I began considering this trip this a.m. Perhaps over Thanksgiving this year. <BR><BR>What should I know before deciding on which part of the island to stay? Any hotels that are highly recommended? Can you describe the terrain? I want to rent mountain bikes for a couple of days. How does one travel about the island? Are there poisonous snakes? Do you know of websites that might help me learn the basics?<BR><BR>Thanks for this and any other info you wish to share!

try www.st-martin.org<BR><BR>I prefer French St. Martin. Better food, beaches feel less &quot;cluttered&quot;, fewer huge resorts.

the island is so small that you can stay on either side and travel back and forth..see what hotel offers you the best deal. there are great hotels on either side<BR>St. Maarten (SXM) has rolling hills and lots of beautiful beaches. and also hundreds of fabulous restaurants. it is a gourmet paradise<BR>we have no poisonous snakes<BR>there are not any places to ride mountain bikes that i know of. best thing to do is rent a car.<BR>you can go to http://www.traveltalkonlin.com and go to the SXM forum and ask questions..there are a lot of knowledgeable people there.<BR>there also are a lot of sxm web sites. try these:<BR>http://www.sxm-info.com/<BR>http://www.st-maarten.com/<BR>http://gobeach.com/page3.htm<BR>good luck!

Just a small correction to Barbara1's response -- the TTOL website is www.traveltalkonline.com -- she inadvertently left off the last 'e'... it's a very helpful bulletin board with friendly people.<BR><BR>We also prefer the French side, and we have always stayed at L'Esplanade Caraibes hotel -- very lovely small hotel overlooking Grand Case. <BR><BR>Enjoy your stay!<BR>

Not meaning to be unhelpful, but if you just click on &quot;St.Maarten/St. Martin&quot; on the search function, you'll pull up a wealth of information. I was looking for something specific about the French side recently and found quite a bit. You can skip the posts that look too specific or too tangential, but it won't take long for you to get the flavor.

I stayed on the Dutch side at Oyster Pond. The Dutch side has more of the &quot;American&quot; types of tourist shops and English is the only language I ever heard. The French side is much more like France. Many locals speak French (but not to worry if you don't, almost evryone speaks English). The cafes and shops are European in style. The French beaches tend to be larger. If I go back, i would be inclined to stay on the French side.

We have been to St. Maarten/Martin many times. We started out staying on the Dutch side, but have come to prefer the French side. Better food, better coffee, supermarkets with excellent products imported straight from France, etc. We used to stay in a very nice hotel, Esmeralda, on Orient Beach. But the last time we stayed there we found that Orient Beach had become too busy for our taste: completely built up except for the clothing optional part (Orient Club) at the end, lots of horrible jetskis, etc.
The last few times we have stayed at Captain oliver's resort. A very nice little hotel which straddles the Dutch-French border: the hotel is on the French side and the restaurant on the Dutch side! We like it because the location is quiet and yet there's plenty of restaurants, shops, etc. within walking distance. Not on the beach but on the water, just a water taxi's ride away from Dawn Beach, which is nice.
Something else to try on the French side is the town of Grand Case with all its wonderful restaurants. Hope this helps.

Here's another French side fan.

Here's my take on St. Mar and St. Maar:

St. Martin (French side)
- Great Food
- Great Beaches
- Great Scenic Driving

St. Maarten (Dutch side)
- Great people, cultural diversity, a lot more hospitable than St. Martin
- Great nightlife (more happening)
- Best of all, great shopping!

I don't think there is mountain biking there. Went to Pic Paradis (I guess the highest point in St. Martin) and forget mountain biking there. There is no bike path. There is barely a walking path! There is a car driving path, that's about it. I didn't see snakes but sure did see lots of big lizards! They were gigantic for tourist taste, if you know what I mean...

The basics? Bring money, lots of it, it sure ain't a cheap island. Beware of scams. Got scammed right as we arrived just straight from the airport at the Hertz Rental Car. Thought the lady was so nice giving us an orientation of the island. Come to find out, she was inviting us to a time share session and just to make her happy, we said sure! We had no intention of going, but wanted her to go away. In the end, she charged us $10! For what? I have no idea, but we wanted her to go away and gave her the money...we learned quickly after that!

Overall it's a nice island with a lot of potential. It's too bad that either islands are coordinated enough to really know how to cater to tourists. That's my take and don't get me wrong. Had a great time in spite of an irritating start.

We just returned from St. Maarten.
Stayed at the L'Esplanade Hotel in Grand Case and had a wonderful vacation. This hotel is great for couples, but I would not recommend if you are taking kids. Grand Case restaurants are all within walking distance and have wonderful food. Marigot is ten minute drive and has lots of shopping and cafes.