walk much at night so I can¡¦t speak to that. But I will say that I was initially concerned about our stuff getting stolen at the beach when we were in the water, but the beaches felt very safe to me.


RESTAURANTS/SHOPPING
We spent one afternoon in Marigot and it was rather deserted. I am not that into shopping¡K I guess parts of the shopping district were cute, but I wasn¡¦t bowled over. We ate on the deck in our studio, or at a cute little harbor side Italian place near Capt. Oliver¡¦s in Oyster Pond. Good if you¡¦re local. Also ate one night at the Westin, probably a culinary sin given that we chose it b/c we just didn¡¦t feel like trekking to Grand Case, but it was nice. Good food, just $$$.


Not sure I¡¦ll become a St. Martin regular, but a week there beat April in New England!

Sorry about the formatting screw-ups. I cut and pasted from Word and tried to fix them, but accidentally posted too soon!

Thanks for the report. I just got back to my island from St. Maarten last night and the traffic is definitely getting worse and worse. Of course, we were there for election day and that made it moreseo, but it still didn't detour us from getting out and about.

Glad you enjoyed your time there. Did you venture into Phillipsburg, Maho, Grand Case or any other areas of the island? Reason I ask is that I went over with my sister and her DH who were visiting us and we managed to hit every area of the island other than Oyster Pond in two days, and it was quite a feat, though.

thanks for the trip report candg.
It seemed to be a very honest impression of St. Maarten.
glad you enjoyed the island,even if ti's not your favorite...
you sure are right about the traffic..it's ridiculous..

statia, you were here for election day??
man, it was a mess wasn't it?? LOL

Yes, it was, Barbara. We were even stupid enough to venture into Phillipsburg on Friday. Of course, I understand it was a mess here, too.

We had a nice time there with my sister and her DH, though. I thought of looking you up before we went, but knew we'd be so busy showing them around. I did go to Georgina's and get a pedicure, though! Thanks for the recommendation.

And, thanks again for the report, candg.

statia
when did you get a pedicure at Georgina's? I did that on Friday..
did we just miss each other?? LOL

We must have. I was there on Saturday.

Thanks for taking the time to post your SXM trip report. You're right--it's an island that has waned in popularity on this forum though going strong on the TTOL forum. I'm sure your post will help many people in the future planning their trips.

Statia,

Do you have any comments about the Great Bay Beach Hotel and Casino and the Grand Case Beach Club? I'll be spending 3 nights on St. Martin/St. Maarten; female solo traveler.

houtravelchick, I emailed you some info. so as not to hijack candg's trip report thread.