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St. John-Maho Bay Camps or Harmony Studios or Concordia?

St. John-Maho Bay Camps or Harmony Studios or Concordia?

Old Nov 9th, 2003, 08:50 AM
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St. John-Maho Bay Camps or Harmony Studios or Concordia?

The quest for a place to stay grows more confusing! We like the idea of staying some place eco-friendly, but are too wimpy to outright camp. The forum consensus seems to prefer Maho Bay Camps to Cinnamon Bay Camps (both are in the park?), but have any of you stayed at any of Maho's other properties--Harmony Studios, or Concordia? From the photo Harmony looks really high up, though the web site says it's 5 minutes uphill from Maho. Concordia is by Salt Pond in the southeast. Is it better to stay in the park or by Salt Pond? What is the Salt Pond/ Coral Bay area like (we are also considering renting a house south of Coral Bay). Any help would be much appreciated.
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Old Nov 9th, 2003, 09:49 AM
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We leave on 11/19 and are staying @ Maho Bay Camps for 1st time; I posted same question on another forum - www.caribbean-on-line.com/forums in late August(maybe you can find responses). From those responses, I got idea Concordia might be a bit nicer (private bath and better view from cabins) but some distance away from park and places we wanted to see. Good Luck.
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Old Nov 10th, 2003, 10:06 PM
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We just returned from 2 weeks in the Coral Bay area. There are numerous places ( cottages/villas ) to stay in Coral Bay. Definitely ask about the access road to any unit that you are considering. Some can be very rough.

I wouldn't worry about the remoteness of Salt Pond. The ride to the park has some beautiful scenery.
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Old Nov 12th, 2003, 04:11 PM
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Husband and I stayed at Concordia Studios last year and liked it a lot. Depends what you want and if you've been to St. John before. Concordia is definitely on the quieter side of the island-it easily takes 1/2 hr to get to Cruz Bay from that end of things, but you're near some of the really laid back beaches too so water accessability isn't an issue.

Concordia is set on a hill so there's a bunch of stairs to get to the bottom studios; we had one of the top ones so that wasn't a concern, but depending on physical ability it might be.

It's more economical during high season than many villas we looked at. For us it was a stepping stone thing-1st trip Gallow's Point, 2nd trip Estate Concordia and next March a cottage in Coral Bay area.

There's several places to get food that way, but if you want to get to Cruz Bay often it could be more inconvenient.

We really liked it though for the great view, solitude, nice people and price. Good luck!
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Old Nov 13th, 2003, 05:17 AM
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We stayed at Concordia eco-tents in Feb of 02 and liked it a lot. Never stayed at Maho though. There are only 11 (I think ecotents at Concordia vs well over 100 at Maho so I expect it is a little quieter at Concordia (and a nice pool too). Concordia is considerably farther from Cruz Bay though. Sister in law and SO stayed in one of the studios at Concordia and it had all the amenities including a full kitchen and even a blender. I was only slightly more than our eco tent (really like a fabric cabin). We had the views, they had the appliances and a regular shower. If you value seclusion then get tent 9 10 ot 11 at Concordia. We didn't cook but ate out. You could cook simple meals in the tent but we were on vacation so cooking wasn't allowed.

There are some pics here that include Concordia and some shots of the stairs. We had to climb them all at least twice a day. Not too bad if you're reasonably fit although the luggage runs were a good workout (pack light...you don't need much) No cafeteria at Concordia but Miss Lucy's and Shipwreck Landing are fairly close.
You'll have a great time at whichever you choose I'm sure.

Pics are here. Feel free to browse around.

http://www.pbase.com/peterb/st_john_feb_02
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Old Nov 13th, 2003, 09:04 AM
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Many years ago we stayed at Maho bay, and requested "higher up" - for the views. It was a beautiful spot, but definitely a workout to get to the beach below, so I'd imagine Harmony would be double the trouble! Also, if you go during the rainy season, the noseeums *could* make things unbearable, as there is no escaping them inside a tent!
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Old Nov 13th, 2003, 11:07 AM
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For the record, Concordia gets a lot of wind directly from the Atlantic and it is high above the shoreline so there are no bugs there at all. Also there is no walking to ANY beach from Concordia. Salt Pond is close but you still have to drive there. Both Maho and Concordia have their respective advantages.
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